3 years old!

ok, so i've been drafting this for 3 weeks, and i'm finally posting gabe's 3 year update. it's been a work in progress - it seems i'm never in the right frame of mind to write on my blog...whether it's a headache, a busy day and i need "me" time, or if gabe's driven me up the wall and i don't have a positive thought in my head...just gotta suck it up and get it written, otherwise he'll be 7 when i get to it :P

where do i begin? like i said, it's the terrible 3's...and even my parents have had their own tantrum incidents with gabe. for me though, it's a daily ritual - something sets gabe off, and it's off to battle. whether he didn't get enough warning about something, or i made him get off the toilet too soon after doing his business, or i pushed the elevator button instead of him, or if i told him we were going to eat cheeseburgers at the mall but he wanted to eat rice, or if i just looked at him wrong...it's never-ending. i'm really trying to be more patient with gabe, but it's definitely an uphill battle.

preschool has been going well. whether it's me or chris doing drop-off, gabe likes us to stay for circle time on the mat until he feels comfortable (we're the only parents there :P) . but once we're gone, at least there aren't any tears...phew! i had my first duty day so we could celebrate gabe's birthday with a special snack! i tried to observe from afar and interact with the other kids and not hover around gabe, and i was a little sad to see that he preferred to play solo...he doesn't like it when other kids crowd him, so he just leaves and will go to the messaging centre or just wander aimlessly until something catches his attention. for awhile he just stood on the ladder until the teacher talked him down. funny guy.

gabe continues to chat up a storm...it's hard to believe only 6 months ago we were struggling to understand him and encourage him to speak clearly. now he doesn't stop...whether he's yelling at us from his crib, or whining that we drove the wrong way home from grandma/grandpa's house, or asking for mcdonald's for dinner, or demanding to watch kai-lan...we definitely have a louder household :P we're still working on enunciation...he has a hard time with some of the consonants like f and k. i still get a kick out of the abc's - you never know when gabe'll just burst into song and dance. he did it today at the bank. good times.

thanks to living social, i bought a 1-month pass for gymboree, and gabe's really enjoyed it. circle time isn't his best time (either at gymboree or preschool), but once the activities start and he can run around, he's in his element! this is gabe's only activity outside of preschool - i know how he hates new things, and he's really turned into a homebody lately, so i'm careful about picking my battles. i'll have to decide whether to continue gymboree or return to music together next year.

we celebrated gabe's 3rd birthday at confed park train - it made the most sense - easy and somewhat low-effort on my part, gabe still loves trains, and it was a compromise between no party (my choice) or party (chris' choice). we could make this an annual event, especially since everything in our house is train/thomas-related :P hopefully gabe loves trains for a REALLY long time! i took him to toys r us on the weekend and they had a hot wheels demo which gabe was intrigued by. looks like i know what santa's buying gabe for xmas :)