As Mariah Carey said...

"You'll always be my baby."

My baby boy turns THREE YEARS OLD today! I really can't believe it. Each year on our birthdays, my parents would gushingly (what?! it's a word!) look at us and say, "______ years ago at this time, we were rushing to the hospital!" or " I remember the day you were born!" Yada, yada, yada. Well, now I know why! It's so true! There are parts of those 2 and a half days (I was in labor for a long time) before Carson finally arrived that are blurry, but it is SUCH a life-changing experience, that most of it is crystal clear. And I think that birthdays make us focus on the birth day, and we remember our kids as those fragile little babies. THEN, we look up and they are no longer babies, and we go through all the cliches about parenting, particularly that common one: it goes by so fast! He's such a fun kid, and he has personality coming out his ears--his cute little Carson ears.

So, I thought I would write about some of my favorite things about Carson Michael at 3 years old:

*He LOVES his family--immediate and extended. Sometimes when one of us is holding Sydney, and the other is in the same room, he'll corral our legs and push us together and say "We're a FAMILY! And we're all TOGETHER!" Carson loves his sister and wants to be with her all the time and give her hugs and kisses. He asks when she'll be able to play with him, because he wants to share his toys with her. (Yeah...we'll see about that one.) He cannot wait to see any of his aunts, uncles or grandparents. He talks about them all the time and his eyes turn to saucers with excitement if I tell him we are going to see any of them that day.

*He LOVES his friends. Just yesterday he saw me writing thank you cards, and he decided he wanted to write cards to his 3 best friends. So we spent almost 30 minutes making cards for them, and he made sure that I addressed and stamped them. He kept saying with a grown-up inflection, "Oh, they are going to LOVE this!" (You three, you know who you are and will be receiving cards soon.) He prays for them each night, and almost every day he asks about E, N and H and all his other friends too, wondering if they can come over and play.

*He truly, in his heart, wants to please us. He forgets this sometimes, but we know it is true. He loves to bring me flowers and make things for Daddy. When he obeys the first time and I say "That makes me so proud!" he often says, "Do I make you smile?" Oh yeah, Babe. Lots.

*He is very funny! His language has totally taken off, and we can understand about 85-90% of what he is saying. (The percentage is probably lower for others.) He is imaginative and creative and likes to find ways to make us laugh. And then sometimes he makes us laugh accidentally. ;) His most recent and repetitive joke is when he says from the bathroom, "Mom! I got a present for you!" and when I walk in, he points to his poop and says grandiosely (what? It's a word!) "TADA!"

*He loves to snuggle with us and sit in our laps, which I hear rumor is not necessarily the norm for 3 year old boys.

*He is (almost always) very kind to other children. At least when I've watched, he talks nicely to kids we don't know and smiles at me like: "I made a friend!"

*He is grateful. He doesn't seem to take gifts for granted. Whether it is a churro at Costco or a day at the zoo or a new bottle of hand soap just for him, he says Thank You sincerely and often several times. I love that about him.

And now, you you can all walk down memory lane with me, here are some pics of C-dog's first three years of life.

Year ONE:

Year TWO:

Year THREE:
I think another line in that same Mariah Carey song says, "Oh, boy, you never can escape me. Oh, darling, 'cause you'll always be my baby."

Yep. Pretty much!