My Favorite Third Year Memories

• Going to the Ft. Worth Zoo with Daddy during our Camp Mommy last summer
• When you met Quinn for the first time and how you kept asking me how I was feeling
• Your first swim lesson with Ms. Patty - it was rough but you felt so accomplished and a little cocky afterward
• Taking you to school for the first time
• Our Day out with Thomas
• Your first Havdalah service - you waved and smiled to Daddy and me throughout the service
• Pulling me in for "paci kisses" during bedtime
• Camp Mommy events last summer - the Shuklah concert, the movie we went to with Grandma, Owens Farm, swimming at Muehlenbeck, SenseAble, Heritage Farm, Children's Aquarium
• Pumpkin Farm with Daddy
• Shopping for "our boy," our angel Axel 
• My first night back from the hospital as a family of 4 - watching Yo Gabba Gabba "Farm" episode with Farmer Josh. . . I cried just having my normal evenings back with you but I knew life was suddenly so different
• Fourth of July fireworks on Aunt Jacque and Uncle Freddy's rooftop
• Telling you about Nami's surgery; you wanted him to be all better
• Picking you up from first day of school, and the ice cream we ate later that evening
• Our dinner date with Daddy at Mooyah when Grandma unexpectedly and generously decided to keep Quinn for the night
• Building your ice cream truck Halloween costume
• Ice days (we didn't leave the house for 5 straight days!)
• When you read Brown Bear, Brown Bear for the first time
• Looking up at me on a walk outside saying (about your scooter), "I can ride it like the big kids?"
• Hanging on the bars at My Gym with Ella
• Our last donut day before Quinn was born
• Pee Pee and Poo Poo dances (with two index fingers in the air, sometimes saying "this is for pee pee, and this one is for poo poo" and singing "Pee pee in the pot-ty, poo poo in the pot-ty!")
• You teaching me how to make a fire in the fireplace like Daddy. It was a lot of gibberish it, and then you ended with, "And then you need to stoke it."
• Making s'mores in the fireplace during the many days of ice outside
• When parents came up for the blessing at your first presentation at Shabbat, you hugged and kissed Daddy and me and said, "I love you Mommy and Daddy."
• The night you started humming your lullabies with me
• The first night in your big boy bed. I was so very overwhelmingly proud of you and kept checkin on you to tell you you were doing a great job, and you were so very proud of yourself, too.
• Going to the Gaylord ICE! Exhibit. Oh my goodness, I wanted to just gobble you up in your little winter hat! You looked so adorable and loved watching the trains in the atrium. 
• Camp (Winter) Mommy - the trains exhibit, Perot Museum
• Staring off at the dinner table and saying, "Creeeeeepy!" in a whisper after Daddy said that word
• When you asked Daddy to rock you while I was still laying in your bed telling you stories. He picked you up and I think you wanted to see your shadow... I teared up watching him rock my big boy in his footsie tan and white striped pajamas.
• Watching and hearing you tell Siri what you wanted to watch on YouTube
• When you helped the rabbi at Quinn's naming
• The first time you pooped in the potty (which was at Grandma's house.) :)
• Potty training in general - went so much better than I could have expected, and it made our Passover break go so fast and feel so successful
• You taking my hand and kissing it on the couch at the end of that Passover break 
• Visiting Bubbie's grave on Mother's Day, you held Quinn and just looked at the headstone. Many questions started stirring after that day. "Is Bubbie under there?" "Does she have a face?" "Is Bubbie far away?" "Why doesn't she live in a house anymore?"
• Your first real bath with Quinn, giggles and giddiness galore!
• By far NOT a favorite - but one that I know I will remember from this year ALWAYS - the first (and last) night you climbed out of your crib after hours of crying (which had become a habit the several nights before). I was livid, but mostly I was terrified that you were already ready for a big boy bed - just a short 3 weeks before school started and before Quinn was born. 
• Meeting Levi for the first time, and watching you love on him since then, kissing his hand, talking sweetly to him
• When you were home sick with a fever, Ms. Betty called and let your friends say hello, to tell you they missed you, and to wish you well. The second child spoke, and you immediately said, "Thank you, Myka!" I have no idea if it was really Myka, but you seemed to know. You were beaming at hearing your sweet friends calling you at home.
• The past few times you have been around Nami, you go over to him and take his hand to walk with him
• When Quinn cries and you say, "It's okay. I'm here." Or when you want to play with him, "Hey, Little Buddy!" or "Hi, Quinny!"
• Memorial Day at Aunt Jacque and Uncle Freddy's house, when Logan asked Landry to take his plate to the trash, you said, "I'll get the cup." I loved seeing you be a helper.
• Our play date with Bree at the park, watching you two play together on your own and be so grown up.
• Your "shows" on the fireplace with Ella.
• Leaving school one day, you yelled, "Have a good drive, Lindsay and Myka!" 
• Seeing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with you at the theater and you sat so still and held my hand through most of the movie
• When you interrupted your swim lesson to tell Ms. Patty, "My mommy is so pretty." Just like when I picked you up from school and your teachers told me that you had said the same thing, and that I was "pretty-ful." 
• The discussion we had just the other day about Good Will. You asked me, "What's that truck?" referring to the donation center. I told you that when people are finished using their things or have outgrown them, they donate them to people who will enjoy them more and can get use out of them. I gave the example about when Quinn outgrows his baby clothes, we could donate them to smaller babies who can use them. I gave another example about how if there were books that you had that you thought other children might enjoy reading you could donate them. You then said, "Mommy, I want to donate some toys to the children." I could have cried right then. We talked about what a mitzvah it would be to do that, but I'm not sure you really understood that if you donate them, you won't have them again. I did remind you about the donation you made to the Paci Fairy for the babies in the hospital, and that helped you understand that you'll never see these things again, but you still said you wanted to give some of your toys, specifically your trucks. When we got home, all on your own, you started looking through your toys. We will definitely be doing this, and I am so proud of you and how you think! 
• Your singing voice - it's so sweet as you sing along to your "Banner" CD in the car - and any other song you know these days!
• Your precious smile while jumping into the trampoline park pit. "Can I do it again, Mommy?" you kept asking.
• Building our "city" together with masking tape on the carpet . . . it was pretty cool with a zoo, a lake, a bank, a school, a park, and later a railroad track!
• Many, many nights tucking you in, but one in particular when you told me, "I love you. And, I like you."
• Waking you up with a bag full of balloons to fill your crib the morning you turned two! We have made this a tradition, and tomorrow morning, we will fill your bed with balloons to celebrate THREE!! Can't wait to make another year of favorite memories with you, Angel!