Somehow another year has already passed and Graham is 3! Thankfully we didn't have anything planned for his birthday as we haven't ever done big birthday parties for our kids, so having a "quarantine birthday" didn't seem like that big of a deal. Graham enjoyed opening presents throughout the day, talking to his grandparents on FaceTime (my parents even made cupcakes for themselves and wore party hats so that they could join in on the fun from afar!), eating cupcakes, playing with bubbles, and even seeing a friend who stopped by to wish him Happy Birthday from his car.
Here is a snapshot of Graham at age 3...
Height: 37 inches, which means he grew 4.5 inches in the last year which puts him in the 40th percentile for height. This is the most that any of our kids grew from age 2 to age 3. Although he is still shorter than Faith was at this age, he is about the same height as Alexis was, and he is 2 inches taller than Jack was. A year ago Graham was the same height as Jack was at that age, so it just goes to show that Jack’s blood disorder really did have an impact on his growth.
Weight: He is about 27 lbs, which makes him the heaviest of any of our kids at this age (although it’s funny to call him heavy, since he’s only in the 7th percentile for weight). In comparison, Jack was about 24.5 lbs and the girls were just over 26 lbs.
Size Clothes: Recently I switched all of his clothes to the 3T stuff we had from Jack, except for a few pairs of longer 2T pants.
Night Sleep: Graham still shares a room with Jack. He moved in a little over a year ago, and thankfully they both sleep great most nights. Some nights it takes a little bit for Graham to calm down and fall asleep because he wants to keep the light on longer than Jack does, but most nights we let them work it out so we don’t have to get involved. Occasionally Graham wakes up during the night, but when he does it’s usually just something easy to fix like a bad dream or he needs his blanket put back on. Graham’s bed time is between 7:30 and 8:00, like the older kids, and he wakes between 7:00 and 7:30 most mornings. Sometimes he sleeps as late as 8:30! Thankfully, Jack has gotten really good at sneaking out of the room so that Graham can keep sleeping.
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| Jack enjoys climbing into Graham's crib and reading with him before they turn the light off at night and after they wake up in the morning (if they are both awake) |
Naps: Graham stopped napping around age 2.5. This was shocking and disappointing to me since our other kids napped fairly consistently until age 3. Occasionally he falls asleep in the car during school pick up, although this hasn’t been happening since school was dismissed for COVID-19 on March 16. Just this week we drove around for a little over an hour in the afternoon, and he fell asleep. Sadly I think he is a bit sleep deprived, but I think that's just part of being a younger sibling trying to keep up with older siblings.
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| When school was still in session I would often take long walks in the afternoon and sometimes Graham would fall asleep in the stroller |
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| This was two days before his 3rd birthday |
Food: I know I handled food differently with Graham than I did with our trio for a few reasons. First of all, Graham had so many intolerances when he was younger that it was hard to find foods that he could eat that he was willing to try (we still limit dairy as I'm not sure it really works for him yet). Secondly, breakfast became a bar eaten in the car when we had to leave the house at 7:30 for school drop off (and most mornings I had to wake Graham up so we could leave on time). Another reason is that Graham is picky. Jack was also extremely picky and I know that we fought way too many battles trying to get the poor kid to eat what I made for dinner. Most days Graham eats what we eat for dinner, but if I know it is something he won't touch I just give him PB&J or chicken nuggets. His current favorite foods are: Z bars, waffles, pumpkin pancakes, vanilla almond milk yogurt, sausage, berries, broccoli, chicken nuggets, PB&J, crackers, pesto pasta, burgers, and fries. He likes to drink juice, chai (a little cold Tazo chai and almond milk), and smoothies. Like the rest of his family, he loves sweets.
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| A rare Mommy and Graham donut date when the big kids were in school |
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| Excited for a cookie |
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| We've been eating some ice cream cones while we've been stuck at home during quarantine. Graham actually ate some real ice cream in a cone and it seemed to be okay for his body. |
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| When he drinks out of his water bottle he often makes the same gulping sound and the same sweet face that he made when he was nursing as a tiny baby. It's funny how sometimes I look at him while he drinks and I'm taken back to two years ago. I don't get many glimpses of the baby he once was anymore! |
Milestones: All I can think of right now is things he hasn't done that I should have been a little better about working on with him. He can walk up the stairs no problem, but he still turns around and goes backwards to get down the stairs (or he slides down on his tummy). He is super strong willed and, although I've attempted to get him to do many things, he has refused. (He won't drink out of an open cup. He still sleeps in a crib. He hasn't potty trained, despite two good attempts on my part. And he won't dress or undress himself, although he can take off his own pants, socks, and shoes). But there are some new things that he does now. He takes showers with Jack. He is learning his numbers and colors. He can ride a tricycle and a small balance bike. He can cut paper. He can find his own snacks in the pantry. And he seems to have stopped biting people, which is a wonderful thing that probably has a lot to do with the fact that his speech has come a very long way!
