What a big kid!! We have a big 3 year old now, and I am just in awe of how that happened so quickly! Brie is such a character. She is so full of personality, opinion, spunk, fun, and so loving.
We are currently dealing with the fact our 3yr old thinks she is 13yrs old.... She has an opinion about everything. She does not like to do new things, wear new things, eat new things; pretty much anything new......unless it is HER idea :) We spend a lot of time trying to come up with ways to make things
her idea, haha. It has taken me some serious patience and effort to get Brie ok with not wearing shorts and short-sleeve shirts recently; that is what we wore all summer so why would we change that now?!
Brie is still a very picky eater; it doesn't really bother me anymore though. I think I have just come to grips with it. And she has been much more willing to try new things occasionally, which makes me very happy! Granted, most new things she tries she says she doesn't like. But whatever, at least she tried it. Her favorites include: green yogurt (key lime), chips, grilled cheese, chicken (dipped in ketchup), milk, chicken noodle soup, apples, bananas, and that is about it. I have gotten every comment/advice imaginable from people regarding this issue. And you know what, she is healthy, happy and doing just fine.....so I have no desire to change that! She will eat more things when she wants too, or is motivated enough to do it!
She goes to bed great around 8pm. We read a few books, brush teeth, say prayers, and then she gets tucked in. She still sucks her thumb and loooooooves her little lamb lovey (nigh-night as she calls it). In the morning Brie usually comes upstairs around 7/7:30am. She still naps once a day, although once in a while she doesn't always fall asleep. No nap Brie is not fun, so we always hope for an afternoon nap :) She wears a pull up at night, which is completely unnecessary since it is dry 100% of the time. But she insists on wearing them. I usually have her wear the same one 2-3 times; and when the box of them runs out then that is it.
Briana is a big talker, she always has something to say and has zero problem making her point known. Her vocabulary is oddly large, although I am not sure she always understands the meaning of what she is saying or if she is just repeating what she heard. She certainly is a parrot though, you say something and you can bank on hearing it again sometime in the near future. She never forgets anything, especially if you accidentally say something you aren't really supposed too...... She loves to sing, and make up little songs. She usually does this while she is playing by herself, I've tried to sneak up on her and video her songs but usually get caught, haha.
Here are some of her favorite things:
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Watching TV: This stays at the top of her list. She loves to watch TV (or TB as she calls it). Some of her favorite shows include: Curious George, Sofia the First, Tinkerbell, Lilo and Stitch, and pretty much anything!
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Have snacks: The girl loves snack food. Crackers, goldfish, graham crackers, popcorn, you name it. She sometimes gets mad when I tell her we need to have lunch because she would rather have a snack.....oh my.
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Puzzles: She is really into puzzles recently, and is getting pretty good at doing them!
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Gymnastics class: We signed her up for a once a week gymnastics class. She really likes it! We've been doing it for a couple months now. Don't tell her, but I am going to cancel it after a couple more weeks, we just don't need another scheduled weekly activity right now.
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Library: We go to story time once a week, which she absolutely loves. Although the time we go has gotten SUPER busy, which I do not love. We also usually go to the library one other time during the week to pick out books and play. Our library has an amazing kid section, and they switch out the activities and toys there monthly, so always something fun to do!
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Coloring: She has really been into coloring. She uses colored pencils or crayons (not markers yet, because she can't get the tops on tight so the ones we had all dried out). But she loves coloring paper or coloring books, and using stickers too!
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Books: Brie absolutely LOVES books. She will sit and look at them alone, but loves when people read her books. She will sit as long as someone is willing to read to her. Our babysitters have said they have read her the entire library bag in one sitting before! She loves to have the same books read over and over, and I know that is great for kids for learning but sometimes we say no to the repeats. Especially if it is a weird book she picked out at the library, my tolerance level only goes so far :)
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Little Lambs: On Thursdays, I have a women's bible study at church and Brie goes to little lambs. I am so thankful for the leaders and their willingness to do this week after week; Brie loves it and is always able to tell me something about the story they learned about!
She is constantly learning and picking up more and more things! Recently she is obsessed with school, she always says she is going to school and puts on her backpack and pretends to go to school. I love having my kids home with me, so I am really not looking forward to sending her away to school anytime soon! She probably won't do a pre-school program until she is almost 5, so thankfully I don't need to worry about that anytime soon :)
Brie talks about imaginary friends sometimes. She has two of them, and they even have names (she named them); Hodge and Hannah. Don't ask, I have NO idea where the names came from. I was a little weirded out about this whole concept; we talk about how they are pretend. Sometimes she won't talk about them for days and days, and then they will come back to life again for a little bit. I think she just has a very active imagination!
This interactive stage is so much fun, and so much work at the same time! Alec and I often find ourselves looking at each other like "Now what!?" when it comes to discipline stuff. Times outs seem to be the most effective. It is definitely some trial and error. We are loving it all though!
