3 Years

1)  I can't believe Fuzzy is three now.  In a major achievement, he has learned to kiss properly.  Instead of slobbering or licking me gently, he will now give an actual peck on the cheek.

2)  In less polite but also adorable news, I present two poop-related stories which showcase that creative play is not necessarily for the best:

A:  Fuzzy was playing in my bedroom as I got ready for work.  He gathered a pile of toys on the ottoman, and stood behind it, telling me he was The Giver.  Periodically he would call me over and give me a toy.  Then, I heard him yell, "Mama, The Giver has to poop!"  I ran over to him to bring him to the potty, at which point, he explained that The Giver had pooped in his underwear.  As I cleaned him up, he started laughing and gleefully chanting, "Poop-giver, poop-giver, poop-giver."  Sigh, no thank you, poop-giver.

B:  Fuzzy has been pretending to be a baby turtle recently.  He will hide under a blanket or something, say he is under his shell, and then ask Mama Turtle (me, obviously) to come hug him/play with him/call him to come out.  Minutes following the poop-giver incident, when he was already running around pants-less, he ran over to me and pointed to a spot on my floor: "Mama, I pooped!" he said.  "WHY BABY?  Why didn't you come to the potty??  We JUST talked about this!"  "But Mama, I was being a baby turtle, and I tried to lay an egg."

3)  This month Fuzzy has been concerned with "bad mans" and appropriate courses of justice.  On our walk the other day, he took a stick, broke it in two, and handed me half.  "Dis is your sword Mama.  And dis is my sword.  We knights.  We turtles.  We turtle-knights.  Come on turtle-knight Mama, let's go find some naughty people and hit them with our swords."

4)  The sibling relationship in a nutshell: whenever Sprout cries to be picked up, Fuzzy immediately wants to be picked up too.  "Hold me Mama, hold me!"  Most inconvenient timing ever.  However, he is also very protective of his little brother - I put both of them on a pool table, and Fuzzy immediately chastised me for my negligence.  He ran over and bear-hugged Sprout, saying, "Mama, he going to fall Mama!!"  He will also try to reassure Sprout in the car when he is crying - "It okay Sprout, we almost home Sprout!"

5)  In spite of the poop stories above, Fuzz is actually pretty good about going to the bathroom, or at least, not going in his pants.  In the backyard one day, while I was distracted with Sprout, Fuzzy dug a hole, pulled down his pants, and when I turned around, was concentrating hard on peeing in the hole.

6)  The Pit taught Fuzzy a song.  The song goes like so: "The Grand Old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men, he marched them up a hill and he marched them down again."  I didn't realize that The Pit had sung this song to Fuzz, and was thus mighty confused when the kid demanded that I sing "The Grundle of the Ork" for him.  He did not appreciate my confusion, pleas that I didn't know this song, or the resulting laughter when he repeated the title over and over for emphasis.