Three-year-old Max

What I want to remember about three-year-old Max

• For Halloween Max just really wanted to be himself more than anything I suggested. He kept saying "Mom, I just really want to be Max." We finally settled on Max the Astronaut.
  
• We call Max "Maxie" a lot (which I'm pretty sure I promised Taylor we wouldn't do when I was lobbying for the name Max--sorry.) Anyway, Max knows how to spell his name M A X, but he prefers to spell it MAXC for Maxie, and he makes me write it that way on all his important stuff.
• Max is mostly all about rules--meaning he likes to make them up, and enforce them, and point out when I am breaking them. He is also pretty good about following them himself but for those times when it's hard, he really loves the phrase "I think that was an accident."
• Max is organized. He will take any spare container he can find because his goal is to have each of his earthly possessions stored in either some kind of box or a ziplock bag.
  
• I never quite know what Max is thinking, and he thinks a lot, and his thoughts are original. One day when we came home from church I asked Max what he learned and he said to me "I learned that Jesus wants me for a sunbeam and Mary wants me for a little lamb." Another time our home teacher was doing a great job of telling the story of Jonah and the whale to the kids and at the end he said "So what can we learn from that story?" and Max yelled out "That whales have bellies!" That's what he learned.
  
• Max is determined and focused and intense. He will do what he decides to and that is a great thing about him.
• Max is strong and has big muscles. He helps me carry lots of heavy things.
  
• Max and his daddy built the most amazing box together a couple months ago with their tools. They are good buddies and a lot alike.
  
• Max likes aliens and monsters and scaring his sister and mom. He also asks for hugs a lot and makes sure that everyone has a toy to play with and a treat to eat. He sings the best lullabies to his baby brother and plays the most exciting games with Anna.
  

We love you so much Max!