Elise is extremely proud to be 3 and reminds us all the time that she's 3 and will be 3 1/2 in July, and therefore strong and smart and can do anything :)
Stats: She's about 36 lbs and 40 inches. She wears size 10 shoe and 4T/5T clothes.
Sleeping: Elise is still a fantastic sleeper. We transitioned from the crib to a toddler bed in mid-April and the transition was extremely smooth. Most of the time, I wake her up in the morning and after her nap, but if she wakes up first, she calls for me to come get her. We've had little phases where the bedtime process has been frustrating (i.e. "needing" to go to the bathroom multiple times before finally going to sleep, etc) but started bribing her with a few Fruity Cheerios in the morning with her other cereal if she stayed in bed the first time, and it works probably 9 out of every 10 nights. We think the last phase of bedtime issue started because she stopped sucking her thumb at the beginning of May. We were shocked that she actually stopped, but we think she was trying so hard not to suck her thumb while falling asleep at night that she couldn't fall asleep and therefore kept wanting to go to the bathroom, etc. Occasionally when I wake her up from her nap, I find her sleeping with her thumb in her mouth, but I don't think there's anything I can do about that. She definitely doesn't suck it during the day, in the car, while reading books, or while initially falling asleep.
Elise still needs a nap (thank you, Lord!) and falls asleep easily every single day. I think there have been 2 days in the last 4-5 months where she hasn't fallen asleep for her nap, but she's happily talked in her crib for the duration of nap time. I've figured out that the optimum nap length is about 1.25 hours, and the optimum night sleep duration is about 11.25 hours. She typically goes to bed by 8:30, is woken up by 7:45, and takes a nap from 1:15-2:30 or so. She's very flexible on the nap start time.
I recommend this alarm clock (though this price on amazon is a lot higher than when I bought it)... you can set it to turn green when it's okay for the child to wake up in the morning. I have seen Elise stir on the monitor only to roll over and go back to sleep because it isn't green yet. It has also helped with her 2 digit number recognition and she likes to guess the next time on the clock.
Eating: Elise is still a great eater as well. She likes a variety of healthy foods. She went through a big growth spurt in March and just kept eating and eating. I'll refer you to my last post because I could have easily written the same paragraph today...
Personality: One of the funniest things about Elise right now is that she is extremely polite to me and Mike. She really lays it on thick and thanks us profusely for things and constantly compliments us on our outfits, behavior, actions, etc. However, she is usually very standoffish to strangers. Public Service Announcement... if a random 3 year old doesn't want to talk to you, don't push it and don't tell her that she must be shy. I'm pretty sure it just encourages the behavior. Elise really enjoys playing with other kids, both with Jack and kids her own age. She will walk right in to church or preschool. She also asks a million "how" questions, some of which are very insightful. For example,
It was raining very heavily (the power went out) and Mike was on his way home from school, and she kept asking how he could possibly get from the car to the house without getting wet because she didn't think the umbrella would be good enough.
When I brought the van home on a test drive (by myself) to show her and told her we were going to buy it, she asked "Mommy, how are you going to bring the van and your car back home at the same time?"
When she sees things/people/animals in random places, she always asks how they got there or how they are going to get down. This happens a lot with illustrations in books.
Favorite things to do:
Since we have been in Texas this week, she has loved playing with grandparents, going swimming, playing with Legos, Little People, etc. She loves to run around outside, go to the park, climb, go on a walk (in the stroller or on foot), ride her trike, go to the zoo, aquarium, children's museum, preschool, etc. She loves to organize the cards in her wallet (used gift cards and the fake credit cards that come in junk mail). She loves to read books, but doesn't show much interest in sounding out words/learning how to read. She does like to identify words that are the same and go through all the words on a page and spell them out. She doesn't seem to have any favorite toys right now because it seems like she plays with something different every day. She collects things in her wallet and backpack and knows exactly what was there and where, and if you move anything, she notices and asks why you moved it.
Other random things:
In April, Elise made her first trip to urgent care because she (inadvertently) stuck a googly eye up her nose. She kept saying "How are they going to get the eye out of my nose?"
We made our first call to the poison control center because I caught her in the bathroom trying to squeeze toothpaste in her mouth. She then claimed that "I ate a lot of it and squeezed it a lot and a lot of times!".
Elise still loves to ride in a stroller, and almost always chooses to ride if given the choice to ride or walk.
She generally hates to color/draw/write, but she is for sure right-handed.
She is at a pretty easy stage right now, but can throw a fit with the best of them :) It seems like the fits usually occur at the drop of a hat and close to a meal time (when she is hungry but wants a "snack" and not an official "meal").
She loves to sing songs and dance.
I left my funny sayings at home in the junk drawer, so I only have one to share with you right now, but if I wait until I dig the sayings out, she'll be 3 1/2 so I am going to go ahead and post it as is :)
I was trying to teach a math lesson, so I put 4 yogurt bites on the table and...
Me: "Who would like a yogurt bite?"
E: "Me!"
Me: "How many yogurt bites are there?"
E: (counts) "Four!"
Me: "How can we divide them evenly between you and Jack?"
E: (very thoughtfully) "Well, I get 3 because I'm 3, and Jack gets 1 because he's 1."
Here are some pictures by my sweet sister in law (Michelle B Photographie) from April. Happy 3 1/3, Elise!
