Turning Three

My little "baby" turns three today. It's hard to believe, a mere three years ago I was being introduced to him for the first time. Sometimes it seems like longer, actually. He has been walking and talking for so long, and we can't imagine our family without him. Even so, he is no longer a baby. (Although he is not completely potty-trained yet and still carries around a blanket and needs a bottle at times!)

When I think about this day, I think about how funny it is that Agustin always wanted to be grown up, was always excited about getting a year older, but Nicolas hasn't been so into it. He wants to be the "baby" - whenever we tell him he is a big boy, he tells us "No, soy pequeño." So, I wasn't sure how Nicolas would react this morning when we made a big deal about his turning three. When he woke up, however, we sang to Kas in bed and later in the car (Big Brother singing the loudest) and he was soooo happy! He got a great big smile on his face. You can tell he was happy to be made a fuss over. Maybe now we can convince him to "grow up" a little more and leave behind the diapers and bottle. No rush, I guess, except this summer I'd like to use the Ikea babysitting service while we go shopping, lol.

Last night his daddy made him a Mickey Mouse ears cake. Daddy decorated it with chocolate frosting and sprinkles and the kids ate it up. We'll have a mini celebration tonight (no presents - the "big" party with the grandparents will be on Sunday afternoon to celebrate grandma Shushú's birthday as well). We ordered him a pirate cake, are going to have buckets of KFC and fruit salad. It should be a nice little party, without too many kids to make things hectic and crazy.

I have a watch for Kas (or Nico, as Big Brother has taken to saying), so maybe I will wrap it up and give it to him tonight. Big brother has a watch and Kas is always so jealous of it.

In the meantime, I am going to spend the morning thinking of my Kas-isms (term stolen from my friend Patricia) and write down some of the crazy things this little 3-year-old boy says:

Grandma Shushú: Where does your friend Javi live?
Kas: (looking at her totally seriously, like you've got to be kidding) In his HOUSE.

Mommy: Don't you like to wear underwear so that you are nice and dry and clean? If you mess your diaper, you get all smelly and yucky.
Kas: No importa, se puede limpiar. (No big deal, you can just wash me up.)

Kas: Look at my hands, they are all wet. (He smears them over his Uncle Bati's face.)
Tío Bati: Why are your hands wet? Are they sweaty?
Kas: (evil evil laugh starting at the back of his throat) No. I just did pee-pee. (He proceeds to stick his hands down his pants)

Anyone: What a big boy you are!
Kas: No, soy pequeño. (I'm little.)

Mommy: Eat so that you can get big and strong like your big brother.
Kas: I don't like to be big and strong. I'm little.

A typical Kas-answer: Instead of yes or no, he'll say (in Spanish): Indeed! Of course! Of course not!

His favorite food at the moment: cereal in milk (he loves his Captain CrunchBerries), egg omelet with LOTS of ketchup
His favorite things to do: hit big brother (for no apparent reason - Agustin can just look at him wrong and Kas gears up the fists), "chat" online with his aunt Jennie, do his "homework", "cut with scissors", glue pages of magazines together, watch "pículas", do puzzles, read books (he is way into the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff right now), and GO TO THE MALL.
His favorite TV channels and shows: loves Lazytown, Pink Panther cartoons, Pocoyo, Curious George, really anything DiscoveryKids or Playhouse Disney
His favorite color: likes blue but will also do red
His favorite outfit: his green "skateboard" shirt (like Big Brother has), blue dinosaur pants and his "cowboy" boots
His favorite superhero: seems to be Batman, but also likes Spiderman. Big Brother is a close runner-up.
His favorite toy: monster trucks (the bigger, the better)
His favorite books: Three Billy Goats Gruff; One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (he loves the old fish and the new fish, the low fish, and the little saying in there "Oh me! Oh my! Oh me! Oh my!") - really he loves anything Dr. Seuss - and Mrs. Pirate

Oh, and Kristin just reminded me: Kas loves ketchup on almost anything. He loves mayo almost just as much, and has taken to eating his cookies by dipping them in mayo first.