Growing Leaps and Bounds!

Over the past few months Cannon's play has really evolved.  His imagination is taking over and he's on a whole new level of play.  I LOVE watching him play and watching him make up games.  There was a time (over the last few months) that Cannon was really hard to deal with and I knew it was because he was having a growth spurt.  Not just physically, but an intellectual growth spurt as I like to call it.  Now that he's come out of it, I am loving three!

His need for independence has made leaps and bounds as well.  Yes, he's always liked to have some sort of independence, but now he demands it.  I was just telling his pediatrician at his three year well check that he couldn't put on any clothes by himself.  Well, the next day Cannon proved me wrong.  When I was getting dressed, he went and put on his own shorts and shirt all by himself and without me knowing!  Now he doesn't do this every day, but this is big progress for us.  He has also started to use the potty once or twice a day.  Awhile ago I put his little potty away and stopped mentioning anything about him using the potty.  I could tell that it was stressing him out.  I told him that I knew he would use the potty when he was ready (that was really hard for me to let go of that control!).  Now, usually once a day, he'll take off his diaper and say that he has to go pee pee.  He tells me to stay where I am because he wants to do it himself.  And he does!  This is also big progress for us!

Cannon also likes to get himself breakfast in the morning.  He's been on a bagel kick and wants one for breakfast every morning.  If I remember, I will leave one in the fridge for him along with a sippy cup of milk.  After he wakes up and greets us in our room, he'll go downstairs and get his breakfast.  Since he has been waking up so early, this buys me a few more minutes of sleep. 

I bought Cannon some real medical equipment that I thought he might enjoy playing with given his recent experiences in the hospital.  I got him the classic Fisher Price medical bag, but I also got him a real stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, and IV tubing (all cheap on Amazon!).  He knew just what to do with all of it!  It is still out in his play area and he uses it almost every day.

 I showed him where his heart is, but he usually likes to listen to Blue's heartbeat. 

 Cannon is still into trains.  Our downstairs bathroom is now a train.  He made up this game where he calls us on board the train and Ryan, Blue, and I have to go in the train.  He always wears some sort of hat and has some sort of whistle.  He plays this same game, but going on an airplane.  And the airplane is the closet.  The other game he plays frequently is "going to work."  I'm sure this is symbolic of Ryan leaving for work all the time.  He'll do this at home and he uses his cell phone to call people.  And he plays work every time we go to the park.  The park has evolved from a place of gross motor activity to imagination.  Sure he's still getting a physical workout with all the climbing and such, but it's been exciting to see him use the equipment for other purposes as well. 

 We still have these cardboard boxes from Christmas.  We made a train out of them and he won't let me throw them away.  Every now and then he wants to paint them some more.  When his friend Ayden comes over to play, they always take a ride on the train!

Cannon also likes ramps and tunnels.  He is always hiding his trains and cars in specific places that he has chosen.  I bought this rain gutter at the hardware store for cheap (like $3).  The guy cut it in half for me.  He and Ayden like to make ramps and put balls or cars down them.  I keep them in the closet, but he'll ask for it when he feels like using it. 




Cannon will also turn any object into part of his play.  For instance, the nail clippers have become an airplane.  A stick can be anything, but it always has sound effects.  Toilet paper rolls, wrapping paper rolls, the part of the dishwasher that hold the silverware.  There are so many other little things that we keep in his play area that aren't really toys, but that he enjoys pretending with.  Our days have become full of play all the time, even more than they have been.  He is never bored, but he'll have times of in between.  But it's easy for him to quickly get back into play. 

I'm really enjoying his age right now!  I think we'll have lots of fun this summer!