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| t h r e e |
My sweet boy is THREE years old!!! We celebrated Clark's third birthday in Utah this year at a Masters Family Reunion. He loved being at the reunion with all of his "friends" and got so many new cars! Sweet Marci baked brownies and we all sang to him and he felt so special! :)
Clark has the biggest sweet tooth ever (def. got that from me) so he was in Heaven! We had so much fun at the reunion! We basically just hung out with our awesome family, ate delicious food and played games all day and night!! My favorite things to do! Clark's cousin Phillip brought a bunch of his Disney Cars collection for Clark to play with all week...happy birthday to Clark!!!
♥ ♥ ♥
We also had a little family party the weekend we got back to celebrate with Sean & Kara. Yes, two parties, lucky little boy!! Grandma made Clark's favorite dinner, spaghetti (which he spit out and said he didn't like the texture, no surprise there!) and spent all day making Lightning & Mater cupcakes for Clark! She is seriously the best grandma ever!!! He was SO excited!!
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| She may have been more excited than him! |
He got some awesome presents - Magna Tiles from Grandma & Grandad, a cool construction truck set from Uncle Sean & Aunt Kara, Miss Fritter and Sarge from dad and a big Mac truck to put all his cars in from me! :)
Clark has changed and grown so much this past year. He is continually amazing me at how smart he is. He can count from 1-15, sing his ABC's and recognize some letters, knows all his colors, colors in the lines, can do 49 piece puzzles for ages 5+, knows all his shapes, knows all his animal sounds (but we're currently reviewing animal names because we realized he just calls them by their sounds!), gets himself dressed, is potty trained for day and night, knows how to pray, can unlock / open the front door and is so good at entertaining himself!
m o r n i n g r o u t i n e
Every morning Clark wakes up between 6:30 and 7:30, goes to the bathroom, puts all his cars into his lunchbox and comes downstairs. Then he sits at his little table in the kitchen and works on puzzles for an hour or more before coming to wake me up! If Mark is still here when he wakes up, he gives him cereal too. Otherwise he eats with me and Dylan.
After Dylan and I are up (Dyl sleeps until 9 or later), we all get dressed, which is our first struggle of the day. Clark HATES getting dressed and has to be distracted with a story from me in order to cooperate. We try to get out of the house for one outing every day and leave the house by 10 am but sometimes we don't make it out until 11. Places we go include the library, Target, to a playdate, Grandma's house or sometimes we do something that takes all day like the zoo. But it is SO hot in Texas right now so I never feel like going anywhere. I'm a bit of a homebody and if I didn't have kids I'd probably never leave the house so I guess it's good I have them!
o u t & a b o u t
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| on a hike with friends |
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| dinosaurs at the zoo |
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| at his friend Melanie's house |
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| his favorite place - the dentist! |
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| can you find Clark? |
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| Urban Air |
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| meeting Paw Patrol |
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| space camp @ the library |
n a p r o u t i n e
Nap is the real struggle these days! It's pretty much hit or miss. Clark has never been one to just go down for a nap. When he was a baby, he would only nap after nursing in my arms or take very short naps in the crib and then finish them on me. When he got older, he would go down with a story or movie but lately he has to be really tired (we have to have done something / gone somewhere) in order to fall asleep during a story. Then, if he does nap, it's SUCH a struggle to get him to go to bed at night! So we're kind of phasing his nap out, unless he's had a busy day, and in that case he falls asleep in the car and we transfer him. And then bedtime is just a struggle.
Clark sleeps in a Lightning McQueen bed, surprise, surprise!!
Since he's potty trained at night, Clark would wake up in the middle of the night yelling that he needed to go pee and since Mark was always the one to go up and help him out of his crib, he had the idea to move him to a big kid bed. At first we had a bunk bed but it didn't fit in the room very well and we thought it might be more fun for him to have a Lightning bed! He agreed!
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| before |
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| after |
But ever since moving him to his big kid bed, Clark just does NOT go to sleep at night! If he hasn't napped, he will fall asleep during the bedtime story. But if has napped and isn't exhausted, he will fight sleep like the plague! He hates the whole bedtime routine - bath, pajamas, brushing teeth, because it means bedtime is coming soon. He will pretty much run around bouncing off the walls during the whole routine and if he does end up letting us put him in bed for a story, as soon as we try to leave (sometimes before we're out the door) he's up out of bed and coming out after us. We've been trying to come up with solutions and some ideas we've had / gotten from people are -
-pretend to sleep in his bed next to him until he goes to sleep
-shut his door after the second time he comes out of the room
-get a childproof door knob handle so he can't come out
So far we've tried the first one and it totally worked but Mark actually fell asleep and didn't come out for hours, HA! Typical Mark.
