My 3 year old

Happy Birthday Caroline! 

Caroline is 25 pounds and just shy of 36 inches tall. She is beginning to wear 3T shirts and still wears 2T pants.

She is smart, she is feisty, she is stubborn and man alive she loves her sweets. 

Caroline at 3 years old likes playing with her Calico Critters, likes to color and play with her baby dolls. She enjoys play doh and bubbles and will happily play with Liam if he allows her to. She currently likes to color on herself or any scrap piece of paper she can find. She can count confidently up to 12 and needs help after that to 20. She knows her ABC's but leaves out TUV. She knows her name starts with a C and can write the letters C and T.

Caroline is really getting into the princesses and likes to watch princess songs on YouTube. Her favorite princesses are Ariel, Elsa and Aurora. She likes it when I sing the princess songs to her as well. She loves to play dress up right now as well. Again, Elsa and Ariel are her favorite costumes.

Caroline loves having a baby sister and giving her lots of love. Sometimes her hugs are a bit too rough and often times she tries to lay on top of Lucy but her heart is in the right place. When she wakes up in the morning she always tries to find Lucy and gets so excited when she sees her. It's very cute. She loves to bring Lucy baby toys and help me when its time to change her diaper. She is a great big sister.

She is very good at entertaining herself. Often times if I am busy with the other kids or trying to do chores she will play by herself. She likes to follow me around the house and be close to me but doesn't get upset if I'm not playing with her. 

Her lack of sleep does not seem to bother her. She has mostly given up her naptime although we do try to still have her do quiet time. Most of the time that is not quiet though as she will continue to try to get out of bed the entire time. At bedtime even though she is in bed by 8 pm she will happily sing and talk to herself sometimes until 9:30 pm. She often hears, "GO TO SLEEP!"

If Caroline is misbehaving we have found the warning of taking away desserts is the most effective punishment. She LOVES her desserts!

Caroline likes the colors purple and pink, loves to wear dresses and is not a fan of bugs. In fact she really doesn't like bugs. She loves to paint her nails and put on chapstick. She also likes to carry a backpack or purse around the house. She is definitely a girly girl.

She enjoys playing with Liam and if he allows her to they play quite nicely together. If Liam decides he wants to be mean or wants to try to get her in trouble then he likes to get in her face or push her against the sofa or sit on top of her. He's a true big brother. But I also don't want to make it sounds like she is the innocent one. She knows that if she is doing something that annoys him if she keeps doing it and he gets mad enough he will get in trouble. She's sneaky that one.

Caroline will watch some TV and movies but is not drawn to the screen as much as Liam is. Movies she is really into are Frozen, Strawberry Shortcake, Sarah and Duck, My Little Pony and Spirit.

She had a great birthday party that was once again at McGraw Park's splash pad. The kids got to play in the water, ate cupcakes and we even got to break open a piñata. She got some very fun presents but mostly just loved running around with her cousins.

We are so excited to see what this 3 year old has in store for us over the next year. We love you Sweet Caroline!

These kids say the darndest things

Tonight Caroline wanted to pray before bedtime, enjoy.

C: Dear God, pray that I have swimming lessons tomorrow. I pray that Briggs doesn't drink all the water.

L: What!?!

E: Liam! Caroline can pray for whatever she wants. Don't judge her prayer.

L: But that was a really weird prayer.


The other day I registered Liam for school online.

M: Hey Liam, just so you know I registered you for school! I don't know who your teacher will be and I don't know which of your friends will be in your class but I'm just letting you know.

L: Ok.
(a few minutes go by)
Hey Mom, I hope I'm not in the Spanish class.

M: Uh, yeah dude. I don't think that's going to happen considering you have to speak Spanish in order to be in the Spanish class. (there was one kindergarten English to Second Language class last year)

A week ago.

M: Caroline, come back up on the sidewalk! You're too close to the street!

C: Yeah, there's no doctors in this town. I better not go in the street. Those cars will run me right over.

This had Evan and I dying of laughter but she got that statement from me while we were in Michigan. She was running away from me and I kept telling her to stop and wait. At the last inch of the sidewalk she finally stopped and I had to warn her that there are no doctors in the town and that cars don't see little kids and she will get hurt. At least she remembered what I said.

