The Last Day of Being Three and a Half

Three is going out like gangbusters! Tonight, I picked up Ian and Trevor after school (Connor got to hang out with Aunt Cindy and Annika for the evening) and took them over to Ian's martial arts lesson.


Mr. Meza is the instructor and we are really pleased with the structure and the principles he applies in class and expects at home, school and everywhere. Ian really enjoys the class-Tom got to take him for the first class, where he was quite animated and talkative. Today he appeared to know what the routine was and followed along well. He has another fan in one of the other parents who continue to comment on his ability to follow directions and stay focused. It was also amusing to watch him favor his left foot and left hand for kicks and punches. ( I am secretly proud of my left-handed, left-footed wonder! Go Left Handers!)

Mr. Meza talked a lot about respect and allow the children to answer how they can show respect in different places. He also was very strict on directions and discipline and the kids responded well since he remained upbeat and kept the activity level moving along well.


Following that, we loaded both boys into the car for a night at Chase Field watching the Diamondbacks vs. the Rockies. Trevor took a nice cat nap in the car while Ian sang Foo Fighter songs. ("Foo Fighters are good guys!")



It was Educator night for several groups-Tom got tickets as a fundraiser for the high school baseball team, so we saw several colleagues in our section. One of my schools was bringing the Student of the Month kids to the game. We had terrific seats, in left field bottom level. It was a little harder for the boys to see the plate and the action, but they had fun nonetheless.


We allowed the boys to stand on their seats during home runs and exciting parts. They got some excellent math skills in adding up the runs and also working on some addition and subtraction between the scores of the teams. (because you can learn while you are having fun and plus Aunt Terri would be proud) Trevor was very interested in counting the runs and was becoming impatient when the D'backs continued to have seven runs but not eight. Ian was concerned as to why Trevor's hat had a "D" on it and Ian's had an "A" (Arizona).

A rare photo of me! Surprise! Tom bought the boys some Cold Stone ice cream and that sealed our fate of leaving early (which we completely planned on doing-the boys did last longer than anticipated!). The sugar rush and the small quarters were enough and so we headed out along with all the rest of the parents with young children. The boys were terrific-well-behaved, fun and they sang and chatted the entire way home.


At 10:00, we discussed with Ian that his birthday would be in 2 hours. "TWO HOURS??!!" He chose dino nuggets for his birthday dinner, Tom chose spaghetti or tacos and they both agreed on ice cream cake.

And before he went to bed tonight, I hugged and kissed him for the last time that he will ever be three. And while we joked about it and laughed, it felt bittersweet and breathless. To think that I cried when he was finally a toddler and not a baby. And now he is not a toddler, but a preschooler and a young boy.

I still have 12 minutes left of age three. I think I'll give it one more kiss goodbye.