3 years

Three years ago I became a mom for the very first time. Some days it seems longer than that, and others it seems like it happened yesterday. So much happens so fast these first few years. It’s strange to see Ingrid struggling to sit up and to know that in 3-years she will be as animated and amazing as Sydney is today.

I won’t sugar coat it, this year has been a struggle. Sydney wasn’t what I consider to be all that terrible when it came to the “terrible 2’s” and tantrums. But I also expected them, understood them, and tried as much as possible to avoid situations that cause them. Instead the second year revolved a lot around poop. The last 9-months were atrocious.  There were a few decent days sprinkled in throughout, but when the day was bad…it was bad. I really shut down. We stopped going out to family dinners with friends, we didn’t have many people over.  We didn’t take any classes with her on the weekends. Our lives sadly revolved around poop.

I am so very thankful to say that all of that is over with though, and on a time frame that was much shorter than I had ever imagined. She is now wearing her big girl panties to school and is so proud when she wears them. It’s funny how things can take a complete 180. 

This year we learned a lot about each other. I know she does better if I set limits with her, I know how to keep her focused, that time-outs work, that talking too much doesn’t. I know that in a group situation it can take Sydney a very long time to come out of her shell. And sometimes it is just best to sit on the floor and read until you pass out.

I learn new things about her personality and imagination each and every day. She is a cautious, observant, gentle child who is not overly rambunctious or cruel. She is so lovely to her little sister that I just know she can’t wait for her to be old enough to play! We are slowly working on identifying our alphabet letters and numbers. Also working on phonics and rhyming. She has picked up a bit of Spanish from school (and Dora) and can count to 10 in Spanish and use simple Spanish phrases.

Her favorite color is purple. She loves to be outside. She is starting to get into princesses and other girly stuff which is cute. She loves to rattle off the names of all her friends. If you are willing to take orders, she loves to tell you what to do and where to put her dolls and how to cover them up ‘just so’. She even does a pretty decent job of ‘reading’ books by paraphrasing the story that goes along with the pictures of some of her favorite books.

I’ll update this post on Friday with her growth stats from her 3-year well visit.

I am so grateful we can end this year on a up-swing and am looking forward to a few good months with my big 3-year old! Tonight we celebrated with just family.  Sydney requested a chocolate cake with purple icing so that is exactly what we had.  We will be having a small birthday party here at the house with some of her school girlfriends and her neighborhood girlfriends this Sunday. She is already looking forward to it as you can imagine!

Status update: 3-year doctor visit and Sydney holding strong at being below average for all her measurements.  Since her 2-year visit she has grown 3 inches (36.5 inches; 35.5%), and gained 4 lbs  (28 lbs; 20%).  She is still in 2T clothes but her pants are getting a bit short.  She swims in 3T pants so her wardrobe this winter has been mostly dresses and cotton leggings which seems acceptable since they are so easy to move in!  Thankfully 3T dresses fit her so I have been buying some new things for her — but really I’m getting tired of her wardrobe so I hope she grows into more 3T stuff soon!