3 and a half

We certainly can't leave Kason out of all of these recent updates and being that he is 3.5 (as of yesterday), it seems like the perfect time.

Kason's stats: 37.5 lb and getting taller by the minute, it seems

This guy amazes me on a daily basis. I often wonder if he would be the same little boy we now know if he wasn't the oldest of 3. I worry that already, at his young age, he feels the pressures of being the oldest. I worry that Kyle and I sometimes forget that he is only 3 and expect too much of our little guy.

I think we also sometimes forget because of just how smart he is. He is so smart! Kyle got a snack out for Kason and Emily the other day. There were 6 in the package and Kyle asked how many he should give to each of them, to which Kason quickly replied, 3. Kyle, thinking it would be a teaching moment, was a little perplexed when Kason answered him very matter-of-factly. Really, kid, slow down!

Also, did you know he can read? I mean, really read. If I had to guess, I would say he is at a late first grade or early second grade reading level. He has, for a looong time, been obsessed with letters and their sounds. He began trying to put the sounds together over a year ago, but just mastered three letter words a few months ago. So, I bought him some BOB books. Since then, he hasn't looked back. He can string sounds together, knows when a vowel is long, short, or silent, and to break down compound words into their separate parts to figure out the whole word. He rarely comes to a word in a book that he cannot figure out himself and when he does, he asks us and then studies the word, depositing it into his crazy memory bank (we call him our little elephant because he never.forgets.anything!) for a while before moving on. Before he asks us, though, he will scan the pictures and the rest of the page to see if he can decipher the word himself given these context clues. Really, it is amazing to watch this kid read.

Aside from his love for all things academia, he is still a rough and tumble boy. He loves all things Cars and Cars 2 related, playing with his cars for hours every day. He loves to play baseball and man, can he hit that ball hard/far. He likes soccer, swinging, racing (but hates to lose), playing with the older boys on the street, wrestling with Daddy, driving his Jeep, school, riding his bike and his Razor, etc, etc.

He is still our cuddly little snuggle bug and an awesome big brother. He and Emily definitely have their moments, but there is no doubt just how much they love each other. Kason often tells us that Emily is his best buddy and Emily hates leaving 'her Kason' at school. Pick-up is great, though, as the two run to each other for hugs as if they haven't seen each other in years. Afterwards, they commence bickering over who gets to sit and who gets to stand on the stroller. :) He also loves to love on his baby brother, especially holding his hand, which has become a bit of a battle now that Noah needs his hands to hold toys and crawl and such.

He is happy, smart, loving, kind, playful, and oh-so-many more things I can't put into words, and on days when I'm wondering who he would be if he were an only child, I think of who he is now and know that he is exactly who God intended him to be. 3 kids in 3 years might not be for everyone, but we wouldn't have it any other way!