Lainey is THREE!

Here is what being three years old means to Miss Lainey:

She often says...

• that she can maybe do something “tomorrow" or just "not today."
• that she needs to go to the "shopping store."
• that her "tummy is full" or that her "tummy is not full yet." She claims that she asks her tummy, and it answers her. And she repeats that answer to us. :)
• "Look at my eyebrows. My eyebrows are mad." (Indeed, Lainey knows how to furrow her eyebrows.)
• how she is feeling. If she doesn't feel like talking, she'll say, "I'm grumpy" or "I'm being shy." If she's sad, she'll say, "I'm just a little sad." She also gets "a little scared." She is good at articulating her feelings and she's pretty good at reading other's feelings as well (especially mine).
• that Walker has a "big, flat belly." :) I'm pretty sure she means "big, fat belly."
• that her ear/knee/ankle/foot/elbow (you name it) is "a little bit feeling better and a little bit hurting." (This means that yes, it was hurting earlier, but it might not really be hurting now but it still has the ability to hurt if it means that she can get medicine and/or sympathy.)
• "someping" and "bery" for the words "something" and "very." :)
• that she is "just a little bit scared of _____." And usually this phrase is uttered in a very timid and anxious voice. :)
• the word "super" a lot. It's her favorite adjective: super high, super happy, super sad, super mad. I am pretty sure that I say "super" a lot, too.
• what she thinks the characters are supposed to say, not what they actually say, on the pages of her books - this mainly applies to the Care Bears and the Backyardigans.
• "I do it MYself."
• the "L" sound correctly.
• "Ms. Allyson" instead of "Aunt Allyson." :) Sometimes, around her friends, she'll call her dad "Mr. Ben" and me "Ms. Abby."
• "That doesn't sound good" or "I don't like the sound of that" when listening to one's chest with her pretend stethoscope.
• "Where is the lid?" (She says this whenever she sees a convertible!)
• funny observations like, "That so crazy." (Substitute the words silly, funny, or sweet for crazy.)
• made-up names when naming things (bugs, dolls, etc.). Usually the names she makes up end in a "y" sound, like “Congy” and “Shingy” and “Simmy.” Rarely does she use a real name. When she does, it's usually Gage or Ainsley or Ms. Kelley or Mr. Carl or Sofi or Lucy. :)
• that her dad went to "Wash-uh-ming DC."
• that when she lays her head on my tummy, it sounds like it's making "duck noises."
• that things are "pokey." Like weeds, thorn bushes, slides (because of the seams), wood chips on the playground.
• that bugs are sometimes "stuck together." (You can make your own assumptions about what the bugs were really doing.)
• that some bugs have "comed apart" when they are obviously dead. :(
• prayers...sort of. We're still working on those. :)
• really funny stuff that I can't laugh at. Well, at least not really in front of her. :) Once, just after going potty, she looked down in the toilet and said, “Is he [a small poo] lost? Maybe he should go find his mommy and daddy under that hole. [She flushes, then starts waving.] Bye little poo poo! Go find your family!”
• that she "be a good jobber" when she does a good job with something.
• that girls are "gayels." She likes to discuss who is a girl and who is a boy, and who gets to stand up to go wee wee and who sits down to go wee wee. I think she thinks you can change from being a boy to a girl whenever you want to.

Funny stuff:

