Titus: Fall 2016 update

Dear Titus,

• You have started wearing some 4T clothes, although the waist is still a little big and your 3T clothes still fit just fine.
• You don't nap anymore unless you are sick, but you are really good at having "rest time" where you get to play with your marble tower, writing board, or ipad.
• You said your favorite friend to play with is Brooks.
• The best part about you no longer napping is that you go to bed around 7:45 (AND ALL THE PARENTS SAID AMEN). 
• You wake up around 6:45 no matter what time you go to sleep, whether it's 7:30 or 10:30.
• You think it's funny to laugh in this really obnoxious way that you know your sister hates
• You and Haddie are both really into Paw Patrol right now and you spend a good portion of the day arguing about who gets to play with which pup. You say your favorite toys are your Rescue Bots.
• You still don't really like many artistic things, you never want to sing songs with us and drawing can frustrate you because you don't feel like you're doing it "right." You much prefer doing mazes (you even draw your own mazes and have Daddy finish them!) or something more concrete in thinking.
• Your favorite special activities are going bowling and playing putt-putt.
• You still love school very much!
• When you and Haddie play well together you are BEST friends
• You love watching YouTube videos about hamsters, marble tracks, and surprise eggs
• We started a zero tolerance policy to you yelling "NO!!!" anytime we give you a specific instruction (you would yell it even to something like, "lets put your shoes on"). It took a couple of days, but I'm glad we got over that!
• You got really into exploring bugs in the backyard this summer
• Cold weather is not your jam. You hate being cold AND you have too much energy to be inside
• You are a GREAT eater! You actually like a lot of vegetables, including salad. And when I make you try a bite of everything on your plate you usually end up liking it.
• Your favorite thing to eat is nutella. Nutella on waffles, nutella sandwiches, nutella to dip with strawberries... You are also really into hot dogs and always request "the kind on the bread!" (bun) with mustard only.
• You fell off a stool and got your first stitches this month. It was much more traumatizing for me than for you! I almost passed out after they finished stitching you up...
• We stayed Grandmother's for a few weeks while the new house was renovated and you kept asking, "are we going to live in the old house or the new house? Or Grandmother's house forever?" It was a little confusing for you and threw off your nightime sleep a little after we moved into the new house, but you eventually got used to it. Now when people come over you greet them at the door and say, "come up to my new play room, it's SO huge and fun!"
• You are always the first person to be willing to give a hug and you aren't afraid to talk to almost anyone (especially if they come over to our house)
• Speaking of hugs, you are incredibly empathetic. If you sense that any of us are upset you immediately climb in our laps and cuddle.
• You have become obsessed with Lucy, like follow her around the house all day even after she is done playing with you, kind of obsessed. She is very sweet and patient with your crazy antics, but we have to tell you to leave her alone sometimes.

You are a very unique kid, Titus James! You can still be incredibly short-tempered and have loud, tearful, angry meltdowns, but you can also be very gentle and thoughtful and kind. You get very upset if we don't leave the house every day, saying once it is dark outside, "but we didn't even go any places today!" Your favorite places to go are McDonald's Play Place, the gym, school and to Brooks' house (where you build legos and car tracks in his room for hours). I think you are ready to be in kindergarten full-time (you definitely get bored with us at the house), but I'm not sure how I feel about you being gone every day! We love you so much, every sassy, dramatic, aggressive, silly part of you.