Kaitlynn at Three

Kaitlynn just now had her 3rd year well visit with the pediatrician so I thought I would write her long overdue 3-year post. Over a month past her 3rd birthday, Kaitlynn weighed in at 36 pounds (80th percentile) and measured 38 inches tall (75th percentile). Our little princess at 3 years old is quite the character. I took these pics of her on her actual birthday last month and it took quite a bit of bribing to get any smiles out of her.

Kaitlynn the birthday girl.

Kaitlynn at 3 is still quite the firecracker. She is definitely my strong-willed child, the one my mother always warned me about. :-) When things are going her way, she is happy and very compliant. But the moment you tell her something she doesn't like or doesn't agree with...watch out! Ha!

Little Miss Priss.

There are a few things about age 3 that I had completely forgotten since Connor was that age. 3 seems to be the age where a child's vocabulary really takes off, creating some hilarious conversations along the way. Kaitlynn is quite the talker herself and keeps me in stitches when she tries to tell a story. Her speech can sometimes still be hard to understand for most people, but she can always get her point across. She gets her V sounds and W sounds mixed up, and my absolute favorite phrase of hers these days is when she spontaneously cuddles me and says, "Mommy, I wub you." LOVE THAT!!

Unfortunately, the other thing about age 3 that I had forgotten was the naughty behavior. Let me just say that I have no idea why the phrase "terrible twos" is so popular. In my experience with both of my kids, 3 has been WAY WORSE!! It's so strange to me, it was almost the exact same day that Kaitlynn turned 3 that a switch was flipped and she became a much more difficult child. When Connor was this age, I said the same thing, but I attributed most of his naughty tantrums to the adjustments of his new baby sister. Kaitlynn has always been my "strong-willed child," but her tantrums and naughty behavior have reached an all-time high. She will say "I am mad with you!" and proceed to do whatever it takes to get your attention. Yelling "NO!", hitting, and now spitting are her naughty behaviors of choice. She won't stay in time-out very well, so I usually end up taking her to her room now when she needs to cool off. She doesn't seem to mind that and it does calm her down.

I see this look a lot. She is coming up with a plan.

On the other hand, Kaitlynn can be SO sweet when she wants to be. When she is happy, she loves to cuddle and lavish kind words and kisses on her loved ones. Most of my friends don't get to witness Kaitlynn's naughty side because she is usually very well behaved in public and especially when we're doing fun things with friends. She loves spending time with friends and going places. If we end up staying at home, she gets bored easily and begs to go somewhere. She is my child that loves to go shopping with Mommy.

A happy morning.

We've had a busy summer so most days Kaitlynn has been skipping her naps. She does fine without it (usually) but she is definitely wiped out by the end of the day. When we're at home, she'll still nap for 2-3 hours to catch up on her sleep. She is STILL in a crib (which I'm embarrassed about) and she STILL sleeps with her paci (which I'm even MORE embarrassed about), but I'm working hard on her big girl room so hopefully the crib and paci will be gone soon. When we're away from home, Kaitlynn loves to sleep in a big bed but she usually ends up falling off during the night, so I probably should get some bed rails for her new bed.

Ta-da!

I haven't mentioned it on the blog in a while, but we've still been dealing with Kaitlynn's potty issues. She is potty-trained but she has a condition called encopresis, which basically means that she has trouble controlling her bowel movements. It's a very frustrating condition for both Kaitlynn and for us, but lately we've been managing a little better and Kaitlynn will see a specialist this fall to see if we need to take additional steps.

Kaitlynn and her signature teeth. Poor girl.

I am so excited for Kaitlynn to start preschool this fall. She recognizes most of her letters but for some reason she doesn't seem to recognize any numbers. When I try to work with her at home, she refuses to participate, go figure! For the first time this week, I actually "understood" one of her drawings that she came home with. She had drawn circles all over her paper and that's because she's been learning about planets this week at Science camp. I was so excited that I finally recognized what she was doodling, ha!

She was bribed for this picture.

This is just a glimpse into Kaitlynn's life at age 3. I can only imagine all the fun that is still to come!