Daph Stats: 3 Years Old
*Started writing this at the start of the summer a few days before her birthday. It's been a busy few months and I am finally finishing! However, it also gave us time to have Cassie take a few 3-year-old shots (thanks again Sis!) and to get her wellness visit in for her growth stats.
Dearest Darlingest Daphodilly,
Oh my wee one, are you truly a three-year-old already? I can't believe how quickly these past few years have flown by with you by my side every day. We had a rough go of it for a few months there (December - March-ish), but the last few months have been fantastic! I hope I'm not saying this prematurely, but I think you are officially out of the "terrible-two's" and are acting more like a little girl and less like a toddler with every passing day. In a lot of ways, it is heartbreaking to me to see the your babyhood fade away, never to return again, but on the other hand it is exhilarating to watch you learning and growing in great leaps.
At your 3 year old checkup, you were in the 7th percentile for height and 20th percentile for weight. It's no surprise that you're such a little sprout looking at the size of your Ma and Pa, but you're healthy and full of energy and that's what's important. The doctor confirmed you're pretty advanced for your age mentally and I told him how you have always loved to learn and have naturally picked up on new skills quickly. You have known all your letters and sounds for almost a year now and more recently I've tried to help you take steps towards reading and writing. It's funny how many rules there are in the English language that I don't even think about, but can make learning to read super confusing to learn and explain. You're a bit of a perfectionist at time and get frustrated when we practice writing letters when your hand is unsteady and you can't make the letters look just like mine. It will be fun when you can write and read for yourself, because you are obsessed with books and we still spend quite a bit of time reading together every day. If things get quiet while I'm cooking, I can almost guarantee I will find you in the corner by the bookshelf, poring over the pages of a library book with a huge stack strewn around you. Your absolute favorite books right now are the "Piggie and Elephant" books. You memorize them after a couple of times through with me and then will "read" them back to me, laughing at all the best parts and pointing out Gerald's and Piggie's funny faces.
We have a pretty great morning routine these days. At the crack of dawn you come into our bedroom and climb up on our bed, snuggling down right in the middle between Daddy and I and whispering, "I'm hungry!" or "Pink pancakes?" Daddy made you pancakes with red food coloring in them several months ago and now you request them for breakfast on a near daily basis. If Dad has already left for work, you stand by the side of my bed and tell me to get up, tugging at my hand and finally helping me to my feet and into the kitchen for breakfast. I prepare our meal and we enjoy watching the sun coming up over the mountains and over Brent Hunter's green alfalfa field behind our house as we sit at the table, eat and talk. I usually finish before you and will read scriptures to you while you finish chowing. We then jump into the day by doing your chore chart which includes simple tasks such as brushing your teeth, getting dressed, making your bed or putting toys away. This has eliminated a lot of tantrums as you are now in the routine of doing these tasks before we can play or have snacks (ie: milk - you're still obsessed!).
You loathe having your hair done and I used to have to coerce you into the bathroom every day (if I know we're not going out, I usually just let the hair go wild - not worth the fight!) so I finally took you in for a haircut in July to end the conflict. Here you are a few months ago with your first set of braids on a day that you actually let me do your hair. For a while there, we'd get in the bathroom and you'd make me sit down while you brushed through my hair over and over again and instructed, "Don't move a muscle Mom!" I would put on a conference talk on my phone while you played hair dresser and you'd gasp every few minutes saying, "He's talking about Jesus Mom!" or you'd ask in confusion over a talk you didn't understand, "What's he saying Mom?" Usually if the talk ended while you were still creating you would ask for another.
We basically spend every second together the rest of the day from doing household chores or running errands, visiting neighbors/family, preparing meals, playing in the yard or at the park, doing "school work" and reading books. I used to stress that you didn't get enough time to yourself, but I finally just decided that eventually we'll have to be separated either due to the demands of younger siblings or when you go to school and I will cherish all this time together as long as I can!
Speaking of younger siblings, you have been so excited for the arrival of baby sis (see above!). You are convinced that you have a baby in your tummy too and use your imaginary baby as an excuse to get out of things. For example I'll tell you to finish your dinner and you'll say, "My baby is just rolling around too much right now Mom." Or if I ask you to pick up your books you might respond, "Baby is just making me too tired Mom." It's hard to keep a straight face when you put my hand on your belly and say, "Oh! She's kicking so much!" Along with asking for stories about what we will do when baby sis comes, you have started asking for stories of when you were a baby. You get the hugest grin when I'm telling you about yourself and then ask me to repeat the story as soon as I finish. You love babies in general and think your cousins Elise and Collin are the cutest things ever. I hope your enthusiasm for infants remains when you're sharing a room in just a few months with your very own baby sister!
