Three Year Old Recap
Likes: iPad, princess figurines, Peppa Pig, going to a park, playing with friends, her grandparents, being under a blanket, wearing a jacket, singing, performing, being dramatic, playing doctor on her baby dolls, dressing up, make-up, taking baths, brother when he is doing what she wants
Dislikes: When you make her put up the iPad, wearing socks, when she first wakes up, bugs (I mean, she is TERRIFIED of them), being dirty, brother when he doesn't do what she wants or wants privacy
Milestones: We are 85% potty trained and sleep in a toddler bed. Started taking dance!!!!!!!
Potty Training Update: When we got back from Disney, she had 2 weeks before starting daycare, so we worked on it a lot those 2 weeks. Daycare was great about taking them all the time, so the peeing in a potty stage was pretty good. She has even gotten better while sleeping. Half of the time, I let her just sleep in panties verses a pull up, and she has only had 1 accident. Once or twice, she has been playing hard and told us just a little too late that she had to go. But overall, we've had very few pee accidents. If anything, she likes to go a little too much. She seriously asks to go to the potty 50 times a day. And she pees about 25 of those times. Every time she feels the slightest urge, she wants to go and acts like it is an emergency. So we'll run to a restroom, for only about 3 drops to come out. Then she says she is done. And then 15 minutes later, she has to go again. She especially likes during this when we are out in public. She can turn a 1 hour errand into a 3 hour ordeal, because we spend so much time going to the potty every.place.we.go. The area we are struggling with it pooping. She can't relax enough to poop in the potty (we've tried kiddie potty & big potty). She cannot stand to poop in her panties (or pull up or diaper). So she holds it. Then when she can't hold it anymore and finally does go, of course it hurts and is hard as a rock. I've at least now convinced her to poop in the pull up, just so she isn't holding it, but we are still struggling with it.
Toddler Bed Update: Jake is a freak of nature sleeper. He is as close to a perfect sleeper and has been since the day he was born. I knew there was no way, we'd have 2 perfect sleepers. Hollon isn't a horrible sleeper, she just isn't a great sleeper either. And I tend to freak out when I compare her sleeping to Jake's at that age, but that's not fair to her. So I'm trying to just be grateful for the good sleep we get. We struggle with making her stay in bed. She prolongs bedtime with a thousand requests and excuses. So she ends up going to bed later (or falling asleep somewhere else and we move her to her bed), to just try to avoid the meltdown (on my part😉). Once she falls asleep, she is good for a few hours. But she has always (since she was a baby), woken up between 1-3 in the morning. In the crib, she'd cry out and sometimes never even sit up and then go back to sleep. Other times, she would stand up, cry for 15 seconds, wait to see if we would come (most times we didn't), so she would just lay down and go back to sleep. But in the toddler bed, she is not caged in. So 4-5 times out of the week, sometime between 1-3AM, she calls out for me. And now that she is potty trained, she knows if she tells me she has to potty, I'll go get her. (In her defense, a lot of times, she does go a little bit.) But then it is a struggle to get her to go back to sleep. She's thirsty. She's hungry. She's scared. She's cold. She's hot. The wrong baby dolls are in bed. She's not sleepy. She needs a band-aid. She's worried about the Trump administration. Then she cries to sleep in our bed. 9 out of 10 times, I don't let her, because I don't want to start that habit. But sometimes I am just too tired to argue with her. Is it perfect? No. Could it be worse? Yes.
Sleep: When she was in her crib, she would go to bed between 8:00-8:30. Now we push it closer to 9:00. Sometimes it is beyond our control (brother's sporting events) but other times, even if we try putting her to bed at 7:00, she will come up with 2 hours of excuses and requests and prolonged tactics. For the nights, she actually falls asleep in her bed, she likes for you to read to her before bed and often times wants you to leave her nightlight on, so she can look at her favorite bedtime book in bed. She uses a stuffed pig as her pillow, has to sleep with her Minnie Mouse and likes to be covered with a muslin blanket.She wakes up in the middle of the night, but I can usually (sometimes it takes longer than others) get her to go back to bed in her bed. If she has been up late the night before, she will usually sleep in until 7:30. Otherwise, she is usually up when Jake is getting ready for school (between 6:20-7:00). She is still taking a nap and sleeps from the time we get home from MDO (usually around 1:15) until Jake gets home from school (3:30) or sometimes later (if she stayed up late the night before or played in her bed too long before laying down for her nap).
