Lena: 3 Years

My Lena is 3 years old today. Does that make her a pre-schooler instead of a toddler? Either way, it seems old and kind of breaks my heart. Haha. She is wonderful and full of personality and this entry will never do her justice.

The Stats
At her 3 yr. well-child appointment, she weighed 28 lbs (22%) and was 3' tall (26%). Shrimpy, but growing at her own rate!

She's wearing 2T shirts with a few 3T mixed in here and there. She pretty much only wears 2T jeans, and some of those are too big still. Basically, she's a shrimp. Haha.

I still don't think she has all her 2 year molars, but that doesn't surprise me. We're late maturers with the teeth around here.

She has a couple weird food sensitivities. Oranges and peas give her a blistery diaper rash. Pineapple makes her mouth itch. All very common, and she'll likely outgrow them.

The Fun Stuff

She can count to 20, although she consistently skips 13 and 15.
She knows all her shapes (thanks to Pa Grape's Shapes)
She still isn't real interested in identifying letters. She can do L, M, O, and sometimes E and A. I really need to work harder on that with her . . .
She knows all her colors.
She knows her full name and can spell "Lena." (She can also spell "Lucy.")
She's currently obsessed with Curious George. She'd watch it all day every day if I let her. And occasionally, something will remind her of an episode she's seen. She'll say, "On George, the man with the yellow hat says . . ." and recap half the episode for me. Haha.
She's very good with technology. She can work my phone, Kindle, her LeapPad, and has even figured out how to turn on the TV, get to Netflix, get to Curious George, and turn it on.
She loves to help me with everything - laundry, dishes, cooking, etc.
She is my constant companion. She very rarely leaves my side, and prefers to be touching me if possible. Haha. Sometimes it drives me a little crazy, but she's also the sweetest, most affectionate kid ever. She loves to put her little hand on my face and say, "I love you, Mommy." She's constantly telling me how much she loves me and constantly snuggling with me. I love it.
She tends to be shy, although I think it's more of a learned habit than is truly innate in her. She sees Lucy hide her face anytime someone tries to talk to her, so she thinks that's what you're supposed to do. If Lucy's not around, Lena's usually much more willing to respond to people. Although the separation anxiety is real, too. She does not like to be separated from me - unless she's with Daddy or Grandma.
She loves to read. She adores going to the library and picking out a huge pile of books, then sitting at home and reading through all of them. She soaks them up and pays attention and then re-reads them to herself later.
She's always listening. She asks me often what song lyrics mean when we're in the car and I'm not even paying attention to the radio. When I pray at night, she'll sometimes ask me what I meant. For instance, I remember one time praying for Grandpa VanderKodde to travel safely to Florida. When I was done praying, she said, "What does travel mean?" I love it.
Speaking of praying, she prays so adorably. She folds her little hands and says, "Jesus, thank you for this day, thank you for this food, thank you for everything you do for us. Dear Jesus, amen."
She's still an early riser. She goes right to sleep at 8:00 every night, and is up between 6 and 7 every morning. Usually closer to 6. Haha. She takes a two hour nap every afternoon. I've thought about cutting out the nap to see if she'd sleep longer at night, but I cherish those two hours during the day too much.
I've given up on potty training. She is 100% ready, but 100% unwilling. Haha. She's terrified of her potty chair. So I took her to Meijer and told her she could pick out one of those rings that goes in the toilet. They had all her favorite characters, but she stood in the aisle crying, "Don't wanna go potty on the toilet!" I finally gave up and told her she didn't have to, but she continued to cry for the next 15 minutes, "I don't wanna go potty!" Somehow, she is traumatized by the idea of it. I'm hoping she'll be one of those kids that will decide on her own that she's ready to be potty trained and just do it. If that hasn't happened by this summer, once the baby is on a schedule, and breastfeeding is under control, we'll get serious. (How many times have I said that? Lol.)
Her recent love is puzzles. She usually asks me to help her, but once I get her started, she can do the 16 or 24 piece board puzzles by herself.
She adores Lucy and loves to do whatever Lucy is doing. They actually play really well together usually. Sometimes they'll go upstairs and play for hours! Their new obsession is playing with their Baby Alive dolls. Lena loves feeding hers and changing its diaper and putting it to bed by singing and rocking.
We have a very specific bed time routine. She only wants me to put her to bed. We have to rock in the rocking chair, read one book, then sing the same 5 songs. And her new thing is saying, "You just rock me for a while with no singing." She snuggles up against my chest and we rock in the quiet darkness. I'm planning on moving the rocker down into my room to feed the baby in the middle of the night, and I'm already sad about losing that time with Lena. We might have to do her routine in my room before going up to bed.
She is hilarious and goofy and full of silliness. I often hear a crash from the other room followed by Lena shouting, "I'm ok!" Lol. She calls me "big fat momma with a baby in your belly." Haha. She tells Justin, "I like you, but I not like your beard. You need shave."
She's obsessed with her Ellies [lovies] and Binky. The Binky is going in the trash tonight and I am majorly dreading it. It's definitely time. It's ridiculous for her to have it as much as she does, but she loves it so much and I'm sad to take it away from her. (I never would've dreamed I'd be such a pushover as a parent!!) It also really seems to take away the last of her baby-ness. :-(
She does still sleep in the crib. She's only tried to climb out once, fell, and hasn't tried again. I'm all about keeping her contained as long as I can - especially since she wakes up so early.
She loves to color and glue and cut and do glitter glue and stickers and play-doh.