Lucy: 3 Years Old

My Dear Lucy,

Oh how you have grown this past year! You are so funny, so full of joy, and so much fun to be around these days.  You seriously have us cracking up on a daily basis... you are such a goof ball and you really are one of my favorite people to be around.  I love having girls days with just you and I, and when you look over at me and out of no where say "you're my best friend."  I love when you reach over and grab my hand and how you will enthusiastically thank me for making dinner for you (or something else random) without even being asked to! I love it when you pray and that you will do it in front of other people. You are one special little girl. 

Right now I would say your favorite thing to do is read.  You sit and read by yourself, you sit and read with me, and you will sit and listen to a book on CD.  For hours, upon hours, upon hours.  I have been amazed at your attention span lately - you love to read chapter books with very little pictures (like Junie B. Jones, Judy Moody and Stuart Little) and will sit patiently and listen waiting for the pages that have pictures on them.  I shouldn't be surprised, for a long time now you've been asking me to "tell you a story", and you would sit and listen to me tell a story without getting antsy at all.  You must have an amazing imagination.

All the reading you've been doing has been rubbing off - you've known all your letters and numbers for a while now and lately we've been working on letter sounds and tracing/writing letters.  You are extremely eager to learn and from what I can tell, extremely smart! You love working on letters and when we do Bible lessons at home.

You love going places.  Or maybe that's just something you're used to doing with your busybody mom, but most nights you will ask me "mom, where are we going tomorrow?" On a typical week we will usually go to the library, the YMCA, Real Moms, Chick-Fil-A, a friends house and/or have friends over for lunch.  You love playing with other kids, so it's no surprise that you love getting out.  You are extremely outgoing and I will often observe you at the play ground initiating conversation with other kids and seeking to join their play group.  

Had to include a picture of what this little cranky-butt was doing while we were taking pictures!

You really are outgoing.  One day at the doctor the nurse took you out for an eye test and came back cracking up laughing saying after you had finished going through the eye test you said to her "ok, now it's your turn!"... the nurse thought you were so cute, she said no patient had ever done that to her before in her 20 years of being a nurse.  Another time at real moms, your teachers were telling me that at the end of class you said to all the other kids "ok guys, it's time for curious george, bring your chairs over"... nothing like a little direction and order, love to hear that coming out of you :)

You LOVE Hank.  You always want to hold him and hug him and kiss him.  Unfortunately, he typically does not want you to do this, so I usually have to intervene. Despite that, you two have really started to play pretty well together - chasing each other, laughing at each other and cuddling together (well at least on mommy's lap!) You are a great big sister and a great help to mommy, you always help me out when I need you and will work to keep Hank happy when mommy can't get to him.  I also love the way you talk to him - sort of imitating the way I talk to him and doing your best job to "mother" him - "Look Bubba, it's raining outside.  Can you say raining?"  I also notice that you miss him when he's not around, which completely melts my heart.

For some reason, getting her to smile AND look at the camera is nearly impossible

Daddy calls you his little sales person. You are always asking why and then negotiating your way into what you want:

"Mom, I need a treat for when the babysitter comes."

"Ok Luc, you can have 1 cookie when she gets here."

"How about 3?"

You really do ask "why?" after everything - sometimes I enjoy your curiosity, sometimes I don't know how to answer you (so I just say, "because that's the way God made it") and sometimes you aren't following what I've asked you to do so I get a little frustrated (in which case I say, "just say 'yes mama' and do it!"). 

On to a few boring topics - you've been getting close to giving up nap time lately.  You typically will nap 3-4 days a week on average.  When you don't nap you will sit in your room for at least an hour if not longer, which is a nice break for me, but you still get pretty cranky when you don't nap so I don't think you are quite ready for that jump.  You do still sleep a good 11-12 hours at night.  We haven't taken your paci's away yet, which you love so dearly, but there has been a lot of talk about this in our house lately, so I'm hoping we make the jump in the next couple months!

In the potty department, we are still not fully there.  You aren't the best at going poop frequently, and you need to be reminded to use the potty often.  I am trying my best to stay positive through this all, but some days I get frustrated and, like today, have to apologize to you for getting upset.  I'm not sure what we are doing wrong, or what the right thing to do is, but I'm hoping that you will grow up and out of this phase and I will forget the days of constantly worrying about your poop habits!

You are typically a great eater but having recently been showing some independence by refusing foods I know you love.  Despite that, you are my healthy little eater - loving broccoli, spinach, tuna, fruit, etc... I always joke that your less of a picky eater than daddy!

Speaking of independence, you've been exerting a lot of it lately, with a sidekick of attitude. No surprise here, but of course, as your naps started decreasing, your time-outs started increasing.  For several months I would say on average you had to sit in time-out about one time per week (if that!).  In general, you really just have a sweet disposition and a desire to do the right thing.  Unfortunately, lately you have had a desire to do the exact opposite of what mommy or daddy tells you, so we've been butting heads a lot, but time-out still seems to be an effective tool for calming you down, calming us down, and making you not want to repeat that action.  For a few weeks I was struggling with getting you to stay in time-out, but I've found the 1-2-3 Magic method to work pretty well, and if you end up not wanting to sit in time out I give you a break up in your room with the door closed. 

We love you so much baby girl and can't wait to see all God has for you!