m e a l t i m e
Clark is one of the pickiest kids in the world!!! Even things that every kid likes (chicken nuggets, mac 'n cheese, pizza) Clark won't eat some days! Here is a list of everything Clark eats regularly (though some days he refuses to eat anything on this list!) He will ALWAYS eat cereal. Clark would eat cereal every meal of every day if he could. His favorites are Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Cap 'n Crunch Berries but those are only on special occasions. Daily ones he loves are Cheerios, Special K Fruit & Yogurt, Life and Rice Chex. He also has never been known to say no to cookies, cake, ice-cream or lollipops :)
Clark's approved food list:
breakfast -
Cereal
Waffles
Pancakes
Yogurt smoothies
Homemade smoothies
Scrambled eggs w/ ham & cheese
lunch -
Chicken nuggets
Grilled ham & cheese sandwiches (not all the time)
Turkey sandwiches (not all the time)
Ham & crackers (not all the time)
Pizza lunchables
Mac 'n cheese (not all the time)
Cheese pizza (most of the time)
dinner -
Stir fry (not all the time)
Spaghetti (not all the time)
Cheeseburgers (not all the time)
anything on the lunch list
Clark would live on snacks if he could! He loves pretty much all snacks - goldfish, chips, crackers, pretzels, cheez-its, etc. He lives for fruit snacks! Some healthy snacks he loves are apples, grapes and carrots w/ ranch. Sometimes he likes strawberries, watermelon, and cuties. He also LOVES Naked juice, which is pretty much the only way we get veggies into him (besides carrots). So, having listed out all of these foods, I guess he's not totally picky. It's just some days he won't eat anything we offer and it's also hard because we like to make new things for dinner but we always have to make him something else because he won't touch anything new with a three foot pole. I always used to say that my kids would eat what I made for dinner or they wouldn't eat at all! But if he doesn't eat, he's really cranky and doesn't sleep well. So that went out the window, ha!
n i g h t r o u t i n e
Our night routine hasn't been as consistent since Dylan joined the family. It feels like every night is chaos getting them to bed. Clark used to love bath time and stories but now every night is a constant battle. I'm pretty much the only one who can get him into the bath without a fight because I'm an expert distracter. I make up fun, new games on the spot that keep his attention or tell a wild story starring Lightning McQueen and his pet dog Sparky (made him up one day) and Clark will listen to me and let me undress him, bathe him, and wash his hair. Sometimes I'm able to distract him through the entire bath and have him come out too but other times, once he's in the bath, he starts playing and then screams when it's time to come out! We never know which it's going to be.
After bath we put them in pajamas, brush their teeth and I take Dylan to the nursery for stories and Mark takes Clark to his room. Since Clark stopped caring about stories at bedtime (he still enjoys being read to, just not when he knows it means bedtime) we've started letting him watch a short video or music video on our phone before bed because that will get him into bed. But then when it's over and we try to leave, he pops right back up!
If it were up to me, I'd just let him play until he fell asleep and then transfer him. Mark, on the other hand, always feels the need to go up and check on him and try to put him back to bed. So usually what happens is Mark spends hours trying to get Clark to go to sleep while I shower, eat, and work until finally I want to spend time with Mark and go give it a try. By that time Clark is pretty tired so usually I can get him to go to sleep within 10-15 min. But it's definitely time for a change after months of this struggle and I have to say, our current method of skipping nap and/or Mark falling asleep up there with him is going pretty great! hahaha
a l l a b o u t c l a r k
favorite color: red
favorite toy: Lightning McQueen
favorite fruit: orange
favorite TV show: Lightning McQueen
favorite food: cereal
favorite song: Real Gone by Sheryl Crow
favorite snack: fruit snacks
favorite drink: juice
favorite animal: giraffe
favorite book: Lightning McQueen
best friend: "Dee-yeh...I love Xela too...and Grandma too!"
favorite thing to do: wouldn't answer but it's play with his cars or play outside!
favorite holiday: wouldn't answer but prob. his birthday or Christmas!
favorite thing to take to bed: my toys
when you grow up you want to be: a big boy
♥ ♥ ♥
Clark's favorite thing in the world is his "dars". He has an insane collection of Disney Cars and carries them around in a Cars lunchbox wherever he goes. His favorite thing to do is line them up in different spots around the house. At night, when he should be sleeping, he lines them all up and categorizes them by size and/or color and then shines a flashlight on them and falls asleep talking to them. His cars are his best friends!
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| his big birthday present! |
Clark's favorite presents to get are anything with Lightning McQueen on them! His collection includes a Lightning McQueen backpack with his name on it, sleeping bag, pajamas, shirt, jackets, shoes, puzzles (8), books, coloring books, stickers, bed, sheets, pillows, toy chest, lunchbox, water bottles, plates, fork, spoon, cup, blanket, ride on car, and of course every style, size, and type of Lightning McQueen car ever made!! He has talking Lightning, remote control Lightning, and like 15 different car styles (one from each movie, Blue Lightning, Lego Lightning, Shovel Lightning, Tumbleweed Lightning, etc.)
His all-time favorite thing to do is listen to Real Gone by Sheryl Crow on repeat really loud and race his cars around the house!!! Dylan loves to join him! Lately, he's also started requesting Thunder by Imagine Dragons because it's the main song in Cars Three!
