The Powells: Elise - 3.5 years old

Wow, I can't believe we are now closer to 4 than 3! Elise turned 3.5 on July 23 and she loves to announce her age to anyone who will listen. She went through an easy phase from mid-May to the last week in July and then was pretty challenging for about a month. Thankfully we're past that now and therefore I'm ready to write my 3.5 year post. :)

Stats: We did her physical for preschool at the end of August and she's 40.5 inches tall (90th percentile) and 36.4 lbs (75th percentile). She definitely looks tall compared to other kids her age. Her feet have grown 2 full sizes since the spring and she now wears an 11.5 shoe. She wears a mix of 4T and 5T clothes but is rapidly outgrowing the 4T that still fit... mostly 5T/girls XS for the fall/winter.

Sleeping: Elise still loves to sleep. She goes to bed between 8 and 8:30 and wakes up around 7:30 (when her clock turns green) or shortly after. She still takes a nap 95% of the time from about 1:30 to 3:00. On the rare occasion that she doesn't fall asleep, she just sings and talks in her bed until I get her up at the end of nap time.

Eating: Elise is still a great eater. I've always known this but have been more and more thankful as Jack has gotten pickier. She likes a variety of healthy foods (pretty much the same things I've written about in every post). She of course likes the occasional sweet treat but doesn't fight it if you tell her "not today" or "maybe another time". Her tantrums are about things other than food, which I think is much better than the other way around!

Activities: Her first day of preschool was supposed to be on Tuesday, but she got sick or had bad allergies. She has already picked out her outfit for tomorrow and is very excited! I know she's going to have a great time. She loves playing with other kids. We've switched to a new school this year and she'll go Tuesday and Thursday from 9-12. This is a perfect amount of time for both of us. And... drumroll please... they have a CARPOOL line to drop off and pick up! I couldn't believe it. That would have made last year so much easier with a young baby and months of really cold mornings. Oh well :) I am excited for her and I'm also excited to spend some one on one time with Jack. In addition to preschool, she's done gymnastics off and on. The places up here (preschool and extracurricular) are so expensive but we've found some great deals through Groupon and Living Social and have gotten to try out several things this summer. She's in the independent classes now and has done great with following directions and participating. We just finished up a month long pass at a local gymnastics place and we're going to take a break until the winter. The weather is getting too nice to tie up another morning right now :)

She did Vacation Bible School at our church at the beginning of August and loved it (after the drop off, ha). She learned so much in a large group setting. I was really impressed, especially since she tends to get distracted easily by other kids :) Our church has a great preschool curriculum.

Learning: One thing I've learned as a mom is that you can't force a young child to learn something. You can provide opportunities and encouragement, but the child has to want to do it or it just doesn't work. For example, Elise still dislikes writing, drawing, coloring, etc. I would LOVE for this to be an enjoyable (and quiet!) activity for her, but she just doesn't want to do it for more than a minute, if at all. I've tried window markers, crayons, dry erase markers, chalk, pencils, etc, and many different mediums, but she's just not interested. So, I won't try to bribe her to do this but I will keep providing opportunities. One of these days she'll probably just start writing words on her own or something :) I'm still not completely sure if she will be right- or left-handed because she tends to use whichever hand is closer.

However, she is very, very interested in reading! This started right around the time that she turned 3.5 and I cannot believe how much she has learned in the past 6 or so weeks! Her favorite books are the Dr. Seuss beginning reader books (like Ten Apples Up on Top, Hop on Pop, The Cat in the Hat, etc) and she can easily read this type of book with a little help on some less familiar words. The most amazing part is that she isn't just memorizing words, but she is fully comprehending what she is reading and will stop and ask questions about the story as she reads (just like she does when we read to her). She also loves the Level 3 books by the Preschool Prep Company, who I will credit with starting this reading desire by teaching her sight words. I found a super deal on their DVDs in mid-July and bought some for her, including Meet the Sight Words 1, 2, and 3. She loves them and learned all the words in those DVDs after watching them only 2-3 times. Then she started constantly recognizing words on signs, in the mail, in books, etc, and then wanted to read her books to us. If you're interested in them, check out www.mamabargains.com... they have them up every now and then and you can get them for under $7 each.

Likes: wearing skirts or leggings, playing with Jack, tagging along with Mommy, running, riding in the stroller, going to the zoo and aquarium, climbing, swinging, sleeping, cuddling, reading, being read to, pretend play, organizing her purse and wallet (she loves "credit cards" and "gift cards"), shoes, collecting and hoarding items, racing or trying to beat someone (to the potty, to give Daddy a hug, to her room, to get shoes on, etc), listening to music/singing/dancing, playing with friends at church and during my bible study group time, playing with grandparents!

Dislikes: wearing dresses, coloring, getting dirty (if she gets one piece of food or something on her clothes she immediately insists on changing), walking at the grocery store, talking to unfamiliar adults, and probably more that I can't think of right now

Funny Sayings:

(an example of her random and deep thoughts)
E: "Are we alive? If we weren't alive, would we be statues? If we were statues, would we be able to move?"

(while I was using some light weights for a workout dvd)
E: "Mommy, are the weights with the 8s on them too heavy for you?"

E: "Mommy, if I was driving by myself I wouldn't know how to get home because I am only 3. I would keep driving and driving and keep driving and I wouldn't find our home, because I wouldn't know where it was! I would just find another home for us to live in."

(after finishing her dinner and rejecting a few snack offerings right before bed)
E: "I want something that takes a long time to prepare."

Mike: "Elise, did you put the toothpaste on the stool?"
E: "No... well I didn't do that today."

(first words upon waking one morning)
E: "Mom, Dad wants you to have another baby. And I want you to have another baby too. It's fine!"
(a few seconds later... as you might imagine, I was half asleep and speechless...)
E: " I want a baby sister. And maybe Jack can be a little bigger so he can hug the baby."
(come to find out later that she had chosen Baby on the Way as a bedtime book the night before... and don't read anything into this... there is definitely no baby on the way though Elise told me recently that she would like to have one Elise and 10 Jacks)

E: "Mommy, I would be really sad if I didn't have a brother."

Ten words to describe Elise at 3.5:
talkative, smart, competitive, silly, entertaining, challenging, strong-willed, loving, curious, manipulative :)

(playing peekaboo)