Happy Birthday, Angel!
I can't believe you are a big three year old starting preschool! Although I absolutely love the person that you are becoming, I am a bit sad about you being so big lately. I often tell you that I wish you could stay little forever and you always respond something like, "But Mommy, I can't be little anymore. I wanna get bigger and bigger!" (gesturing and grinning). You are excited to be a big girl--in your words, so you can reach things (getting bigger=reaching things)!
You are now 34 pounds! That is in the 50th percentile. Your height, 38.5 inches, is in the 75th percentile. You wear size 4, size 5 and size XS clothes. Your shoe size is 9. I've noticed that you have hair on your legs. You pretty much gave up regular naps around age 2. You only napped once in a while this past year, especially in the car or stroller or sometimes when I layed down with you in your bed. Growing up, Angel! Too fast!
You have the best hair! You get complimented on it all.the.time. When I look at pictures of your mullet last year compared to your pretty head of hair today, the change has been dramatic! So different a year later! You love going to get it cut every three months or so! This year, you have gone from letting me braid it or put it in ponytails or pig tails to not letting me do anything with it except maybe clip it back so it doesn't fall into your face. You also recently developed the nervous habit of sucking on a lock of hair. In the past year, you've gone from hating getting your hair wet/washed to now laying back in the bathtub to get the shampoo out and even dumping a cup of water over your head in the bathtub or soaking your head under the waterfall at Livermore Park.
Your 3rd birthday party was so much fun! The theme you picked was Frozen. I had a ball putting together the perfect party for you! It was so special seeing you celebrating with all of your friends. There was a house full of little girls that day! You loved the cupcake, presents, and playing with your friends. What you didn't like was the guest appearance by Elsa. Elsa came to paint nails for all of your guests but you were totally afraid of her, clinging to Mom and Dad! Might be a few years before we take you to Disneyland ;) You love princesses but from a safe distance!
This year has been so full of growth! There were many different phases that you went through and it is hard for me to remember everything! Let me try to recount some of the changes in you this year.
For one thing, you are incredibly fluent. In the high-pitched mousy voice that we all love, I am amazed at the things you say these days . You speak beautifully in full sentences, displaying very fleshed-out thoughts for your age. You surprise me all the time with how much you are able to express! And you crack us up daily with the funny things you say and the way it comes out. I wish that I could carry a pen and paper around all day to record all the funny stuff! I often point my rear-view mirror at you when I'm driving just so I can watch you talking up a storm or singing. Something about car rides really gets your mind and your jabber goin'!
I love your personality. In general, you are a really sweet girl. You are friendly and kind towards others (though you definitely get feisty with Mom, Dad and Levi). You are a rule-follower, cautious and a good listener. You aren't the type to run away or do anything dangerous (unlike Levi, who has zero fears!). You are caring and concerned about others. You can identify feelings and offer compassion when you identify hurts or sadness (at such a young age, you surprise me with all the big things you are capable of!). The flip side of this, however, is that you have gone through a phase recently in which you refused to utter the words, "Sorry" to Mommy. But aside from that, it is so awesome to see your innate concern for others. You are capable of such gentleness. For example, you love Levi and can be so heart-warmingly sweet to him, giving him kisses and hugs and playing with him. But you also lose your temper with him on a regular basis, guarding your possessions! You can be so silly and you love to have fun. Being around your dad makes your silliness really shine!
You are still an introvert, enjoying/craving regular time by yourself reading or sitting quietly at the park watching other kids play. But you are very social now compared to a year ago! Now you are comfortable walking up to strangers at the park and trying to strike up a conversation. You befriend "stranger" kids so easily! It has been wonderful to see you become so confident this year. You think everyone is your friend. I love that about you. You love to tell me about them! You do have several really awesome friendships. Some of your current friends are Emmalynn, Emmersyn, Makena, Veona, Kiana, Kylie and Makenzie. It has been encouraging to my heart to watch you being a good friend to these girls and many others. You are nice and sweet! You love play dates--at the park or at our house or your friends' houses. You recently love to play chase with your friends and there's nothing cuter than watching little you running around squealing, smiling and your blonde hair flapping against your neck!
This year you have become really close and affectionate towards your grandmas in particular but also toward all your uncles and Auntie Dev and Avery, too. I love it. You are so very loved by each of them and I know they are enjoying the reciprocated affection that you have developed this year! Now you have another Auntie to grow close to, as well--Aunt Julia!
You are still highly sensitive. All year, you have been on an emotional roller coaster, Angel. The littlest things can really set you off, especially when you are tired. You thrive on routines and knowing what the plan is and being involved in setting the plan. An example of how sensitive you are is that if you get a speck of water on your clothes, you have to take them off immediately. :)
This year, you learned how to ride a tricycle, how to climb ladders and rock walls and you learned the basics of swimming. You can balance on one foot, do somersaults and follow directions/imitate new moves. You learned how to drink out of regular cups. You can dress yourself and put on your own shoes. You can open child safety locks. You can draw smiley faces and create artwork. You can do so many big girl things by now!
