madsen at three.

I love this kid.  He is so unique and mature and just awesome.  I want to capture each of the kids right now.  I'm starting with Madsen:

• he loves puzzles.  he is unbelievably amazing at putting puzzles together.  the way his mind goes and goes blows me away.  he is capable of doing a 100-piece puzzle all by himself.
• his very most favorite puzzle (and possibly possession) is his puzzle of the United States.  He has relationships with each of the states.  IF a sates is "missing", he KNOWS.  and he cares.  He knows the states in alphabetical order, their capitals, and can recognize the shape of any state, no matter which way it's turned.  He even knows some of the states landmarks and state flags and birds.  he has also recently ventured into the world map and puzzles and is familiar with south America, Europe and Canada.  he is teaching all of us. 
• he is still in love with Perfection.  on any given day, the very first thing he does is wake up and either gets his state puzzle out or his Perfection game out.  and then proceeds to take all the shapes out and put them back in or assemble the puzzle, disassemble and reassemble.  over and over.  talking to the states and perfection pieces as he goes. one of these prized possessions usually comes with us in the car if we leave. 
• he loves my phone.  particularly watching videos of himself on my phone.  over and over.  often he is watching a video of himself putting the state puzzle together...while he is putting the state puzzle together in real time.  I have become accustomed to hearing my voice being played as background noise all throughout the day and have finally stopped reacting to cries or calls I hear...on video. he also watches you tube videos of states and capitals songs.  most of them are very annoying.  if he isn't watching videos on my phone, he is looking through my camera roll at pictures of himself.  he also loves playing some game on damon's phone that has gangnum style playing in the background.
• he loves the trampoline.  especially if ray and his friends are on it.  he thinks he is "one of the boys" and follows Ray and Nolan and their friends around whenever they're here. 
• he prefers not to wear pants.  we have finally gotten him trained to at least have underwear on
• he still loves letters and is starting to "spell words" by grouping a bunch of random letters together.  "what does E-R-E-T-E-R-E spell?"  almost every word he spells ends with E-R-E.
• he loves macaroni and cheese, smooth yogurt, cheese sticks, marshmallows, bagels with cream cheese, smoothies, chocolate milk (carnation instant breakfast), things presented to him on popsicle sticks, candy, peanut butter, plain slices of bread, pirates booty, strawberries, raspberries, and cold cereal
• he generally prefers Damon over me- unless he's really tired or hurt.
• for the past couple months, he has routinely ended up in our bed around 2 am every night.  I think I allow it because he is my last baby.  he is adorable when he drowsily staggers in every night and crawls into "his spot" and falls right back asleep.  he is a sleep-talker and often recites the alphabet or sings the states/capitals song in his sleep.  it's either that or an argument with Ray that he is dreaming about. 
• he goes through pretty strong phases of what he likes to watch on Netflix.  he is pretty opinionated, but once he's latched onto something he watches it over and over.  currently he is watching the Color Crew, which only has 4 episodes available so that gets pretty annoying for the rest of us.  in the past, he has loved Leapfrog, mickey mouse clubhouse, super why, he is equally picky about what he will NOT watch.  he hates Psych and Frozen (and most other shows) and screams when they are on because they're "scary".  um, ok
• he is pretty easy to negotiate with (unless you're trying to negotiate what you want to watch or listen to) and seems very mature accountable for his age.  he will even put himself in time out when he does something that he shouldn't do
• he loves his royal blue Crocs
• he has an incredible memory 
• his favorite primary songs are If You Chance to Meet a Frown, Popcorn Popping, I am a child of God, and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
• he loves books and has several books memorized.  his current favorites are THE MARSHMALLOW INCIDENT, 10 LITTLE MONKEYS, Z IS FOR MOOSE, I WANT MY POTTY
• he is just starting to recognize that a chair is his friend.  it can help him get (almost) anything he wants to reach.  I find chairs pushed all over the kitchen, a sure sign that Madsen has been there.
• he's sassy
• he doesn't like to go to bed and avoids me at bedtime.  he hasn't napped since before he was 2 1/2
• he likes the idea of going places, but he usually asks when we are going to be home not long after we've left
• he loves going to the park.  especially if "all the everybodys" are there.  he loves the swing and going down the slide
• he loves taking baths and can play in the bath (foam states and letters, of course) for hours
• he makes us laugh
• he is polite and is very good about asking for things he wants/needs and thanking me for getting him things.
• he is independent and fairly predictable. 
• he is one of the most loved little people I know.