And the little man is THREE

May 7, 5:55 a.m. - Iver comes running into our bedroom.

Iver: "WHERE MY PRESENTS?!"

Me: "Buddy, it's not your birthday, and it's way too early. Your bunny's not up. Back to bed!"

He reluctantly returns to his bed for another 20 minutes, until the bunny clock turns to daytime.

May 8, 6:35 a.m. - Iver's still laying in his bed at this point, but I had been summoned with "MAMA!"

Iver: "Am I 3, Mommy?"

Me: "Tomorrow, buddy." I quickly realize that this is the last day we'll have a two year old living in this house. But I couldn't be sad because Iver was SO EXCITED TO TURN 3!! Until ...

6:45 p.m. - Iver is throwing a massive tantrum about not wanting to go to bed.

Iver: "I don't want to go to sleep! I want to stay 2! I don't want to turn 3!"

More tears, but he does fall asleep. Within about 10 seconds of his head hitting the pillow. And I offered to snuggle him, but he turned me down - insert sad face.

May 9, 6:45 a.m. - Iver comes running into our bedroom.

Iver: "Can I open my presents now?"

Me: "You bet, buddy. You're 3!! Happy birthday!!"

Presents were quickly opened and he began playing with his new cement mixer and his other big trucks at about 7:30 a.m. It was a long, fantastic day of sunshine, heat, friends, family, cake, sprinklers, paint, and laughter. We put an exhausted child to bed once again, who couldn't have been happier to be 3.

As for Iver turning 3, I'm only slightly terrified as to what the next year will bring. I remember vividly the 3-4 year for Piper. It was a hard year - our hardest year - and although Iver's personality is completely different than hers, I see a lot of the clogged ears happening already that seemed to be present for her fourth year. Fingers are crossed.

But before we get ahead of ourselves and have him turning four already, there's so much about Iver that I want to remember when we're old and grey.

We had the BEST time making his cake! He wanted a big truck cake and loved helping to decorate with dirt, logs, etc. It was such a fun cake to make with him :-) The only hard part was keeping him from playing with all the big trucks on the cake and taking all the frosting off.

Iver's favorite colors are green, red and pink.

He is obsessed with big trucks, Frozen, and anything sparkly, including Piper's dress up clothes, which he often wears while playing with his big trucks in the sand box. He sings Let it Go at the top of his lungs, although his favorite pop song is currently Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk. I find this hilarious, by the way, because when Piper was almost 2, her favorite song was Bruno Mars The Lazy song, which she called the monkey song because of the music video. who can blame them? Bruno Mars rocks.

Iver's hilarious. And has a super devilish grin - if I don't remember what that looks like, all I need to do is revisit his pre-school photo from this year...

He LOVES mud.

Iver's BFF is Cosette. His obsession with her rivals his obsession with big trucks, and it looks like the feeling is mutual. Cosette also loves mud, which is awesome.

His favorite food is currently cucumbers, and he likes them both fresh and pickled. Sometimes he eats them for breakfast, and while he loves a salad with them on them, his preferred method of consumption is by themselves.

We're excited to see what the coming year brings! I'm hoping he'll ...

1. Potty train(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
2. Learn how to swim independently
3. Have a blast playing with friends

Love you, Shmoops!