Lucy's 3 Year Update

My Lucy is 3 years old. Somehow that seems so old. Not such a toddler anymore. Only 2 years 'til she's in Kindergarten! Here are some of the things I want to note about her:

She can be so sweet. Yesterday, I was playing with her dollhouse with her. She looked up at me with the biggest smile, leaned over to hug me and said, "Mommy, you're my best friend." I about melted in a puddle right there.

She's the best big sister. She loves to kiss and hug Lena, and is always saying, "I love you, Lena!" She talks in a high, squeaky voice (can't imagine where she gets that from), loves to put the binky back in Lena's mouth, and will often say, "Why you crying Lena? Do you need a kiss from your big sister?" Haha.

Yesterday, at her birthday party, she unwrapped a fishing pole from Justin. Someone told her to tell him thank you, and she ran over to him, gave him a big hug, then leaned back to look him in the eye and say so sincerely, "Thank you, Daddy!"

She's incredibly smart. She has a mind like a steel trap. Don't ever tell her something you don't want repeated, because she will remember it and repeat it. Haha. She pays attention to everything. One day, Justin was driving her to Niki's house. There was an accident blocking the road, so they had to take a different road. Days later, I was driving her to Niki's house on the same road. She piped up from the backseat, "I went this way with Daddy. There were lots of firemans cuz someone got hurt, so we had to go a different way."  On her birthday, my mom set out a cup of Chuck E. Cheese tokens for Lucy before she left for work. When Lucy found them, she said, "I saw these in Grandma's room." Haha. Nosy.

She catches on to letters and numbers with lightning speed, and remembers things I didn't even work hard to reinforce with her. For instance, we talked about Lena's middle name being Kay exactly once, but she'll tell anyone who asks what Lena's middle name is. She also caught on that her birthday is May 11 after being told only once or twice. I hope that memory will serve her well in school!

She's very particular. Haha. She likes things a certain way. We give her juice diluted with water, but she insists that the water must go on the bottom and the juice on the top. She has to have her plethora of animals and babies lined up just right in her bed every night. She has specific ways to playing with her doctor kit, her kitchen stuff, and her dollhouse - she will teach you the right way, and you better not mess it up. Haha. She and my dad have this running joke about how to pronounce banana. Every day, my dad will say, "Are you going to have a nanno for breakfast this morning?" And every day she corrects him, "No, it's a banna." She doesn't realize it's a joke. She really thinks Grandpa is just so dumb that he can't pronounce banana correctly and needs her assistance. Lol. (Even though she can't pronounce it correctly either!)

She's an extremely picky eater. She eats the same thing for breakfast every morning: a waffle, banana, and vitamin gummies. Up until recently, she's been eating multi-grain waffles. But I made the mistake of buying the Eggo Homestyle kind and now she asks for the "yellow" kind every morning (instead of the brown-flecked multigrain.) Her other meals are limited to pizza, hot dogs, cheese roll-ups, grilled cheese, pb&j, and mac n' cheese. Seriously. I don't think she deviates from that list at all. She does not eat vegetables, and only approves of a few kinds of fruit. I'm over feeling guilty about it. It is what it is.

She also has a little bit of an attitude. (My family will tell you that's an understatement. Lol.) She only does things on her terms. If she doesn't want her picture taken, it will not get taken:

She can be very mouthy, demanding, and bossy. She can be incredibly whiny. She throws fits at the drop of a hat. She hates getting her hair washed in the bath and wails vehemently. She got Uno for her birthday. We played it today, and she got furious when I played a Wild and called a color she didn't have. She has this hilarious quirk of putting herself in time-out, though. When she gets riled up, she runs away crying and plops down on the steps to her bedroom. If anyone tries to talk to her, she'll usually say, "I'm just going to be sad for a while."

But most of the time, she is hilarious and adorable. These are a few of her funny words:

She calls KFC (the restaurant) "kissy."
She calls lamps "lanterns."
She calls Princess Jasmine "Aunt Jasmine" (because she has an Aunt Jasmine in Colorado - she's never met her, but we pray for her, so she knows who she is)

She's still a very nervous child. She's terrified of dogs, thunder, the vacuum, my blow dryer, trains . . . pretty much anything that makes a loud noise.

She watches a variety of shows (thanks to Netflix), but some of her favorites are Caillou, Strawberry Shortcake, Dora, Arthur, Martha Speaks, Angelina Ballerina, and Curious George.

She adores craft time, doing projects, coloring, playing with stickers and glue and paint.

She's currently obsessed with Princesses. I let her pick her own party supplies for her birthday, and she immediately gravitated to the princess section. The Little Mermaid and Cinderella are her favorites. She's a total girly girl who loves dressing up, make-up, ballet, and babies.

And she's a complete goofball:

Basically I could go on forever. She is so precious and we love her so much. It was fun celebrating her birthday over Mother's Day weekend. She's the reason I get to be called "Mommy" (even if it's 60,000 times a day), and I can't imagine life without her!