Three years old

James turned three a few weeks ago. He's now very definitely a pre-schooler rather than a toddler. I am really enjoying this stage because we can have proper conversations about things, and he talks in full sentences. Quite often the things he says make me laugh but I feel guilty at laughing at him... James likes to ask 'What's that man/lady?' which may mean either 'Who is that person?' or 'What is he/she doing?'. He also seems to be just reaching the 'why' stage, which I am not looking forward to.

James loves playing with his play food and plates etc - we got him a toy kitchen for his birthday which I hope he will play with more once he has some saucepans, and once the weather means he has to play inside more. He also got a playhouse for the garden which he loves, plus a sand and water table. He got some new wooden toy food plus some dressing up kit.

The final tooth came through a couple of weeks ago, hooray! No more teething (until the next baby).

We managed to get James out of nappies about six weeks ago now. He does fine with wees with us (though still has an accident at nursery most days) but is still rather unreliable for poos. I'm glad we finally managed to find a chance to do it before his third birthday and while the weather was good.

We've had a few short breaks this summer rather than one big holiday. In June we left James with his Wiltshire grandparents while we had a child-free weekend in Dorset. He had a lovely time and the highlight was a trip to the circus, which he still talks about. We also had a few days in Norfolk where he rode on lots of little trains and paddled in the sea, and a weekend camping with friends in Dorset where he loved playing on bales of hay and seeing lots of animals.

The next big change in James's life will be becoming a big brother. He knows all about the baby in my tummy but I don't think he has the first idea how things will change in just a few weeks...

Almost three

Oops, once again it's been a fair while since I've updated this. James is now less than two months away from his third birthday and is more of a preschooler than a toddler now. He seems to have emerged from the terrible twos and is going through a lovely happy stage (presumably before becoming the feared threenager. People keep telling me three is far worse than two which has made me despair, but already the worst bits are fading so maybe people forget just how horrendous two year olds can be).

James is now chattering away in fairly long sentences. He likes to ask what things are and where things are. He hasn't quite got to 'why?' - that's probably coming next. Some of my favourite things he says include:
"I did it by all a-self" (I did it all by myself)
"Daddy carra-lou" (Daddy carry me)
"I eated it all up"
"Yes, I haves" (Yes, I am/I have/I did)

He's still not out of nappies. Whenever I try to persuade him to wear pants he yells for a nappy. He won't even try without... We must have another concerted effort some time soon. He'll get there eventually.

Teeth - I think 19/20 teeth are there. Will he have a full set by his third birthday?

Sleep - James sleeps beautifully from about 8pm-8am. Can't complain at all.

Since I last posted we have moved house. James found it a bit unsettling at first, and apparently was noticeably unsettled at nursery too. He seems happier now but most days still asks to go back home. It's been very hard to explain to him that someone else lives in our old house now. He loves being able to go out into the garden and play - he can go in and out as he likes, which wasn't possible in our old flat.

James is still obsessed with cars - lying on his front playing with them, but also real cars. He has recently learnt to recognise all the car logos, and tells me when he sees Vauxhalls, Audis, Nissans, etc. He also loves playing with his toy food.

We can often manage without the pushchair now, though it is useful if we want to get anywhere fast.

I will update again when James is three.

Oops - almost five months later

I have been a bit remiss at updating this! Oh dear.

James is now just about to be two and a half. He is something like 90cm tall and weighs something like 12.5kg. I don't know exactly. All his canine teeth finally erupted, with the minimum of fuss, so he only has the final four back molars still to come through. He stopped breastfeeding back in August.

James started at Lloyd Park nursery back in September. He loves it there and every morning over the Christmas holiday he was disappointed to learn it wasn't a nursery day.

James's language has come on hugely since the summer. He finally talks in sentences, just about. Common phrases include:
Mummy, what you doing?
What's that funny noise?
Come on Mummy, let's go!
Where's Petal gone?
Wash your hands!
Hold my hand, busy road.
Car transporter fallen over.

He can count accurately up to 11 or 12. He loves to sing songs and frequently makes up new words and actions to songs. Today we were at a library singing group and he stood at the front with the leader and did all the actions and sang beautifully. He has a CD player in his bedroom and has five or six CDs he likes to switch between - he can change the CD, skip songs, play, pause and so on.

James LOVES Thomas. He can name all the engines and sing the theme tune song. He also likes Peppa Pig and Fireman Sam and Mr Tumble. He still loves playing with cars, lining them up on his road playmat - or a rug with borders, or floorboards, or any lines on the floor really. He has also got more into imaginative play - the Fat Controller tells the trains off in his Brio set, for example, and he likes to put his teddy bears to bed and tell them off. He still loves tractors and diggers. We took him to the Paralympics in September but he wasn't terribly impressed - but at least he can say he was there!

He dropped his nap gradually over a few months, moving from napping every other day to just a couple of times a week. It became such a battle to get him to nap - he had to be walked in the pushchair, over rough ground (such as the park), with no distractions (such as a dog or a helicopter), for approximately 20 minutes before he would drop off. Eventually we stopped trying and he soon got used to it. At first he would sleep for 13 hours a night. That's now back down to 12 hours but still not bad.

Lloyd Park finally reopened at the end of the summer and we have enjoyed many walks around the park, walking on walls, chasing squirrels, feeding the ducks, jumping in puddles and playing in the playground. He still isn't very good on his scooter but he at least now likes to be pulled along on it. He can walk quite a long way but I still usually take the pushchair out as he doesn't much like to be carried and we have had a few very long, cold, slow trails home from places when he just refuses to move.

We had a good go at potty training over the Christmas holiday, but to no avail. It started off not too badly but he was totally unbothered about being in wet pants and he got more and more distressed about using the potty. We decided to put him back in nappies for the time being and to try again after our house move which is (hopefully) imminent. It may be that a more gradual approach would suit him as he likes to try sometimes but other times is not bothered. He's going to start going to nursery in pull ups and they will suggest he uses the loo.

James had a lovely Christmas, and was great at opening presents - he enjoyed playing with each one for a few minutes before moving on to the next one. He loved having lots of grandparents and uncles around to play with.