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| Mother's Day 2015 Photo Shoot |
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| Levi was sick that day...threw up a few times right before the shoot. Can you tell? |
You learned how to recognize certain written words like "mom" and "dad" and learned several of the lowercase letters (you mastered uppercase letters and sounds before two years old). You are still a bookworm and memorize entire books. Quite impressive to me is your ability to fill in the blank with words that we leave out of a story. You even read books to yourself from memory of the story-line and by improvising using the pictures on the page. Going to the library and checking out new books and DVDs each week is one of your favorite things to do! I am so happy that you love reading! Your little brother, on the other hand, has almost no interest in books yet...
This past year we took you to the Sacramento Children's Museum quite frequently--sometimes once a week. You absolutely love it there. Your favorite thing to do is paint on the windows--that is always the first thing you do when we arrive!
Current obsessions aside from books--Disney princesses. You love anything princess! Your favorite color is pink. You are passionate about stickers, too. And puzzles! You are so good at puzzles and can assemble 24 piece puzzles all by yourself. You love doing art projects. You love dresses--there are a certain few that you wear all the time! You also love pajamas and some days it is hard to get you into normal clothes! You are obsessed with birthday parties and plan/host pretend birthday parties every day. And tea parties. And cookie parties. Going to your friends' birthday parties is something you get so excited about! You also love to sing and dance and listen to music. You love to dress up with tutus, tiaras, fairy wings and fairy wands. There was also a phase this past year when you loved to dress up in princess dresses but you refuse to put them on these days. You definitely know what you want!
Not only are you extremely picky when it comes to your outfits but also what food you will eat
. You have a very small selection of foods that you enjoy. Your faves right now--pouches, gogurt, popcorn, fig bars or granola bars, fruit leathers, applesauce, oatmeal, strawberries, peaches, peanut butter sandwiches, bagel with strawberry cream cheese, plain bow tie pasta, sometimes mac and cheese, hot dogs, ham, cheese...and that's about it! You also love sweets like cupcakes and ice cream! It's as though you don't trust my cooking. Everything is subject to your x-ray vision approval.
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| March 2015 |
You enjoy playing hide-and-seek. It is funny though because you are sort of afraid to find us (keeping a safe distance)! Yet you squeal delightedly when you find someone! You won't seek alone, either! Plus, you hide in the most obvious places.
I potty trained you in January. I take all the credit for that one! It was one of Mommy's biggest accomplishments of the year because you LOVED diapers and weren't in a hurry to potty train at the time that I trained you. Fortunately, you learned quickly and didn't have many accidents at all after the first few weeks. Those first several days were so hard for me (I am a clean-freak! So are you, actually!) but thankfully, the memory of all the trouble has faded! Now your accidents are extremely rare, just in the early hours of the morning once in a great while. You love wearing underwear but you also love to run around naked. The requirement of having to be fully clothed while in public is still something that you don't quite understand.
One of the other joys you have brought us this year is watching your faith grow. You love going to church and reading the Bible. I have enjoyed teaching you a few memory verses. You are familiar with Joseph, Noah, and Jesus. It is sweet to listen to you flip through the Bible and read aloud to yourself, inserting these familiar names into the story-line. You attended Blitz camp again at church this past summer. Daddy and I volunteered in your class. We had so much fun together. You still love singing all the songs we learned at camp. I am so grateful that you are learning about God's love.
The holidays this past year were so memorable because it was the first time that you were really aware of everything and excited about it. Last Halloween was awesome because it was the first time you could walk around, ring doorbells and say, "Trick or Treat!". The whole bit. It was fantastic! We enjoyed starting traditions with you last Christmas like baking cookies and doing crafts. You love to climb up on a chair and bake with me. Last Christmas, we went on a carriage ride with Santa and also saw him on a fire truck parading down our street one night. You loved going to see the Christmas lights on a street nearby that goes all-out! We took you there several times! You were so eager to open presents and your stocking--you even got to open Levi's gifts last year, lucky girl! You are at such a fun age. No doubt about it, we loved celebrating each holiday with you!
Another memory from this year was our first family vacation. We went to the Oregon Coast to witness Uncle John and Aunt Julia's wedding. I will always remember the sheer joy you expressed as you ran on the beach, squealing and screaming! It was the most delightful five days! You and Levi were awesome travelers. All the quality family time with Grandma Jean, Papa Clark and Uncle John was so special!
That's all I can think of to include in this post...so much stuff, huh? I will conclude by saying that the most recent change for you as a new 3 year-old is preschool! Your first day of preschool was yesterday. You have been looking forward to it and your first day seemed to be fun! Mommy, Daddy and Levi took you to school yesterday. You know some of the kids in your class already but you seemed a little timid when you arrived. Daddy led you into the class when Ms. Brigitte opened the door and he left you sitting quietly at a table. I watched you sit there, looking around and taking it all in. Some kids were crying and you definitely picked up on that because just as we were getting ready to leave, you came running out of the classroom crying, too, begging us not to leave. We said a quick goodbye and assured you we would be back soon and your teacher led you back inside. Daddy and I both felt a little badly! But when we came to pick you up, you ran to us and were super happy. You said it was fun. We hope that tomorrow goes great for you! You are going to learn so much this year in preschool. It is your special time and we couldn't be more excited for you!
Thank you for being such an awesome little girl, Whitney. I am so proud of you. Can't wait to see what fun stuff is in store for you in the next year of your life! Happy 3rd Birthday!
