Three Years of George Bear

Wow. Three years of George Bear Bowman.

There are not enough words to even express how proud we are of this kind, hilarious, and brilliant dude.

I feel like this birthday has hit me harder than his first and his second. Maybe it’s because he’s such a BIG BOY. Maybe it’s because he has grown from baby to toddler to preschooler right before my eyes. George went from baby to big brother at the end of January + he hasn’t stopped growing, changing, evolving.

This past year was incredible. GBB went on his first canoe camping trip to Algonquin; was incredibly successful with his first real trick or treat adventure on Halloween (he scored SO many goodies!!!); enjoyed the magic of Christmas (and we still haven’t stopped talking about Santa!); we ended our breastfeeding journey on the 30th of December; he became a big brother (and took to his new role like a duck to water); made valentines for his playgroup friends; was insanely efficient with his Easter egg hunt; helped celebrate his daddy’s 30th birthday; and most importantly, he provided immense comfort + joy to our lives while we dealt (and are still dealing) with the loss of Aaron’s mother. George has no idea how much of a bright light he was (and is!) during that dark time. I will forever be grateful for him. Forever.

I asked George a few fun birthday questions that I’m excited to look back on year after year. His answers are EXACTLY how he answered them:

GEORGE, HOW OLD ARE YOU? ” one, two. threeeeee”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOUR? “my favourite colour is uhhh blue! and my other favourite colour is red. and what my other colour? green. my two favourite colours.”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE THING TO DO? “my fav thing to do is play.”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FOOD? “my fav food is noonas (noodles).  o’ course.”

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WHEN YOU GROW UP? ” i weally want a big excabator (excavator)”.

GBB is the best dude ever. He’s wearing some super cute size 3T clothes, is NOT potty trained (yet, but soon!!), and he is on his last session of playgroup for toddlers (he’s been going since he was 13 months old!!) + graduates to “tools for school” in the fall (which is a 2hr drop off program once a week!!!).

To the boy who made me a mama, I love you. I cherish you. There are few things I love more than our slow mornings together while your sister sleeps in. I love how you hold my hand when we walk + cross the street (not always but most times!)—it just fits so perfectly in mine. I love when your eyes light up when sissie wakes up in the morning (you run to her + always say “good morning sissie!” and plant a gigantic + totally aggressive kiss on her cheek); when daddy comes home from work (you run to the back door to let him in + you scream so loud, it usually wakes your little sister from her nap…); or when your uncle Jake pops over—he is easily your favourite + you get so excited when you see his work van outside the house.

You bring so much joy to those around you. Even when I feel like I’m having a day that I can’t keep up with you or our flow is off, you can instantly put a smile on my face + warmth in my heart.

Trucks. Cars. Trains. All day, err’ day! You especially love garbage trucks, fire trucks, and all construction trucks (shout-out to excavators!). You’re super into watching Blippi on YouTube (and you also seem to find the weirdest videos on YouTube kids…which has forced me to hide our iPad because it’s “broken”, LOL), Paw Patrol, and you enjoy watching Planet Earth too!

George, you are so curious and active and brilliant. You were just educating me on buoyancy and density and hydraulics and different parts of trucks. Not gonna lie, I had to google the definitions of those things so I knew one hundred percent what you were talking about, ha.

You’ve started to show a real interest in the alphabet + numbers and have started to “practise” your tracing. It’s really fun to play school with you (and live out my kindergarten teacher dream!).

Each year with you gets better and better. Our lives are more enriched every single day. You are a dream + I am deeply grateful for you. You make me want to be the very best version of myself. I love you. Andddddd I’m crying…

Happy third birthday to our dude, George Bear. Georgie. Booboo. GBB. Steinbrenner. Stein. Mr B.

We love you.

XO