The West Side Story: Tucker

Tucker,

You are a magnificent little boy. You are so goofy and are such a weird kid! I love it. You are always talking to yourself and making the funniest faces for no reason at all; then laughing hysterically when you are "caught". At home you are hardly ever quiet. You are always talking or singing. You are absolutely content to play by yourself most of the time and you are always in your own little world.

Your favorites right now are Batman, PJ Masks, Paw Patrol, and Legos (mostly Ninjago and Batman). You also love stuffed animals. You got 4 small stuffed Paw Patrol Pups for your birthday and you love them so much! Plus you have this small baby cougar that you call "your kitty", as well as a Build A Bear dinosaur. All of them sleep in your bed with you, no exceptions.

Demanding has been your new thing and it drives us nuts. We have to correct you so often that Trenton now says "Mommy...Tucker is demanding again...!" Also I've just noticed that you are a huge backseat driver. It goes with your need to demand, definitely, but we have been driving way longer than you've been alive, kid! However, watching you and your brother interact and talk just melts my heart (when you aren't fighting). The conversations you two have are hilarious. I really hope you boys include your little sibling in things and are all this close to each other.

At school you don't talk at all. Your teachers say you are finally starting to open up some and you said a whole 4-word sentence one day! I just laugh because that is exactly how I was at school and opposite at home. When you come home you always talk about what you did and are always singing songs you've learned at school. You told me today that you like to chase the girls at school with Trenton.....too young for that, kid!!

Sometimes you are excited about having a baby sibling but I think you have no idea. Every time you hear a baby cry or babble loudly, you always cover your ears and say it's too loud. You have no idea what's coming, sweet boy. You ask multiple times a day where "our baby" is and I have to tell you over and over that it is in my belly still.

Your ultimate favorite "person" is still Roosevelt. You missed him so much on our last vacation! The few days since we have been back, if we aren't home, you ask to go back to him constantly. He is your BFF and it is such a sweet relationship.

All of our guys just love you so much and love to play with you. You have your favorites of course, which is usually the ones who are willing to play with you the most. You really do love having "our guys" and you always get so sad when we are off. Every day you ask, "are we off today or on today?" And when I tell you we are off, you get sad.

Your motor skills have gotten so much better this year. You are able to keep up with Trenton and bigger kids his age a lot easier now, though you still jump like a baby and I absolutely love it. You are so good at putting tiny Legos together and puzzles are one of your favorite pastimes. Your teachers were so surprised to see you sit and do a puzzle for 30 minutes straight at school one day.

Eating habits are still horrendous. We really do have no idea how you are still alive. All you ever eat is peanut butter sandwiches, fresh fruit, and all the crackers and sweets you can sneakily get your hands on. You have gone an entire day without eating before because you refused to eat what we gave you. When will this end??? The past couple weeks though you have even been refusing peanut butter so I seriously have no idea what to feed you that is even remotely nutritious.

For your birthday you got a singing card and $10 from Gigi and Pimpa so we took you to Toys R Us to do some birthday shopping! We let you pick out your gifts from us too. Daddy and I love letting you guys pick out your gifts at the store and seeing how you choose items. Also how asking "is this expensive?" Is a lot of times the first thing you ask. That's my boy; I'm raising you well 😊

I also made you some Batman cookies! That was way more work than I imagined and sadly I ran out of time and patience to make some for your entire class like I wanted. But we ate lunch at Chick Fil A where the only thing you eat are "shries", and every time someone sang you Happy Birthday, you got this huge goofy smile on your face. It was adorable. You got to choose a lot of things we did in the afternoon and you definitely loved all the attention on you!

I took you to the doctor for your 3 year old check up the day after your birthday and you have a clean bill of health! I am fully surprised that you are in the 50th percentile for all your measurements. You don't eat!! I guess last year your iron levels were low so the doctor wanted to draw blood again this year to see if you have an iron deficiency still. He said you just need to eat more meat but then I just laughed and told him you were a self-proclaimed vegetarian 😏I did ask if he thought you needed to drink Pediasure but he said it isn't necessary. It definitely won't hurt but it's also not necessary. You also got a flu shot for the first time ever so hopefully that goes well! Flu shots always make me nervous. You were such a big boy though and didn't cry at all!!! They did a preliminary vision test though and you failed so now we have an appointment to see a pediatric ophthalmologist at the end of November. I hope you don't need glasses this young! However, you would be one darn cute kid with glasses!

I am so excited to see how you grow over the next year and how you change. Hopefully eating better 😏 you are an amazing little boy and I am in awe every day by your cute little voice (when you aren't whining or demanding) and your adorable little face. You amaze me, kid!

Always falling asleep anywhere! You used to especially love playing with your "boo-boos"

Christmas 2016!

Asleep with your "boo-boos" again!

Had to do the class sit-on-dad picture!

Asleep again...Roosevelt was so sweet to let you sleep on him!

BFFs!

You both grew so much from the first day of school 2016 to the last day of school 2017

Our first trip to Kansas City....licking the ice cream statue....

Cotton Candy for the first time at your first baseball game

We went to Chicago in July and it was so much fun! You got to ride a train and bus numerous times

Easter 2017. So cute and handsome

Easter family photo

Always making silly faces

There were a few weeks where you just couldn't stop hurting yourself. You got this same nasty welt in the same some on your poor head 3 times within just a few weeks

Not only are you the slowest eater alive, but also the messiest

You look like a bobblehead

Cousin Kaiden! You weren't too thrilled with another baby around :)

You love your costumes! This day you were Owlette John Cena

Super heroes to the rescue!

That cute little smile...already it is used to try and get you out of trouble. I know it'll only get worse

Angry Eyes

Daddy time

We went to the Broncos stadium while in Denver on vacation

One of our favorite places to go while in Kansas City! Sadly it shut down :(

Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs with GiGi and Pimpa

Your favorite person to talk to on facetime, Kennedy! Or Chicken. You all call each other Chicken and think it is the funniest thing in the world. You and Kennedy are kindred spirits and are just alike

It was the beginning of June, but still snowing on top of Pike's Peak

Okoboji time!

Had to wear your floaties even though you refused to go in the water

Our neighbors went with us this year and you became Avery's little pet. For some strange reason you let her "bathe" you by continuously dumping buckets of water on your head. You won't even let me do that in the bath without screaming your head off. But you were soaking up all the attention she was giving you. You even let her spoon feed you at the table!

Happy Father's Day!

Chicago at the famous bean

Chicago

Cool dude modeling in front of the Bean

First day of three year old preschool

have to get my annual backpack picture on the first day of school

It just so happened that you were angry with me when I wanted to take this picture, so it made it extra funny :)

We went to Branson, MO right before your birthday and these sting rays kept jumping up on the glass

Your favorite part of Branson was the zoos and being able to feed and touch all the animals. I think I may have my animal lover child in you :)

We met up with some Boys Town friends while in Branson and you missed your friends! Whitney and I have already decided that you and Badynn are going to marry one day. Look how cute this photo is!!