Happy Birthday, Shepherd!

I am very tiredly sitting down at the computer after a full day of preparing for and executing Shepherd's 3rd birthday party.  After all the hubbub of the day, I want to take a moment to reflect on 10 awesome things about my son.

1. Shepherd is constantly picking up new skills as he grows.  However, recently he developed a particularly valuable skill: that of cleaning up dead bugs.  In our neighborhood, the fight against roaches is never won.  We have roach bait everywhere, but we still have roaches.  I don't mind stepping on them and killing them, but I HATE disposing of them.  Now, all I have to do is give Shepherd a bit of tissue paper, and he happily picks them up and flushes them down the toilet for me.  If the natural instincts of motherhood hadn't already made me love him, this skill alone would have merited my adoration.

2.  Shepherd is a performer.  Tonight at his birthday party in the midst of about a dozen guest, Shepherd sang "Jesus Loves Me" multiple times to much applause.

3.  Shepherd has big brown eyes.  Yes, they are the same big brown eyes I've been talking about for three years, but seriously, they are something to talk about.

4. Every time I dress Shepherd up, he proudly proclaims, "I look like BJ!"

5. He's creative.  During his "nap time," I had accidentally left markers in his room, so he drew spider webs all over his body so that he could be Spiderman.  This will be immortalized in his birthday pictures from today.

6. He loves Lydia (who he still calls simply "the baby"). When people started leaving the party tonight, several picked up Lydia to tell her goodbye. Every time this would happen, Shepherd would worry that they were taking the baby.  He would get a terribly concerned look on his face and say, "No, give the baby back to Mommy!"

7. He loves to read!  During outdoor time on his schedule every morning and afternoon, he makes me take out a blanket and books and we read.  I don't know that it is exactly in the spirit of outdoor time, but it is his favorite thing to do.  He has several of his books memorized, so I hardly have to read those!

8.  He gives me a sloppy kiss every night before bed.

9. After he gets a time out, he says, "I'm sorry, Mommy.  Hug me."

10. He's been excited about the candles on his birthday cake all week.  When we sat it in front of him, he couldn't possible wait until the end of the song to blow them out.