Jarrett- Age 3 and 4 months

Somehow the entire summer and fall flew by without any updates. I am feeling a bit guilty about this, but I did manage to make a photo book during that time, so I at least have some document that summer and fall happened!

Jarrett turned 3 in July and has been becoming more and more independent. He and June attended My Gym over the summer and he learned about circle time and it was the first time he really participated in group activities. This turned out to be quite helpful as he entered preschool in the fall. In addition to that, he and June both  now love to jump and climb on everything. 

Jarrett's favorites right now:

Color: Orange

Songs: Run Baby Run- Caspar Babypants, We are the Dinosaurs, among many others

Toy: Magnatiles

Food: Probably donuts 

He has started to have an opinion on his clothes, preferring to mostly wear a white undershirt over everything else. His shirts seem to require dinosaurs.

We spent Jarrett's 3rd birthday with Isaac at the Science Center and then went to Dutch Wonderland. Both were a hit. He just started to really get into birthday's and celebrations.

Jarrett had his first beach experience this summer with a trip to North Carolina to visit Jamal's family. We were close enough to Myrtle Beach that we could spend the day there. Jarrett loved playing in the sand and the water, but was not happy when the water hit his face. It was on this trip that Jarrett first slept in a "Big Boy bed." We knew the time was coming but he had never complained about his crib and was a great sleeper so we hadn't really bothered trying to change it up. But he saw the double bed in one of the rooms in the house, jumped on it and declared it his. He slept there everynight without any problem, so as soon as we got home, we got rid of his crib and haven't looked back!

We spent the rest of the summer going on lots of adventures. Hiking, baseball games, parks, etc. He had fun being the big brother and showing June all the fun things to do.

We spent the fall at every fall festival around. Playing in corn, eating pumpkin donuts and going on hayrides. Jarrett also began to understand holidays and became really excited about Halloween. At first he told me he wanted to be a star. I assumed he meant rock star. But as I questioned him more about his idea, he said, "No...like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." As I proceeded to show him costumes of actual stars, he saw an astronaut and decided that would be better, and that June should be the star. He was so excited about trick or treating, and of course candy. He had a lollipop for the first time. His candy fell behind the fridge about 2 days after and that was the end of that.

 We managed to potty train Jarrett with seconds to spare as he headed to preschool when I went back to work. Preschool seemed to be an immediate hit. It took him about a month to warm up and get used to the schedule and having to nap at school. He is always tired at the end of the week, but seems to be learning a lot already. He has certain friends that he likes to play with and even has a friend he declares his "best friend."

 This was one of his first school assignments (June added the red- he did the green) It is amazing that now, only a few months later, he can trace these letters without any problem.

We have found that Jarrett pays attention to everything and remembers everything. He is also very logical and will try to reason to get his way. He loves building things, painting and dancing. He has become more interested in reading and always asks "what does this say?" and then goes back to pretend to read it.

Since school, he also has learned the importance of being a good listener. He reminds us often or ask, "I am a good listener." Which most of the time he is!

We are looking forward to what winter brings as he is already very excited about Christmas and the possibility of snow.