As of the time this posts, 2013-03-14 00:59 UTC, Alex will be exactly three and a half years old. Yay! Such a big boy! In the home video above (from the 13th), Alex recreates the tractor tipping scene from Cars and sings with Roscoe.

[Note added 2013 Mar 17 14:58 - Since at least one person contacted Brandy with concern, 2 things... First, Roscoe is not mad, growling, or threatening Alex in any way. As you can see in the video, Roscoe licks Alex several times. The noises being made are ones that Roscoe makes regularly when "singing" with Alex, myself, or other family members. Roscoe sometimes does get impatient or upset with Alex, but this was not one of those times. Second... yes, I know what it looks like when Alex lies down, but he is three and a half, Alex was not doing anything inappropriate, and it is all completely innocent, so get your minds out of the gutter! Thanks!]

Some random notes on some things from the past six months:

• Six months ago, Alex was regularly dreading going to pre-school, and was telling us how bad it was.  These days, on the worst days he goes with a grudging acceptance, and on the best days, he seems to actually look forward to it. There was a phase where every day he was telling us he didn’t want to go because the other kids were being mean to him (including hitting him), but he hasn’t mentioned that in quite a long time now, so hopefully all that is under control.  (We talked to the teachers about it several times.)
• Although he did it longer than most kids do these days, Alex stopped nursing in October when Brandy had to go to Pennsylvania for a couple weeks when her mom had surgery.  The day after Brandy gets back, Alex wakes up in the morning groggy and not to happy to be awake.  I ask him if he wants to go see Mommy.  He looks really sad, like he is about to cry, and slowly says “Mommy no ning.  Ning all gone.”
• Since then he has talked about this a few times as a way to reference time.  He was telling the story of when we took Roscoe to the vet for some surgery.  He described when it happened as when he was still a baby and drank Mommy’s ning.
• He talks a lot these days about how he used to be a baby, and the things that were different when he was a baby.  Like diapers.  And the ning.  And other things too.  He likes to pretend to still be a baby a lot too.
• In September, Alex and Brandy went with me to a doctor appointment (this was during one of my kidney stone episodes).  For almost two months after that he would tell us all that I was a new Daddy, and we had left the old Daddy at the doctor.  This was most disturbing, because until then I did not know I had been replicated, and now I wonder what happened to the old daddy.
• He is very aware of growing bigger, and that he is getting bigger every day.  He also has noticed that I am getting smaller (well, it must seem that way, right?)  So he has told me that when he grows very big, and I grow very small, then he will be the one to carry me on his shoulders.
• Despite having tons of trains at home, he still likes to go to the bookstore to play with the trains there…  because usually he gets to pick a new train to take home…  I will give him my card and he will take the train and the card to the counter at the front of the store to check out.
• Alex and Roscoe continue to be best buddies.  Sometimes Roscoe gets frustrated by Alex’s attentions, but usually his patience is incredible.  They are good together.
• Meanwhile, Alex is just getting to know my Mom’s dog Sara, and they don’t get along quite as well so far.  Sara is still getting used to Alex.  Alex is very upset by this, after the second time we visited my mom and Sara in their new apartment, Alex burst into tears “Grandma Ruth’s dog Sara doesn’t like me!!!”.  They are getting better with each other, but it will probably take some time.
• Alex got a small couch from his Grandmother Leslie for Christmas.  He uses it ALL the time, including as a booster seat at the dinner table.  He uses it along with a little tray table thing he got from his mom.  He loves those things.
• Just in the last month or so, Alex has stopped fighting bedtime.  I’ll say it is time to go upstairs, and he’ll say “OK” and follow me up.  Then he will help turn out all the lights and lie down. Of course, this is him curling up in bed with me, not him going to his own bed, and I let him use my iPad in bed while I go to sleep…  I have no idea how late he is up watching YouTube after I fall asleep.  So…  maybe that isn’t really a big thing after all.  :-)
• Alex may not be quite “reading” yet, but he recognizes many words.  The titles of his favorite shows, Mommy, Daddy, Alex, Amy, Dog, etc…  I suspect he knows even more than he lets on.  He also knows when shopping for trains he needs to get the ones that say “wooden” or they won’t fit on his tracks.
• He has friends at school that he talks about by name.  His best friend’s name is Apollo.  One time Apollo said he WASN’T Alex’s friend.  Alex was upset and talked about that for WEEKS until one of the teachers said that Apollo WAS his friend.  Then everything was OK again.
• “No!  Teacher said!” is often heard, as we find out we are doing one thing or another wrong and the teacher said to do it a different way.
• He met Santa!  And was very into Christmas.  Was on us for WEEKS about getting up the tree and decorations before we actually got it done.
• He clogged the toilet!  And similar things.  Like pouring water into the air conditioner because “doggy needs it” only to have water spray out all over the room.  Which was quite amusing.
• For awhile he decided “trains like dark” so he would always turn out all the lights before playing with his trains.  That lasted maybe a month.
• He is very proficient playing with the iPad, figuring out new games without very much prompting from me, including some games that actually aren’t geared to kids his age.  And just a couple weeks ago, I think I made a big mistake…  he now knows how to use the App Store!  He’ll browse through there looking for new games then ask me to get one for him.  He still can’t type my password to do it completely by himself, but I’m sure that is coming soon…
• He likes going to work and riding trains!
• He remembered walking his dog in the snow LAST winter and really wanted to do it again, but there was never snow that really lasted.  I may try to take him up to the mountains soon to see some snow.  Maybe Roscoe too.
• There are several of Amy’s friends that Alex REALLY likes when they come over to visit.  He loves to play with her friends.
• He makes important observations:  ”Daddy…  fish…  they have no feet!  They swish their tails.  Swim under the water.  Ducks have feet.  They swim on top of the water.”
• He can’t type, but he is starting to try to use the voice recognition in iOS to fill out search fields and the like.  So far, it isn’t very good at understanding what he actually said, but give it time.
• A couple of fish have died in the last six months, so Alex and I have had a few conversations about death.  One fish died and he asked where it went.  I told him mommy took it away after it died.  He asked if mommy took it to fix it and make it all better.  I told him that no, when fish die you can’t put in new batteries or fix them, they are just gone.  He doesn’t entirely get it, but knew what to expect when his own fish Hush got sick and died more recently.
• He has moved from Thomas to Chuggington to Dinosaur Train to Choo Choo Soul, to some videos with Micky Mouse and a train.  Then back to just plain train videos on YouTube.  HIs favorite things to watch have kept changing, but it has been all about trains for a year and a half now.

And that is more than enough for now.  Happy three and a half Alex!

[Edit 2013 Mar 14 14:33 to add the first of the two parenthetical comments in the first bullet.]
[Edit 2013 Mar 20 21:24 to slightly change the wording of the note added 2013 Mar 17.]