This is three

"It's a sunny day!" These are the words I wake up to most mornings. Ben's sleeping in our bed, and while his tossing, turning and kicking mess up my sleep, his a.m. announcements make up for it. My heart will ache when he stops saying this.

Ben turns three tomorrow. Three! Friends ask how that can be. I'm not totally sure; it doesn't seem like that long ago when I was holding him in my arms in the delivery room. And yet, I have two teens, and I know all too well how fast time zooms by. I am savoring every bit of his little-ness: His sweet little voice, those little dimpled hands, the little teeth, the little nose, the little toes, the wispy little curls that crop up when it's humid outside, the little-man collared shirts, the little sighs he makes when he sleeps, his little lips OMG his lips.

His presence, however, is big—so much so that it can shift our entire family dynamic. When Max is having a hissy fit or Sabrina is out of sorts about something or Dave and I are arguing, just a few words from Ben can make us crack up. "I need chocolate now!" he'll announce. "I have doodie!" usually brings the house down. (We are an easy audience.)

His bossiness is equally impressive: "I no do that!" he likes to say about everything from eating lunch to getting in the car. Recently, I was on the deck cleaning up and he was down on the lawn. I heard funny noises and peeked over to see him jumping off the lounge chair. "Ben! Be careful!" I said. "You go clean!" he commanded, pointing me away in the hopes that I wouldn't see what he was up to.

Boyfriend is sharp, too. We were hanging in a new play area recently, and there was a big slide. Usually, he's into slides but this one intimidated him. "It's not scary, it's fun!" I told him, encouraging him to climb up. "You go!" he said. "I'm not going down, I'm too big," I told him. "It's not scary!" he informed me. And so, yep, I went down first.

Baby Boss, as we like to call him, is fond of saying no for the sake of saying no or arguing just for fun. This morning, as I was leaving for work, I said: "Ben! Do you know what tomorrow is?"

"Friday!" he said.

"And is it your birthday?" I asked.

"No! It's Max's birthday!" he said, grinning.

I can't wait to see what three brings. Love you, little guy.