a well child

That's right, we no longer have a well-baby or well-toddler in our house, but a well-child. Ben's 3 year check-up went great.  He hovers around the 80% mark for both height and weight and everything else checked out fine.  The Dr's jaw nearly hit the floor when I told him Ben still hadn't had juice more than once or twice and he agreed we should keep it up.  He also agreed it was ok to switch to skim milk though not necessary, but with Ben's love of all things dairy, I think it will be a good choice for our family.  The Dr. also mentioned that if we were ever unhappy with Ben's speech therapy, that they were there to help us get services through our insurance if we wanted.  Our insurance did actually pay for his services over the last year, but the school system/state covers it over the next year.
It was a quick, painless visit with no vaccinations at 3, so we headed out for a sayonara Summer breakfast and school supply shopping.

sayonara Summer breakfast at Sam's

Aside from some crazy things at his last speech evaluation that I've known very few 3 year old's who could do, I'm very happy with Ben's progress at this point.  He's still behind in the speech department in terms of adding adverbs, correct endings and articles but making huge progress everyday.  We're also still working on clear articulation so people besides his doting Mama can understand more of what he's saying. Last week he followed a big kid (11 or 12) around the playground repeating what he said.  It showed some new confidence for him in the speech department and both the big kid and I really encouraged him. He will continue to get speech therapy each week at school this year.
At 3, Ben knows his colors, shapes, numbers and letters in a variety of environments.  He can almost count to twenty and frequently tells me I'm 45. :)  He is starting to say when he sees letters that start or end certain words (ie.- "n" ends Ben,)  but we're just starting to play with some sight word apps and flash cards. 
He "reads" lots of his favorites books along with us and has many of them so memorized, he can recite them without the books present. This has been an invaluable tool when he needs calming or distracting as I can just start reciting a book and his attention is captured. Right now his favorite bedtime books are Nugget Goes to School and Let's Dance Little Pookie with an occasional request for Jingle Pup or Goodnight Moon.  There are almost as many books next to our bed as in Ben's room as this is his favorite place to read.
Swimming is still the favorite activity for Ben and in addition to jumping in on his own and swimming up from the bottom, he can push off from the wall underwater and swim a few strokes to us.  We start mama/kiddo lessons twice a week again on Monday. 
I would definitely call him fully potty trained although he needs a little help getting his britches up over his booty when he's finished.  He was dry overnight 6 of 7 nights last week, but we'll still keep the pull-ups on at night for a while.  We also accomplished a big milestone this week in the potty department, eliminating the iPad.  Although we'd always mixed up book and iPad use for longer potty visits, Ben was requesting "iPad potty" about 18 million times a day and often when he did not need to potty. To which I would respond, "Do you really really to potty?" and he would turn his head, show his biggest smile and say, "iPad?" In less than a week, I now know that when he asks to potty he really does have to go as he knows there is no more "iPad potty."
We've removed the movies from the iPad a couple times and added them back for trips, but we try to keep it mostly educational and with the end of iPad potty, I've allowed a third 15 minute session in each day.  Ben still says "Mama, cook dinner!" all day long as that was his 2nd half of the day iPad time. :)
Ben has mostly given up his nap and sleeps 10-13 hours at night.  On super busy or active days he will still take one and is obliges with a forced quiet time when he is especially cranky. 

proof from just this week that those naps aren't gone entirely

I'd say very little about the 2's was terrible so I'm cautiously optimistic the trend will continue. I do know lots of moms of boys that say 3 was really tough so I will try to be prepared if that happens.
For now we'll try to keep things "super duper" and I'll keep hoping to hear, "that a GREAT idea mama."
It's interesting to think about how new school years will coincide with birthdays for the next twenty years or so but what a great time to reflect, refresh and restart.

here we go again................................