Eat: For a while now, Hollon has not been a picky eater, she is just picky on when she wants to eat. She definitely loves the common toddler food, but also likes chicken taco soup, fish tacos, salmon. She just has to be in the mood. She likes to feed herself and likes drinking out of a regular cup verses a sippy cup (we just always end up with slills with the regular cup).
Appearance: She is becoming more of a little girl and less of a toddler. Her hair is dirty blond and super straight and fine. She has had 1 hair cut and her hair is shoulder length.
Size: She is average size. At her 3 year checkup, she weighed 32 lbs (50th percentile) and was 37 in tall (50th percentile). If the arm and neck holes are generous, she can wear 6M dresses as shirts. Ha! But she is mostly in 2T & 3T. She can still wear some 18-24M and she can sometimes wear a 4T.
Personality: Wow. Each year that passes, we see more and more of her personality. She is sassy, funny, bossy and loves attention. She will act shy around some adults, but loves kids and is very social. She behaves pretty well, follows instructions pretty good and gets very upset if she gets in trouble. She does not like for other people to touch her, but loves to play with them. She is independent about some things (the things she actually does need help with), but can also just want someone else to do stuff for her (usually the things she knows she could do herself). She loves to be the center of attention. She can be so dramatic about stuff, she is definitely a threenager.
What I love most about this age: I love, love, love to see her pretend play. She likes to cook in her kitchen, play house with her dolls, play doctor. She has a great imagination and loves seeing her use it.
My favorite words she says: She talks so much! The other day, I was talking with her, and we were actually having a back-and-forth conversation (verses her bossing me around or just having a 1 sentence conversation). Every time she mispronounces a word, Rob tries to correct and make her say it correctly. But I love her little mispronunciations. She still calls Jake "bruver" (brother), but lately it has been sounding more like "bubba". I cannot stand the nickname bubba, so that one might have to go soon. She can say "Jake" perfectly fine. The other day she told me she wanted to watch "Bimbi" (Bambi) and "Poke-e-o" (Pinocchio) and she already loves "Beauty and the Beef" and "Winnie the Poop". (I promise we don't just watch movies all day!!) She calls popsicles "pop-a-socks" and a swimsuit "swim-poo". She still pronounces her name "Hall-i", but Robbie has been getting her to say "Hollon" lately. (Booooooooooooo!) I don't like it when she calls me "mom", but she is funny when she says "fineeeeee mom".
FAVORITES:
-Books: Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever. Y'all, I LOVED this book growing up. I happened to find a brand new one at a consignment sale and picked it up. Hollon loves it just as much as I did. And it brings back so many memories. I had not looked at that book in 30 years, but I can still remember every page and so many of the words. Peppa Pig Goes to Ballet, is one we checked out from the library. Hollon loved it so much. When we returned it, she cried and cried, so now I have to find a copy to purchase. My mom got her, her first Mo Willems Pigeon book, and it has become a favorite. Pete the Cat and any Disney books.
-Songs: This girl LOVES to sing. All of the songs from Frozen, especially Let It Go, Jesus Loves Me, Moana's How Far I'll Go, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Old McDonald, Thumpkin, Family Fingers, Jake's VBS songs
-Toys: Anything princess, dress up clothes and accessories, doctor kit, kitchen, Peppa Pig house, family & car, Barbies. She likes playing with baby dolls, but only if the neighbors are over.
-Movies: Cinderella & Beauty and the Beast (she prefers the movies played by actors over the cartoon versions), Frozen, Moana
-TV Shows: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse & Paw Patrol. For as much as she loves Peppa Pig toys, Peppa is usually her 3rd choice if she gets to pick a show.
-Food: Pizza, chicken, fries, ice cream, popsicles, goldfish, waffles, squeeze applesauce, mac-and-cheese
Stats from 3 year old checkup:
Weight: 32.3 lbs (50th percentile)
Length: 37 in (50th percentile)
