Oh, James. James, James, James. Where did you come from?

james, one day before 3

You are, as your sister says, “So cute I just wanna squeeze you!” Your impish smile, adorable freckles, and long eyelashes suck me in every time, which is very lucky for you because you are Trouble. I told a friend the other day that you’ve accomplished every major toddler cliché in the book. You’ve scribbled on walls, you’ve dumped cereal boxes on the floor, you’ve ripped the heads off of your sister’s dolls…and that was just this morning while I was in the bathroom.

You are a handful and you are exhausting. You’re the kid who will deliberately drop a toy at my feet, then scale a fence when I bend over to pick it up. Taking you out in public requires a zone defense. Getting you ready for preschool is going to be a challenge, but I’m up to the task….and I’m also squirreling away a little money to give your teachers fat gift cards at the end of the semester.

Dodgers baseball

Still, as nutty as you are, you’re such a little love. You give amazing kisses and you are an A+ snuggle champ. I love when you say to me, “Mama, wanna cuddle?” Sometimes that means sitting on TOP of me while I work, and sometimes we make blanket caves and ignore everything else. I love spending days with you and I’m glad that you tolerate me while your one true love, Annabel, is at school.

My favorite thing is watching you consume music. You love to dance, you love to drum along with the beat, and you LOVE to sing. Your singing voice absolutely kills me with how cute it is. It cracks me up when you let me know how you’d like me to participate in a song: “Mama, sing the song!” or “Mama, no,” while you place a sticky hand on my mouth.

dancing

I’m looking forward to seeing how this next year shapes you. Preschool will be a huge change, but it’s going to be so good for you to get out and have adventures without us. But not to worry, you’ll always have your sister to give you advice and help, whether you want it or not. She loves you so, so much and I know the feeling is mutual.

Three is going to be big. Happy birthday to Jimmy Jam, my basketball-loving, Dodger-cheering, booty-shaking, Uptown Funk-singing, car-pushing, counter-climbing, headstanding little buddy. I love you to the moon and back.

james is three