• Lainey likes to use her soccer ball as a baby and pushes him/her in the swing and rolls him/her down the slide.
• She gets SO excited about things and always tries to get others excited, too, even if she has no idea what she's actually getting excited about. She repeats what exciting thing we're going to do (like going to a new park, or, perhaps, using the automatic hand dryer in the bathroom) and looks at her friends and tries to get them as excited as she is. And if she succeeds, then we're sure to witness many laughs, screams, and excited jumps amongst the overly excited kids.
• She can argue with you about things. Like if she believes that the sky is purple, you better believe that the sky is purple. She won't back down on such things.
• We have a morning and after-nap ritual of sitting on her bed, talking, after she wakes up. She drinks her milk and we just hang out there for a bit. And when Walker is with us, he hangs with us, too.
• She still takes giant naps on non-school days (naps on school days are very short). She doesn't do well without a nap. I think we've tried that once, and not by choice. :)
• We pretend to be different characters. We play "Ms. Linda and Ms. Suzanne" (her teachers at school) and "Ainsley and Gage" and "Diego and Alicia." We also play "restaurant" and she goes around the room, taking our "orders" with a calculator. At one point, her restaurant was named "Chip and Dale." She has a very big imagination and I love every single ounce of it.
• She has undone the zipper part of her sleep sacks (her blankies), so that she can hold onto the little plastic strands. That is what she “sniffs.” She sometimes threads the strands through her little toes!!!
• One day I caught her spreading salt (from the salt shaker) all over the ground. She said that she was "making ice." :)
• Lainey is loud. She has a loud voice and is rarely quiet...except when she's sleeping.
• She makes up songs all day long about the most random things. Usually she combines her own lyrics with lyrics from several other songs and sings them to some tune...either familiar or made-up.
• Lainey likes to narrate her actions while playing, and she also likes to give her playmates orders. For example, she'll say, "You take the puppy, okay? And you hold this, okay?"
• She and I are pretty good at singing the theme song to The Backyardigans. We use her little stuffed characters to act out the song.
• She recognizes when she says a new word. She can now say "banana" instead of "bwanna" and she was the one who pointed that fact out to us.
• She likes to refer to the time when she was a “tiny baby” or "little girl" and then she'll say something in baby talk. For example, she might say, "Mommy, when I was a little girl I used to say "foody." (Instead of food.)
• She asked me once if the dust mites floating through the air were "snowflakes."
• When she's not in the mood to help me (or other people or friends) she'll say, "I'm sorry, Mommy. I can't help you right now. 'Cause I'm doing something important."
• She will also have a conversation with me that goes something like this: **Me: “Lainey, can you please turn off the TV?” **Lainey: “Mommy, I'm sorry I can’t do that right now because both of my hands are holding onto this sucker.” Or she might respond by saying, "I'm sorry, I can't do that because my fingers are like this." (And she'll hold up two fists.) She has started speaking like this because I often have to tell her that I can't hold her because I'm holding Walker/a milk cup/a bottle/clothes/a blankie/etc in my hands.)

Accomplishments:

• She can spell her first/last name, Walker's name, "mom" and "dad," Gage's name.
• She write the letters of her name - at least a few of them. Sort of. :) She likes to announce when she sees a letter in her name, like the "L" in the Wal-Mart sign.
• She knows her birthday, street name, and city/state. She also can recognize the shape of our state, Texas.
• She can dress herself and is SO proud when she does it completely without help. She will lay out her underwear (or shirt, shorts, jammies, etc.) and ask, "Like this? Like this, Mommy?" over and over until she is wearing the piece of clothing successfully.
• Finally, the girl can blow her nose.
• She is good at identifying the letters of the alphabet, and she's getting better at telling us what word starts with what letter of the alphabet. Obviously, there is a ton of room for improvement here. :) She likes to try, though.
• She can put on her jacket all by herself. (Even though it's upside down sometimes.)
• She is very aware and sensitive to other's feelings and behaviors. She always wants me to be "a happy girl." She doesn't ever want me to be "frustrated" or "mad" or "sad" or "cranky" or "grumpy." (Who, me? Her mom? As if... haha!)
• Most of the time, I would consider her potty trained. However, the girl definitely will have accidents if she's too busy to take a break to go to the restroom. And she doesn't care ONE bit. In fact, when she's gone "wee wee in [her] underwear just a little bit" she ends up consoling me, not the other way around. She'll pat my shoulder or my head and tell me, "It's okay, Mommy. I just went a little bit of wee wees. I had an accident. But that's okay. It'll be okay." Ha. She definitely is the one trying to make me feel better about her having the accident!

She loves...

