Three and a (Big) Half

Kaitlynn turns 3 1/2 today! I feel like I haven't been nearly as good about documenting her milestones like I did for Connor, so I figured I should make an effort for this big half-birthday. And since I haven't been good at getting milestone photos for her like I did for Connor, this post is part updates and part fashion show, ha!

I feel like Kaitlynn has grown SO much in the last 6 months, and that's why I think 3 1/2 is a big milestone for her. When Connor turned 3, he was quite advanced in his learning and responsibilities, primarily from being in full-time daycare and from becoming a big brother. Kaitlynn seems to have caught on to things a little more slowly, probably because she's our "baby" and we tend not to expect as much from her. I wonder if this is normal for parents?

In the past 6 months, Kaitlynn has changed so much. She is really picking up on her letters and numbers at school, and her speech is at the stage where she really makes me laugh. Here are some of my favorite phrases from her these days:

• She still pronounces chicken as "kitchen"
• She often asks you to repeat something by saying, "What you said?"
• She pronounces zip as "slip" -- It makes me laugh when she says she needs to slip her pants. Ha!
• Often when we try asking her questions about her day, she'll respond, "I don't want to talk about it."
• Her new favorite word is "because" but she uses it incorrectly by linking 2 completed unrelated statements together. Here is a recent example: "Daddy is at home because we have a Christmas tree up at our house." Ha!
• Another phrase she uses often is "I said." As in, "I said, I want more water." Or "I want to watch another show, I said!" Bossy and insistent!
• When she wants us to carry her somewhere, she says "I carry you!" instead of asking if we will carry her. I keep wondering when she'll get this right.

Kaitlynn's behavior is still a work-in-progress. It seems like the day she turned 3, her tantrums really increased in number and fervor. I'm not sure if this is a girl thing or a Kaitlynn thing, but she can be in a perfectly happy mood and then BAM! Out of the blue, she'll start crying, screaming "No!", hitting, and having a complete meltdown. This happened the other day after I picked her up from school. She had seen Santa that day and gotten her picture taken with him. I asked her if Santa said "Ho Ho Ho!" and she proceeded to throw down in the school hallway. Somebody please explain to me why that question warranted such hysterics?? Ha!

When she's not having a meltdown, Kaitlynn can be the SWEETEST thing ever. She'll come up to us out of nowhere and say, "I love you!" and give us sweet hugs and kisses. If she's been in trouble for some reason, later in the day she'll come up to me unprompted and say, "I'm sorry I was acting naughty." She uses such good manners sometimes that it really surprises me, and she can also be so helpful and thoughtful. The other day, I took Kaitlynn to the Galleria for some Christmas shopping and she was playing with Connor's iTouch. After hours of shopping, I was buckling her into the carseat and suddenly she said, "Oh Mom! We forgot Connor's yo!" (We still call the iTouch a "yo".) I said, "No, I must have it in my purse. I'll look for it when I get in my seat." Sure enough, after rummaging through my purse I realized she must have forgotten Connor's iTouch at one of the many stores we had visited that day. I was pretty frustrated but decided to try to retrace our steps to find it. Kaitlynn apologized over and over about losing the iTouch as we walked into the first store we had visited hours earlier. I thought I had remembered seeing it on a shelf in there during our visit, but when I checked the shelf and asked the saleslady, no one had seen it. All of a sudden, Kaitlynn yells out from the side of the store, "I found it!" Sure enough, she had placed it in an obscure spot by one of the store mannequins, and she headed straight there to get it because she remembered EXACTLY where she had left it. I was so surprised that she not only reminded me (in the car) that we didn't have it, but that she remembered exactly where she had left it. Phew!

Kaitlynn is still experiencing some minor symptoms of her encopresis condition. She takes a heavy dose of laxative every day to keep things moving. Sometimes I wonder if we'll be dealing with accidents forever, but when I think about how bad things were back in the spring, it makes me realize how far she's come. She is getting better and better about avoiding accidents and going #2 without being prompted.

A few months ago, we moved Kaitlynn from her crib to a big girl bed. She handled the transition wonderfully. The only problem is that she continued to fall out of her bed at night. She is a crazy sleeper! She fell out MANY times during the first week so we borrowed a bedrail from a friend and she's doing better with that (although she still finds a way to fall out sometimes). After we got her new bed, we made some changes to her room. We had 3 walls painted, hung some new pictures and canvasses, and got a new light fixture and furniture. There are still many unfinished projects but Kaitlynn LOVES her new room!

In case it wasn't obvious from all of the pictures in this post, I am still having such a fun time enjoying all the girly stuff with Kaitlynn. I get such a kick out of dressing her in fun outfits and fixing her hair. I could do with a little less of the girl drama (ha!) but some days I still marvel that God saw fit to bless me with a daughter. It's been 3 1/2 years and I'll still catch myself saying "my daughter" and feel amazed. Make no mistake about it: this daughter of mine will probably turn my hair gray and send me to the loony bin, but I thank God for her everyday and just love celebrating these milestones of her life!