I can't believe my "baby" is 3 years old today. 3 has no more baby left in her. 3 is "little girl". 3 just started a tap/ballet class today *by herself*, ie Mama and Daddy wait outside until she's done. Crazy.
Today we went to her preschool for a little "birthday ceremony" - I guess it's a Montessori thing. I had "homework" to write up a little life story for each of her 3 years and bring in some photos, and I read it out loud while she walked in a circle around her classmates. Then they had cupcakes. It was pretty cute to see her at school, though I think we confused her by not taking her with us when we left, and she had a meltdown, which her teachers handled well.
This parenting gig is definitely getting harder, but also more fascinating. We have real conversations. I hear a lot of stories about what she's going to do when she's 16 or 19 and driving a pickup truck. Or a Smartcar, or a BMW 745, depending on the day. Hilarious.
Her standard response to every statement or request is "Why?". Maddening, but I know she's trying to figure stuff out, so I am actively learning patience (or how to feign patience, anyway!). Because I don't want to be that parent who says "Stop asking so many questions!"
What I have found to work (sneaky mama) is asking her "Why do you think xyz?" and of course she knows the answer. I read somewhere that these kind of questions are little-kid attempts to learn how to make and maintain a conversation. So that makes it easier to bear. Kind of.
Fingers crossed, I'm looking forward to a quiet 2 weeks before the baby comes so we can all recover from the birthday festivities (there were a lot of them!). We just have to get through a couple more days' worth of appointments this week and then we're going into hiding. Wish us luck!
Happy birthday, T! And good luck, Mama. =)
ReplyDeleteIts hard to believe how quickly those 3 years went by. She's still as cute as ever!
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