• her green binky - it's her favorite. And it's going to be SO hard to break her of this habit. I'm not ready, and I know she's not ready.
• milk. She is a serious milk drinker.
• eating food in its whole form. Examples: a whole muffin, a whole graham cracker (in the shape of a "rectangle"), a whole tangerine (so she can wear it like a ring), a whole tortilla that looks like a "circle."
• tackling/tickling Walker. This has to be supervised - when we catch it happening, that is. :) He responds by laughing so she continues to do it and then inevitably, he gets hurt because she gets too rough. Sigh. Such is the life of a little brother... :)
• eating cold and/or frozen things. Especially waffles and sometimes fruit.
• wearing her underwear that has horses on it (any pair). Followed closely by her pair of pink Cinderella underwear and then her pair of purple Minnie Mouse underwear.
• the color pink, princesses, dollies, dressing up in costumes, babies, jumping, playing in the sandbox, makeup (that she's not allowed to wear), playing soccer, dancing, singing, bugs...everything. There really aren't a lot of activities she doesn't enjoy.
• showing people her tapping skills, her ballet moves, and her "tricks" (her version of a somersault and cartwheel and something where she puts her hands on the ground and simultaneously kicks both legs in the air behind her). She'll usually perform on command. :)
• jewelry. She especially likes the different pieces of jewelry that Yiyia and Emmy wear and she loves to rummage through my jewelry box.
• the carousel at the mall (that we've been on a total of about three times). She loves the purple horse and really races to get on that one each time. She's named him "Jupiter" and she named Walker's horse "Mars." Not quite sure where she gets this stuff!
• puppy dogs, horses, and kitty cats. (Her words, not mine.)
• telling secrets, and she always says "Amen" at the end of the secret. Before that, it's just a bunch of jumbled sounds. But she's sure to end with an emphatic "Amen!"
• being the winner, being first, or winning. She wants us to "be the winners" by being the first to reach the doors at the gym, being the first car to go when the light turns green, being the leader when riding bikes with her friends, being the first to get to the top/bottom of the stairs or out of the bathtub. We're really working with her on learning to take turns, even when it comes to winning. She mainly displays this behavior around us, her family, and her close friends. I don't think this is an all-encompassing issue (yet). She's getting a bit better about all of it, but she's quite the competitive one.
• pointing out bugs - roly-poly bugs, mosquito catchers, ants, bees, wasps.
• picking flowers.
• most everything. She's pretty easy to please and seems to have a variety of interests - from "boy stuff" to "girl stuff." :)
• to talk on her toy phone to her friends and her cousin, Ella.
• reading books. She loves for me to read them to her and she loves to "read" them herself. And we always have to read the title page. (Pretty sure the teachers do this at school.)

She can...

• be a very typical toddler. Pouting, talking back, not listening, acting out, sulking, refusing to talk to people...all things she does on a normal basis. She will refuse to greet people or say goodbye to them, and she can really push my buttons. :) She can also be a performer - showing complete strangers her ballet moves in restaurants and doing "tricks" in the church narthex. I would say that overall, she's an extremely outgoing, social, extroverted little girl. But she has her moments of complete defiance, but I think that's just the beauty of being two-turning-three. :)
• get very jealous of Walker. This is a recent development, and it happens the other way around, too. It happens most often when they are both tired and both want me to hold them. I think she gets tired of being the big sister.
• play by herself pretty well. It's funny to hear her talking to her babies and dollies and toys. I think she imitates her teachers sometimes, and it's hilarious. (All good things - her teachers are great.)

She does not love...

• lawn mowers, leaf blowers, vacuum cleaners...anything that makes a lot of noise.
• broccoli or green beans or really any "green things." (But she will eat lettuce and cucumbers.)
• her food all mixed together. She does okay with some things, but for the most part, she'd prefer for the ingredients of a casserole to stay separated. :)

******

You know, I never know how to adequately describe my love for my children. If you are a parent, you just know that there are no words to convey the intense emotions wrapped up in the phrase, "That's my baby." (And yes, I think my kids will always be my babies.) So, when I look at my baby who is THREE today and say those words, I want her to know that she has and will always have my heart. I'm sure that over the course of her life she will love my heart, hold it close to hers, treasure it, hide it from others, crush it in a fit of teenage defiance, confuse it, and demand impossible and challenging things from it. But, sweet Lainey, I want you to know, that I am so happy that you are our girl. I wouldn't change a thing about you. You are perfect. Thank you for being you and for all that you've taught me...what a blessing it is to be your mom. In church today, Easter Sunday, our pastor relayed a story about a little girl who had a special note from her mom. The note read (or something to this effect), "If God gave me the choice of any baby born from the beginning of time till the end of the world, I would choose you." I think that sums up a mother's (and God's) love perfectly. Happy birthday, Lainey. We love you!

Some day, when you're older than you are,

But not nearly as old as the stars

You’ll understand why I hope what I hope for you.

But between that distant then and now

If I look at you like you’re the cat’s meow

It’s just because my heart is in my throat for you.”

~ from the book I Hope You Dance! By: Mark D. Sanders and Tia Sillers