Joergen is 3!!

How is it possible that our sweet baby Joergen is already 3?!

I've been behind (understatement!) on blogging and have so much to share about this little guy.  To start, here are some of Joergen's dearest loves at 3:

• Sucking his thumb
• "Chewies" and his old muslin swaddle wraps, which now serve as his favorite blanket.
• Sleeping (do not mess with his nap time)
• Douglas (Doug-wiss), his little stuffed dog
• Construction trucks, construction sites, and John Deere Earth Mover Action (vol. 1 and 2, thank you Papa!)
• "Workermans", tools, and machines
• His cousins (especially his best friend Colin) and Liam (Wee-am), his most favorite people.  He is a very possessive and protective brother! One morning, when he had to leave for Doreen's without Liam (who was in trouble for tackling Joergen out of anger over who was going to brush their teeth first), a very worried Joergen said to me, "Mom, will you please stay with my Wee-am while I'm gone?"
• Mac and cheese, chili, yogurt (oh-gurt), chocolate (chwok-whet), pears, fruit in general, Pirate Booty (the green kind only)
• Golf, basketball, baseball... games with balls in general!
• Reading stories
• Yard work (yawd wohk)... bubble-mowing, weed-pulling, dirt-scooping, stick-finding, hawd wohk!
• Taking the time to "smell the roses" - observing the little things, small details, and points of interest that would otherwise be easily overlooked, with a sense of wonder and curiosity.  Rarely does an ant, a sidewalk crack, or a stick go by him unnoticed.  He also picks up on the faintest of smells and littlest of noises.
• Imaginative play, especially when no one is looking.  I just adore listening in on him playing with action figures, construction trucks, cars, and trains, with his funny little story lines and pretend conversations.
• Making music, singing, and dancing.
• Declaring "favorites."  The best was a couple of weeks ago when he hit a nerf ball into the rose bushes, and I said, "Be careful when you get your ball out of the rose bush!" to which he replied, "Rose bush?! That's my favorite bush!"

Dislikes and pet peeves:

• Babysitters. He gets upset about even the idea of having one several days before the sitter is even scheduled to come!
• Sitting to have his picture taken (which is why I have far more videos of him than photos)
• The sound of lawnmowers, and especially weed whackers.
• Having his hair washed.  And the poor guy just has so much hair, so it's not a very quick process to begin with!
• Potty training

Where Liam is our puppy dog, Joergen is our cat (and sometimes, our kitten).  He goes from being disinterested and aloof to being sweet and affectionate, curling right up to you to cuddle, strictly on his terms.  If you have ever tried to get Joergen to give you a hug hello or good-bye, you know exactly what I'm talking about!   He is also an extremely funny little guy.  He has both the cutest little giggle and the biggest belly laugh... not to mention the most maniacal, devious, wide-open-mouth laugh!  And no one, no one can make Liam laugh like Joer.  He has a way of turning the foulest of Liam's moods into fits of giggles, and it rarely takes more than a silly noise, a nonsense statement, or some good ol' slapstick to get him there.

Joergen's 3rd birthday fell on a Wednesday, so we celebrated as a family that night before having a little party on the weekend.  When we woke up on his birthday and saw some balloons on his chair at the dining room table with a little party hat and noisemaker at everyone's place, he said to me in a whisper, "Is this for me?!?"  After patiently celebrating Liam's, Mommy's, and then Genevieve's birthdays, he just couldn't believe it was his turn! 

After Aunt Doreen's, he was so excited for his birthday presents that he wanted to open them even before cake (which was actually quite shocking!).

Frozen!

A trumpet!

Construction trucks!

And then... CAKE.

Make a wish!

Dig in, folks!

That Sunday, we had Nana, Grandpa, and our NJ family over that Sunday for a little construction-themed birthday party.  Liam helped me pick out all the decorations, and Joergen was thrilled!

What better to do at a construction party than start a rock band, of course, so that is exactly what everyone did.

Then it was time to play pin the... stop sign on the construction site?  Not really sure what mark they were supposed to be hitting with their stop sign stickers, but they had fun anyway :)

By request, Joergen's cake as chocolate with chocolate frosting, complete with traffic cone candles and a loader scooping up mini chocolate chips:

Liam asked if he could be the one to bring Joer his cake, and thankfully, he does not take after his mother-- the cake made it to the table without incident.

Make another wish, buddy!

Time to open more presents (what a lucky kid!).  Construction trucks that can go in the sand from Nana and Grandpa, and an awesome interactive Scooby Doo set and a tape measure from Uncle Tim and Aunt Jackie.

We also celebrated Grandpa's birthday that day, since his special day was just a few days away.  Not sure what in the world his present was, but he seemed pretty excited!

Afterwards, the boys scurried off to go play superheroes.  How cute are these two?!

Happy, happy 3rd birthday to our crime-fightin', tape-measurin' baby boy!