You are continually overflowing with personality. Need proof? Here's a few photos to try and show the many aspects of your fun and cheerful personality.
Annnnd a few more. You struck all these poses below on your own and kept saying, "Take my picture Mom!"
Now that we've transitioned into the "threes", you have less frequent melt downs, however they seem more torrential than ever before when they do happen. Some of the things you scream at me while you're having a freak out are, "Don't touch me Mom!" (when I'm on the other side of the room), "I WON'T be happy!" or "I will not listen to you Mom!" You'll have a really intense flip out (like screaming all the way from Parowan to our driveway in Enoch because you don't want to leave Grandma's house), but it's amazing to me how as soon as you calm down, you realize on your own that your behavior was inappropriate. Almost always as soon as you regain composure, you will say voluntarily, "I'm so sorry Mama. Will you forgive me?" If I don't respond immediately, you will repeat your apology over and over again until I take you in my arms and we hug, kiss, and discuss how we can behave better or your explain to me why you did something. For example, "Hey Mom, I just got so mad because I really wanted to play on the Ipad and you would not let me." We are getting better at communicating all the time and I love that neither of us like to be at odds.
95% of the time you are still my sunshine baby. You love to make me laugh and will make silly faces to make me chuckle. You say the greatest things that make Daddy and I bust up laughing all the time. Here are a few gems over the last little bit.
2) If you see anyone sad you'll say, "I'll cheer you up!"
3) "I did it all by myself! Doesn't that make you so happy Daddy?"
4) "We're watching a smoothie movie Mom." (Burke loves to watch "Will It Blend" videos on youtube with you - so dorky!)
5) "No way! That's disgusthing!" (In reference to anything you don't want to do, not just eating food)
6) When we finally convince you to take a bite of something and your eyes grow wide as you nod your head and say, "Oh yes! I love that!"
7) Shortening or lengthening all your cousins' names: Mira, Mil, Layners, Jaders, etc. And calling Millie your best friend all the time.
8) One not so cute thing is when you tell me or Daddy to "Stop talking!" when you're in bed at night and you can hear us out in the living room. A few days ago you even yelled out to us, "Mom! I told you to go sleep in your own bed five times!" I have to remind you who is the Mama in those situations. :)
9) Knowing that I don't like the word "fart" and try to have you say "froof" the other day you said, "Mom, I farfed!" Haha!
10) A couple of months ago we were in Salt Lake staying at a hotel for Daddy's meetings the next day. We thought you were asleep and Dad walked out of the bathroom (nude) to grab his clothes after taking a shower when you sat up on your elbows and said in disgust, "Dad, get some clothes on!" We died laughing!
Speaking of Dad, you have him completely wrapped around your finger. Whenever he leaves for work in the morning and again after lunch, you beg him not to go and make him give you a big hug and kiss, then you insist on sitting on the porch railing and blowing kisses, waving the "I-Love-You" sign language sign and waving goodbye until his car is out of sight. You always sigh when he leaves and say, "We miss our Daddy." You love going to visit him at his office and climbing all over him when he's at home.
Daddy still tells you stories at night, but they have transitioned from tales about Wallace the Walrus to Dreamsicle and Black Stallion in Candyland. The most recent bedtime story consists of you throwing out a few characters and settings and Daddy making up a song/story about them on his guitar. The last few nights you keep asking him to sing about an alien, a kitty, and a movie about a shark on a merry-go-round. We have no idea where it came from. Haha! The other night you stopped Dad after his story and started telling one of your own. The line that cracked us up is when you said completely stream of conscious, "And the guy jumped off your head and fell into a nearby pool - he stung you in the eye - he's a bee!"
You're super into stuffed animals right now and always have one or two that you're particularly attached to and that you cart around with you everywhere. For example, in the above picture you can see you're holding Turtle who has been a consistent favorite for over a month. He goes everywhere with you! And below you can see when the talking pink kitty was your best pal for months in the spring.
You and Millie are still the best of pals. You'll occasionally spat from time to time, but you both want to be around each other all the time and call to talk frequently. You also adore your cousins Laney, Hallie and Amira and get so excited when we're going to visit them. You get along super well with Olivia Robinson and you love Charlotte at ballet class. You're getting to a point where you play better and better with other kids all the time and I have to do less and less refereeing which makes me very happy. I love that you are so social and will go up fearlessly to any kid at the park and say, "Hi! What's your name?" It's funny how many kids don't know how to react and take some time to warm up, but occasionally you'll find another extrovert who's just as delighted to have a friend to play with as you are.
Love you forever and always,
Your Mama
Comments