Dawson is Three AND A HALF!

Our big boy is now three AND A HALF!  On November 14th, we celebrated his half birthday with half of a cake that Dawson helped bake and frost.  Dawson is such a wonderful boy, and we love him so much!  At 3 and a half Dawson weighs in at 36 pounds 6 ounces.  He wears size 4T everything.  His pants are 4T just for the lenght, and if they do not have the adjustable elastic inside he cannot wear them.  He's so slim, that most of the adjustable bands have to go as tight as they will go to stay around his waist!  He wears size 11 shoe.  I think he's getting taller and taller every day!  His hair is still blonde, but it's slightly darker than it was a year ago...not much, just slightly.  I love his bright blue eyes, and how much he continues to look (and act) like his Daddy. 
At 3 1/2 he has a wonderful sense of humor, and he keeps me laughing all day!  He's very clever, and he doesn't seem to miss a beat!  He's a happy kid and wants everyone else to be happy too! 
Dawson has really become my good helper in the last few months.  I think a lot of this has been because of how he helps and does little things for Carter, but now a lot of it seems to be because he enjoys helping.  Because he likes to help, we have a few little chores that he does each day.  In the mornings he puts hims pjs in the hamper, and helps me make his bed.  After lunch and after dinner he gets out his small dust broom and dust pan and sweeps under the dining room table.  The sweeping is his very favorite chore, and I almost never (seriously, maybe 1 time a week) have to remind or ask him.  He just does it!  AWESOME!  He likes to do this and then ask me how it looks.  We make a huge deal out of what a great job he does, so I think that's why he always remembers. 
He also loves to help me in the kitchen.  He loves to cook and bake...especially if it involves mixing or sprinkles!  He's also his Daddy's helper in the yard too!  Dawson loves help with leaves, taking sticks to the stick pile, and anything outside John needs help with.  Most time when he gets to help do a lot of baking or a great deal of yard work, that's what he chooses to talk about at the end of the day as one of his favorite things he did for the day. 
At 3 1/2 Dawson also loves art and activities.  He loves coloring, glueing, stamping, cutting, putting stickers on, painting, and anything like that.  Every day we have new art in the house!  He also really enjoys doing play dough right now too. 
In the past couple of months, Dawson has really gotten in to playing pretend.  For example, after going shopping for a new chair for Carter's room, he has been playing "ottoman salesman" for the past month.  He makes us come to his desk in the playroom, look through a book, measure the floor, and pick a color.  Then he tells us our ottoman will be ready soon.  He's hilarous!
He is also (and has always been) a great talker.  He loves to talk.  If there is a silent moment, he will tell us, "I want to talk.  Let's talk about..." And he comes up with a topic, for example, "I want to talk about what we did at the park."  I love to talk to him, and I never feel like it's just me alone my kids when John's working or sleeping because we're constatnly talking.  Dawson really does entertain me!  :)  Dawson's favorite topics are John Deeres, construction, and poop (yes, poop...he's such a boy!). 
At 3 1/2 Dawson is still an early riser, as he has always been.  BUT he still takes a good nap in the afternoon.  I've heard of other people with 3 year olds who have stopped napping, but Dawson really needs his nap! 
At this age, Dawson also really likes to point out that he's a big boy.  He loves to talk about himself being big and Carter being little.  He tells Carter things he can do all the time, "when Carter is big like me."  Dawson is such a great big brother to Carter, and he's always sweet and loving toward Carter.
We love our Dawson so much!

The half of a cake we made for his half birthday!

My big three-and-a-half year old!

I love this boy!