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| Riding a tricycle with his rainboots on. If he puts on his own footwear, it's rainboots or crocs since they are both easy to slip on and off. |
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| He loves to cut paper with these preschooler friendly scissors. He makes a giant mess of paper all around him when he does this, but at least it keeps him busy for awhile! |
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| Practicing color matching on St. Patrick's Day. |
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| Climbing in the pantry. The snacks are actually in the a drawer by his knee, but he was just being silly. |
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| This is something my older kids didn't get a chance to do at Graham's age because a) we only had one iPad and I didn't want to deal with whining and complaining and b) we weren't stuck at home for a pandemic. The older kids spend a few days a week playing games on ABC Mouse while I cook dinner, and I set Graham up on the iPad. |
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| Trying to keep up with the big kids on their scooters during one of our many neighborhood walks during the quarantine |
Speech: Considering the fact that a year ago Graham was just started to say single words and six months ago he was just starting to put four words together, his speech is amazing now. There are still things he says that we don't quite understand, but he speaks using multiple sentences at a time now. He expresses himself really well and uses some advanced words. It's like he was just taking it all in during the first couple of years since all of our kids are very verbal, and now he has joined them in trying to talk the most at the dinner table 😆. Graham continued to do speech therapy up until his 3rd birthday, but we hadn't seen our speech therapist much in 2020 since she had knee surgery and Graham was doing so well anyway. His last therapy session was a couple of weeks ago so we had to do it through a video app on the iPad because of the restrictions with COVID-19. It was hilarious watching Graham interact with the Speech Therapist (Jessica) and the Care Coordinator (Charity) through the screen. He kept saying things like, "I'm going to show you something amazing," and then he'd find a toy to show them. When we would try to talk to each other about things he would say, "Stop!" because he wanted to be the one talking. He still drops the S sound for words like 'stop' so it comes out 'top' and he substitutes the T sound for a K (because sounds like betuz, okay sounds like otay), but these are normal developmental things for kids his age so right now it's nothing to be concerned about.
This is the first year that I've been able to ask Graham the annual birthday questions that I've been asking the older kids!
What is your name? Graham Mister Howard [it's actually Graham Andrew Howard, but we do call him "mister" and "mister Graham" a lot, so I guess he thinks that's really part of his name!]
How old are you? Teeny
When is your birthday? Saturday [no, it was on a Wednesday, but I was impressed that he said a day of the week!]
How old is Daddy? Big
How old is Mommy? Teeny
What is your favorite color? Blue
What is your favorite food? Green
Who is your best friend? Max
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| I would say both Max and Peregrine are Graham's "best friends" right now, besides his siblings of course. I feel so lucky to have friends that have kids around the same age as Graham. We enjoyed doing a toddler swap during the school year and these boys loved playing together at each other's houses. |
Favorite song? Happy Birthday
Favorite animal? That one [pointing to Faith’s stuffed puppy]
What are you scared of? Monsters
What makes you happy? You [pointing to mom 😍]
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| He may be a 3-year-old, but he still loves to cuddle and doesn't mind being carried. He still gives me the biggest kisses all of the time. |
Where is your favorite place to go? To Michigan
What is your favorite toy? Sleeping bag [I don't think this is true, but he was playing in it recently]
What do you want to be when you grow up? A bird
What is Mommy’s favorite thing to do? Pee in the potty [I guess he thinks I really enjoy this since I want him to start doing it too 😏]
What is Daddy’s favorite thing to do? Buckle
Some other recent photos:
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| He LOVES this Ninja Turtle costume that I bought him for $1 at the NM Parents of Multiples Garage Sale |
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| Dressing up is always fun |
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| Swinging is great and we can't wait for parks to re-open! |
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| Hiking with the backpack that he refused to put on his back |
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| He still looks small next to Daddy |
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| Before the quarantine we were spending a lot of time at the climbing gym |
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| Making a mess of chalk is just as much fun as climbing |
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| Singing loudly in the backyard. He still doesn't sing real songs like the other kids did at this age, but that's probably more my fault than his as I'm sure I sang to the other kids more. |
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| At High Desert Park |
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| Riding the ATV at Grammy and Grandpa's |
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| Our first outdoor dinner of the year, and Graham had to make a silly face. He enjoys being the family clown. |
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| With his favorite animal, his Koala. He says it, "Fwala." |
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| He has always been mesmerized by water. |
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| He was downstairs all by himself and I found him playing this "fishing" game |
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| So excited about the Easter Egg Hunt |
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| The day after his birthday he woke up and wanted to play with his new bubble lawn mower. He was outside by 7:15 a.m. despite it being a little chilly. |
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| He definitely has his own ideas. He demanded that he eat his breakfast in the living room on this morning. |
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| Bubbles are the best. |
