A couple of months ago, I did sort of a spot-light about three of the boys. I didn’t do Rusty. Not sure why.
Rusty cracks me up. He is very quick to say no … to everything. Even to things he means to say yes to. And then he has to correct himself. I don’t want to call him negative, but I can’t think how else to describe it. I say, “I love you, Rusty,” and he says, “No! I love Poppy!” I say “Are we friends?” and he says, “No! Not friends!” Just for the record – Rusty will respond this way to most people. It isn’t just me whom he doesn’t love and isn’t friends with!
I think Rusty looks the most different of the boys. His eyes are closer set and he had the biggest cheeks as a baby. Jowls. He had them. He is actually a happy kid (despite the negative description above), but he isn’t a big smiler. His smiles feel like prizes when he flashes them because he gives them out sparingly.
Rusty is very into details. He started putting puzzles together about the same time he learned to walk. 24 piece puzzles are cake and 60 piece ones can be done when he chooses to stay focused that long. Rusty is my coloring fool. While he doesn’t stay in the lines, he colors the picture completely – he doesn’t like holes. Of course, the picture is one solid color, but … In less than an hour at church, he completely filled up an entire Spiderman coloring book this last week. He takes his coloring serious. If you come to visit, don’t be surprised if he brings a coloring book and a crayon to you and expects you to color with him. Also, don’t be surprised if Rusty only lets you color the words on the page … like I said, he takes his coloring serious.
Rusty was always my best sleeper. I could lay him down for a nap and he always went to sleep. This made him a very easy baby. He isn’t so good about the sleeping now, especially if he and Tommy can entertain each other rather than sleep. But he still takes an hour or two long nap most days.
Rusty loves being outside. This winter without snow is driving him nuts. It looks nice and sunny outside and he wants to be out there. He doesn’t care that the temperatures are still in the 30s – he wants outside! I often catch him wearing his shoes and hat staring out the window – dreaming of the season when I let him out to play every day.
Rusty believes himself to be just as old as Billy. If Billy does it, Rusty thinks he should be able to do it. However, Rusty will tell me that he’s a little boy and Billy is a big boy. Of course, when Billy (or me, for that matter) does something that Rusty disagrees with, his newest thing is to yell at us, “No! You’re a bad boy!”
My three year old is a joy. Even when he is hunching his shoulders and wearing his sad face, he is a joy. He is gabby and full of energy. He loves to ask, “Why?” and sometimes even waits for the answer.
Today his favorite animal is an elephant. Today his favorite color is blue. Today his favorite food is apples. Today his favorite people are Poppy and Billy. Today his favorite thing to do is color. Today my third baby is 1110 days old.
