three years old now

Our sweet Abraham boy is three years old now. And he is genuinely such a sweet kid. He is helpful, cheerful, and hilarious. He is the most ticklish of our brood, and will just crack up like crazy with a bit of tickling.

Abe at age two - last year

He is perfectly cuddly, too. Often in the mornings he will just sit and cuddle with me for ten or fifteen minutes while we both wake up a bit to start our day. Lately I have begun to realize how similar his personality is to mine. He is somewhat sensitive and introverted, but not unfriendly. He'll be shy when he first meets somebody, and will scowl if they talk to him in that bright, overcheerful way that adults often do to small children, and especially if they get too close, but he'll warm up within a minute if they aren't too pushy, and begin talking openly and happily. This is so much like me that it is kind of ridiculous.

He loves to read. Loves to ride the run bike, which has recently become his by default of being too small for Rilla. Loves to build, and make up stories too. Some of his favorite verses are the ones about his namesake in the Bible. "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."

Abraham loves God, and this gives me no end of joy. He loves to sing songs about God and to Him, and He has a pretty sturdy understanding of basic theology, although he is not quite so vocal about it as Rilla (who is apt to give extemporaneous sermons and sing made-up worship songs for a half hour alone in the bathroom if given the chance).

Abe loves airplanes, tractors, dump trucks, and kitty cats. And the boy can EAT. He and Rilla used to eat about the same amount. Now he eats about twice as much as she does. If it's something that he finds particularly delicious, he will even outeat me, which is no small feat. And he's growing like a champ. I try to ignore growth charts, as long as my kids are healthy, but Abe is on track to be quite a tall man. And he's excited about it, too. "I'm going to be a big, strong man," is a phrase that we hear every day. Not in an arrogant way. Just in a happy-about-who-he-is kind of a way. He especially pulls out the phrase when we give him something hot to eat. "Careful, it's hot," we tell him. "It's okay, I'm a big strong man," he explains, then proceeds to eat it. Once recently it actually was quite a lot too hot, and I think that damaged his confidence a bit.

We found a picture of Keith as a little boy recently and Abraham really looks remarkably like him. I had no idea how much he looked like him, actually. I'll have to share that picture one of these days. It's really pretty special to me.

Abe at almost three - last week

(sick in this picture though)

Even though I tend to mix up nicknames a bit with my kids (oops), I have always called Abraham my sunshine boy because he was such a cheerful, content baby. We've had a bit of a rough time with him in the two-year-old phase but I took him off gluten a few months ago (Zeke and I have been off it for quite a while, long story there that I keep meaning to share, but it seems we're both severely sensitive to it), and his attitude has changed tremendously. It was like there was this stormcloud hanging over my sunshine boy. When I took him off gluten, the stormcloud went away, and he was simply my sweet, happy boy again! When I've let him be on gluten a bit since then, I've seen shadows of it reappearing, and when he went a few weeks on gluten again, the resulting frustrations were very evident. Tantrums many times a day, compared to just a few bouts of toddler-ish complaining each day when not on gluten. So he is off gluten completely for now.

(The gluten bit might not be normal birthday post material, but it has been a big deal for me to see him come out of this harder time, and I am really rejoicing because of it!)

I am finding that there are so many fun things about having a boy. (And yeah, I know we have two boys, but I mean having a boy that isn't a baby anymore.) He's really moved out of the baby stage and into the kid stage. He is just so fun! So straightforward about things. So exact about language, like if I accidentally say something in a plural form, he politely corrects it to be singular (hmm, I wonder where he could possibly get that trait?). He is all happy or all sad... there is no in between. The best way to encourage him to do something if he's on the fence about whether he wants to do it is to tell him to RUN and do it... then he will run enthusiastically and do it in record speed! I am loving the straightforwardness with which he interacts with us. He isn't deceitful. If we tell him to do something, he'll either do it or rebel... no in-between, pretending like he's going to obey and then not doing it, kind of stuff. I actually really appreciate that!

Our Abraham is loyal and funny. He is great at puzzles and careful about putting things away in order (hurray, I love cultivating that in my kids!). He and Rilla are the best of friends, able to jump into any imagination game together at any time and carry it off with rarely a glitch. He is learning to speak gently, kindly, and encouragingly to Zeke, too, which is fabulous. Ezekiel adores him and loves to follow him around and see what he is doing. Usually Abraham will find something for Ezekiel to do along with him. I love that.

I really love this kid. He's a happy boy and a great helper and a loud singer and stomper... but really I just love him so much because he's mine. He's just great. I love watching him change and grow and mature, week by week! I can't wait to see what God has in store for his life. It's gonna be pretty great, of that I am sure.