My dearest Miles,

As you can tell by reading other posts on this blog, you’ve had a lot to say lately.  You talk in your sleep almost every morning, and I always get a kick out of the funny things your unconscious brain comes up with.

It seems you’re equal parts sweetie-pie and hellion these days.  I suspect the balance is more like 80/20, but sometimes that 20% can feel like it’s taking over our whole world.  People warned me that 3 was harder than 2, and I think they’re probably right.  Your stubborn nature hasn’t gotten any less so, and you’re physically stronger now, so it’s harder to wrest you into submission for tasks like getting you into your carseat.

You never want to wear socks.  It’s really, really cold out.  It’s a good thing we got new windows recently, or you’d be short on toes for sure.

We haven’t gotten out of the house a whole lot this month.  We took a trip to central Iowa for a very belated Christmas with Uncle Tyler, Aunt Suzy, and Uncle Joe.  We tossed around the idea of going to Wisconsin for the trivia contest, but you and I ended up staying home while your dad went by himself.  It would have been fun, but I haven’t been feeling well lately, and that’s the kind of situation wherein even a shift to 75/25 could be murder.

The reason I haven’t been feeling well is due to our little Darth Vader, which is your nickname for the little brother or sister who’s going to arrive in August (probably).  You’ve been really sweet to me, when you happen to remember, tucking blankets up under my chin and giving me little kisses.  I’m sure you have no idea exactly how your life is going to change, but for the time being, you seem excited.  You’re sure it’s a little sister, though we’ve tried to explain that it could go either way.  You’ll have none of it.  I hope you’re not too disappointed if it’s a boy.  It turns out having a baby boy can be pretty wonderful.

We were making a list of the people to whom you wanted to give Valentines, and after we thought of your cousins and some of your friends, you said, “Don’t forget Darth!”

Other things you’ve been doing this month include riding around (indoors) on your new tricycle that Nana and Papa gave you, a little bit of playing outside in the snow, and making crazy faces on Photobooth.  You discovered that a few days ago, and I’ve had to delete hundreds of shots so they wouldn’t fill up the hard disk.  I did keep some of the gems, though.  Maybe kind of a lot.  I can’t help it!  You made a lot of gems!

Your art skills have really been blossoming lately.  We got you some dry erase markers to go with the easel Mubby and Skittergramps gave you for Christmas, and you can draw some pretty impressive things.  You like to make elaborate scenes that depict your favorite rhymes, like Humpty Dumpty and Jack and Jill.  You also like playing with Wikki Stix, which are these strange wax sticks they give away with kids meals at a restaurant we sometimes go to.  You played with them so much and they got so linty and disgusting that I had to buy some more from Amazon.  You do all kinds of crazy things with the Wikki Stix, but your favorite is probably to demand that Beanie, your dad or I form various body parts, which you then assemble into a Frankensteiny-looking Humpty Dumpty.

You’re definitely testing your boundaries lately.  When you do something you know you’re not supposed to do, like hitting someone or knocking things off a table, your response is to laugh and say, “That’s funny.”  I don’t think you really believe it’s funny—I think it’s a test to see whether we’ll laugh and agree with you, or whether we’ll scold you.

The problem is, sometimes it actually is funny.  It’s hard not to laugh when your naughtiness can be so hilarious.

Thanks for making funny trouble, Miles.  Life is not dull with you around.

Love,

Mommy