Stepping into three

So on Christmas Day 2013, Nathan officially turned three years old.

We celebrated with a big cake together with my whole extended family back in my hometown in Sabah (although he did have another special party with his friends at day care a few weeks earlier).

Celebrating Christmas Day and Nathan’s Birthday with our extended family in Sabah

He is still adjusting to the fact that he is three. Whenever someone asks him “How old are you?” he often still says two instead of three. But I’m sure he’ll catch up soon enough.

Nathan is most definitely growing well into his boyhood and is into many of the typical things that appeal to boys, like cars, trucks, tractors, Lego, action figures such as Superman and Spiderman (which is a mystery as we have never let him watch any such shows before), and getting himself into precarious acrobatic stunts on the couch.

But one thing which I think is really special in him which I treasure, is his vivid imagination. He is an incredible conversationalist for his age and enjoys telling stories.

I get glimpses into that quirky imagination of his every now and then, like these…

[One afternoon at naptime, after I finished reading him a story…]
Nathan: Can I have another story?
Me: No more stories for now. I will tell you another one later.
Nathan: Then I will tell YOU a story!
Me: (I was intrigued) Okay.
Nathan: Once upon a time, there was a king. The king wanted a new computer. So he went out to the shops to get it. But then suddenly he wanted to do a poo! So he went to the toilet and did a big poo. And then he washed his hands. And after that he lie down on the bed and go to sleep. Theeeee END!!!

[At bedtime…]
Nathan: Mummy, tonight I will tell you another story.
Me: Okay, I am listening.
Nathan: Once upon a time, there was a little girl called mummy. She went to sleep and when she woke up in the morning, she was not a little girl anymore. She was a mummy! Then everybody lived happily every after all together in po-po and gung-gung's (grandma and grandpa’s) house. Theeee End!

[One afternoon Nathan came up to me and stuck the end of my laptop charger in my belly button and went bzzzzzzz…]
Me: What are you doing, Nathan?
Nathan: I'm pumping a tyre.

[One ordinary afternoon at home…]
Me: Nathan… where are you, can you come here please?
Nathan: I'm not Nathan. I'm SUPERMAN!!!
Me: Ok, Superman, please report to mummy.
Nathan: You are not mummy, you are MUMMY-SUPERMAN!!!

[One evening at bedtime as he was changing into his PJs, out of the blue he threw me this with the biggest grin on his cheeky face…]
Nathan: Mummy, are you a girl?
Me: Uh, yes.
Nathan: OK! (spoken with barely contained giggles) *kiss* Goodnight!
[I still have no idea where that came from and what it was about]

And in the midst of all his cheekiness and quirkiness, he has the most charming and delightful little nature and gives me many moments of unprompted sweetness like these…

One morning after breakfast while I was washing the dishes, Nathan came up to me completely unprompted to tell me: “Mummy, thank you for cooking the pancakes for me for breakfast. It was delicious!”

And one afternoon in the middle of a very long and tiring day, I sat down on the couch and closed my eyes for a moment to rest. I had finally managed to get Grace down for a nap after some struggling and Nathan was playing by himself in the living room. Out of the blue, I felt a pair of little limbs clambering up on my lap. Two hands clasped me on both cheeks. A cheeky face peered right at me and the dearest little voice whispered “I love you, mummy”.

These are the moments I live for.

Happy birthday, Nathan. I just want to say it one more time before you step further into ‘three’.

A ‘deja vu’ moment with this snapshot looking back on a similar one taken two years ago

What memorable or funny conversation did you share with your child recently?

P.S. Nathan at two years old and young boys should never be sent to bed.

 

Linking up to Jess’s IBOT