Interview with a 3 year old

What is your favorite color? Purple
What is your favorite food? Cookies
What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Blocks
What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Play with Blocks
What is your favorite thing to do with Liam? Play fighting running game
What is your favorite thing to do with Lucy? Play with doctor kit
What is your favorite movie/TV show? Frozen
Who is your favorite princess? Ariel. Nope Elsa. She's a princess.
Where is your favorite place to go? McDonald's. That's a place.
What is your favorite animal? Giraffe
What is your favorite toy to play with? Baby Dolls
What is the best thing about being a big sister? I like to lay on her

Butters

Good ol' Butters. At 8 1/2 years old Butters is very content sleeping on the couch, eating lots of food (whether that is her own food or the kids food) and being left alone. She is approaching senior citizen status but yet continues to be the best family dog; always letting the kids climb all over her and being a good sport if they try to play with her.

Once upon a time, when she was just a puppy and Evan and I had all the time in the world (before children) I took Butters to obedience training at a kennel club here in town. We started in the puppy class and worked our way up to the advanced level. Butters was a very good student as long as I had a treat in my hand or pocket. Classes were always slightly stressful as there were usually 8-10 other dogs there and since she was a goofy puppy she assumed that class time was playtime. Most of the time she would try to meet or play with the other dogs which really wasn't encouraged and most of the time she would then get mad that I wouldn't let her run around and be free. She was a challenge to this new dog owner in every way.

I recently ran into one of her teachers of the puppy class and reintroduced myself. I told her it had been six or seven years since we were in her class but that we had a yellow lab, well more white in color and....that was it. That's all I had to say because she said, "Butter??? I remember Butter! I always wondered what happened to Butter." I was sure it was due to her bad behavior with me that she remembered our crazy lab but I was wrong.  I reminded her that she always used to pick Butters for her demonstrations of the new trick and I was sure that it was because they were hoping that she would be a goofy puppy so they could show the class how to correct their dog when they misbehaved. She immediately corrected me by saying, "We always picked Butters because she was the smartest one in the class! She always did what we said and made us look really good."

I was shocked. After all of these years I never knew.  I really need to give her more credit for being such a smart, good dog.

The mind of an almost 3 year old

Caroline is now getting to that stage of saying really funny things.

The other day after numerous potty accidents I, out of frustration, told her how disappointed I was in her for not keeping her undies dry. She looked at me and said, "I like peeing in my underwear."

In Sunday School at church during their lesson she interrupted the teacher to tell her that "we are out of cottage cheese at my house. Cottage cheese is white like little clouds."

She currently tries to tattle on Liam as much as possible but has not figured out that Liam actually has to do the thing she is trying to get him in trouble for.

Many times I will call her "baby girl" to which she always replies, "I'm not your baby girl! I'm Daddy's baby girl!"

The other day she asked us if she could punch Lucy. Carefully. We said no.

It was nice of her to ask though. 

So much change in such a short amount of time

Looking back through my blog I noticed that Lucy got her first tooth approximately 5 weeks ago. Since then she has:

1. cut her second tooth

2. worked at pushing herself from laying down to crawl mode

3. worked at crawl mode to scooting herself forward in a modified crawl

4. pushes herself from laying down to a modified sit (leaning on one arm)

5. just last week she started sitting up straight without the use of her hands to support her (due to her dislike for the feel of grass)

6. when in her sitting position she will do a gradual fall back to her belly or back

7. deciding that peas are ok. peaches are yummy and pumpkin is not bad either

8. I swear in the short time we have been doing baby sign language she clearly showed me that she was "all done" after her meal.

I wish I could say that with all of her newfound mobility we helped her get there. But that's just not true. She has done it all by herself. Tonight she was pushing herself up to a stand on a pack of diapers. I mean really. This girl is SO STRONG. She is determined. I cannot slow her down.

Growing up

First Day of Kindergarten:

Last Day of Kindergarten:

Thursday was Liam's last day of school and there is no doubt about it. He is not too happy about it. This morning he was having a particularly rough morning with lots of tears which no one could explain and so I think he is possibly worried. Worried that he won't see his friends again. Worried that he won't see his teacher, Mrs. Dewitt again and maybe worried that his summer will be no fun.

Everything about kindergarten was great for Liam. He made so many friends, learned so much, became a more confidant reader and showed us what a truly amazing little boy we have. A great listener (for his teacher, not necessarily for us) and a hard worker who LOVES to make others laugh.

After some reassuring this morning that we will make playdates to see his friends and have lots of fun this summer I think he was feeling a bit better. 

Bring on summer vacation!