I never thought I'd know so much about cars but being a boy mom is actually really fun! I get to do princess parties and play with little girls all the time for my job so it's refreshing to get to do something different with my boys. I wish I had more time to just play with Clark because playing cars with him is so fun!! We take them on all kinds of adventures, have races, catch bad guys and put them in jail, and Clark catches on super quick and whatever new game or plot line I introduce with the cars, he starts adding to it and will play that way for days after! For now, Dylan is still too young to play with Clark because he really just enjoys coming in and messing up Clark's lined up cars, which results in a meltdown from Clark. So Clark usually will go in my room and shut the door and play in there while I do chores and watch Dylan. He is the best self entertainer!!
When Clark's not playing with his cars inside, he LOVES being outside and going places! Have I mentioned it's unbearably hot these days?? I hate being outside but I will let them play for like an hour in the morning and sometimes we'll go on a short walk. Usually we just go run an errand or go swimming at my mom's, which is another favorite of Clark's. He could swim all day if we let him and afterwards, he's always starving and will eat almost anything so it's a win win!!
Clark also loves loves LOVES playing with other kids and going to people's houses, mostly for the new toys, HA! But he really is so friendly and social and just fascinated by other kids. I always try to do more playdates and such but I don't think he gets as much social interaction as he would like. I'll be excited for him to go to school and come Fall, we will start going to SPARK too, which is like a free pre-school type program here that parents attend with the kids.
So I used to be Clark's favorite parent, but after Dyl came along (who is even more of a mama's boy than Clark if that's possible!) Clark and Mark became pretty inseperable. They have such a special bond and understand each other so perfectly. I love the way Mark is with Clark and Clark just adores him!! He is always requesting daddy to do things with him and prefers dad to put him to bed every night (probably because dad is a pushover, HA!)
Clark is also obsessed with his brother. He's loved him from day one and they have the sweetest, most special relationship. Dylan wants to be just like Clark and thinks he's the coolest person ever and Clark is always looking out for Dilly and cheering him up when he's sad. He can't wait for Dylan to wake up every morning and when he first sees him, he gets so excited and gives him a big hug!
♥ ♥ ♥
l e t t e r s t o c l a r k
My dear Clark Wilde,
At three years old, you are a little ball of energy and full of questions! You love to talk, talk, talk all day and are oh so curious! You are constantly doing and saying the funniest things and never fail to amaze me. My favorite thing about you is how much you love and care for everyone. You have the sweetest, purest spirit and are a little peace of Heaven in our home. Yes, you try my patience on a daily basis and sometimes I want to sell you to the zoo (and let you know it) but even after I lose my temper, you are so quick to forgive me and come cuddle with me. I can never stay mad at you for long. You have us all wrapped around your little finger and it's so hard not to spoil you because seeing the look on your face and the "oh my dosh!" when you open anything Cars, melts my heart. When you're happy, the whole world is smiling!
One of my favorite things to do with you is go places just the two of us, like the zoo, playdates, or the store because I love taking you out into the world and watch you experience things. Your imagination, creativity, and sense of wonder is amazing to watch. You are the little boy I've always dreamed of and I can't wait to watch you grow up and do extraordinary things. I truly believe you can do anything you want! You are so smart and love figuring things out. You're going to be just like your daddy and he's the best person I know.
I hope you know how wonderful you are and how much joy and love you bring to my life. Every day is an adventure with you and I wish we could just play, laugh, sing and dance all day long. I'm going to miss these days so much. Every night when I go up to your room to make sure you're covered and safe, I feel a pang in my heart that it's one day closer to you growing up, moving out, and no longer being my sweet little baby. I have already forgotten the days when I used to rock you to sleep, carry you to your crib and lay you down. I miss nursing you and letting you fall asleep at my boob and suck to your little heart's content. I don't regret a single second of any of it. I would go back and do it all over again in a heartbeat. You are the greatest blessing in my life, along with your brother. You are everything to me. I love you forever.
your mama
Dear Clark,
Honestly I have a hard time remembering how life was before you were here with us. I'm always excited to see how you have learned and grown each day. My favorite thing to do is to physically watch you learn and grow. This is happening a lot lately as you learn new things. You started drawing this year and you've been fascinated watching me draw. When you first started to draw you'd sit down sometimes for an hour just coloring away. I quickly found out how talented you were. You naturally would stay relatively close to inside the lines and you do a wonderful job at choosing colors. More recently you have come to enjoy doing puzzles and sports. I have been truly amazed at how quickly you are able to put together a puzzle. And the way in which you do it. You always pick up a piece and put it in the right spot one after the other. And these aren't the little baby puzzles that you're doing, these are 48 piece puzzles for 5 and up. This means that you are doing the puzzle the right way. You are finding a combination of colors in a piece that you've already put down and matching it with one of the free pieces. You're going to be able to do much larger puzzles quickly and I can see how this is going to lead to a love for learning as I teach you that all learning is just solving puzzles.
So sports... I haven't been the best coach that I could be to you but you have always wanted to be outside so sports have naturally been an interest of yours. I have taught you to hit a softball off a tee, how to throw a football, and of course how to kick a soccer ball. I can't wait for this next year to start playing more sports with you. You're already fast and careful with your kicks, so I know that you're going to be a great, disciplined player.
I love you Clark and I love seeing you grow. Keep being patient with me as I learn how to be the best father I can be.
love dad
♥ ♥ ♥
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