Three Years Old!

How is it that our first-born little lady is already three years old!?  Ella is quickly leaving the world of toddlerhood behind and entering the preschooler phase of life.  She is growing up so fast before our eyes and we couldn't be more in love with our sweet, spirited little girl!  She makes us laugh every day and melts our hearts with her unsolicited hugs, kisses, and "I love you's!"  Not sure how we got so lucky to get to be her parents, but we are certainly thankful that we are.

At her three year well child check up she was...

39 inches tall - 92nd percentile

33 pounds - 78th percentile

According to our doctor she is "slight" - tall and slender for her age.

Some things about Ella at three years old (wordy and lengthy, but mostly for my memory):

A few months ago we had been having bedtime/nap/sleep-in-general issues.  For awhile, when we put Ella to bed around 7:30-8pm, she would come up with every excuse in the book for us to come in or for her to get out of bed.  She would say she needs a drink of water, has to go potty, her music isn't loud enough, her stuffed animal fell out of her bed, or her all time favorite, she heard fireworks and is scared - thank you neighbors on the 4th of July for instilling that fear!  More often than not we would listen to her holler/cry/yell for looong periods of time since we close the door and say good-night and won't go back in after that.  Thankfully that phase seems to have passed, and she's back to going to sleep pretty easily.  We think she's ready to give up her nap as she goes to bed a lot easier on days that she doesn't nap.  But, she often gets cranky before bedtime when she doesn't get a nap.  On days when she doesn't nap, she plays for 1-2 hours in her room for "quiet time" so at least she gets some down time and we both get a little "alone" time.  It's actually been good for her to learn to play by herself as she's never been real great at it and prefers someone to play with.  I love going to get her out of her room after quiet time and see what sort of dress up outfit she's come up with.  Quite honestly, I'm not ready for Ella to give up her nap completely yet as I need those few hours of quiet in the afternoons when Lucy naps too, so for now I usually start by trying to let her nap each day before she has quiet time.  On average, she only takes a nap 2 or 3 times a week now. 

Ella is very opinionated about what she wants to wear.  She insists most days on wearing a dress - and not just any dress, but a dress that spins just the right amount.  If it doesn't spin enough when she twirls, it's no good.  Oh boy.  So that consists of about 4 dresses that she has.  When I suggest alternative options or try giving her more than one choice about what she wants to wear, I usually hear, "But, but, but that dress isn't pretty enough and I won't look like a princess!" Or, "But I don't want to wear jeans because I can't spin!"  I know I need to pick my battles and realize that her wearing the same 4 dresses isn't that big of a deal, but honestly, sometimes dresses just aren't the most practical. This also includes pajamas...she insists on wearing one of her nightgowns at night now instead of pajama pants. She is also opinionated about how she wants her hair each day.  She tells me that she wants princess curls, piggies, braids, curlies down, straight hair, etc.  I usually have to interpret her request or description!

Her fears right now: thunder, fireworks, insects (she takes after her mom and screams if she sees a spider, bee, fruit fly, etc.), automatically flushing toilets (which happen to be at every toilet at Disneyland) and most recently she's told me she's afraid of the "chickens on the roof" (what?).

She's getting better at imaginative play, which like I mentioned before, hasn't always come easily.  She loves to play doctor, restaurant, hair salon (my favorite--she plays with my hair for long periods of time), baby dolls, princess dolls, dance, and her favorite - dress up.  For about the last month, she's had an imaginary dog named "Leaf" that accompanies us most places.  She still loves reading books and having books read to her.  She likes to color and paint, but her attention span for those types of activities is not very long.  I love that she's started drawing pictures of "people".  A few of her recent self-portraits...

She loves to sing and knows the words to most of the Disney princess songs better than I do.  Here is my favorite recent video of her.  If you know the song "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid, you'll appreciate it :).  She's been pretty obsessed with Ariel lately...

Ella likes to know what the plan is for the next day and isn't very flexible when things don't work out like she was expecting.  She must take after her mom in the planning department as she asks each morning what we are going to do that day.  She definitely likes to get out of the house and loves having play dates to look forward to.  If plans get canceled or changed, she has a really hard time understanding why and will question me a million times as to why something didn't work out.  At the end of the day she has nightly talks with her dad in which she'll say, "So whatcha wanna talk about?"  She'll then recount her day to him and go over everything we did.

A few recent Ella quotes and sayings that make me smile:

Ella: I like your pretty eyelashes mama.
Me: Thank you.
Ella: Can I paint my eyelashes on like you do?

E: Daddy, does Jesus live in our hearts?
C: That's right!
E: Oh, well he's just taking a little nap in my chest right now.

At soccer, the coach starts by asking the kids a question:
Coach: Tell me your favorite sea creature
Ella: Ariel (as in the Little Mermaid)

E: Mom, turn your flashlights off! (referring to the headlights in my car)

I love it when out of the blue, she'll tell Cody, "Daddy, I love you!  Let's be friends!"
Melt. My. Heart.

My favorite of her mispronunciations:
She calls "tomatoes" "potatoes" 100% of the time - as in "I want cheesy pizza with nooo potatoes!"

Says "MAZ-a-gines" for magazines

Calls windshield wipers "swishers"

Says "hos-a-bull" for "hospital"

While she is sweet and obedient for the most part, we have seen  more tantrums lately that usually result from us asking her to do something she doesn't want to do and she ends up having a meltdown - for example, needing to leave a friend's house when she doesn't want to leave.  I'm starting to think the "3's" may be way more challenging from a parenting perspective than the "2's" were now that she is Miss Opinionated about everything.  I'm wondering if it's an age thing or the addition of a new little member to our family, or quite possibly a combination of both.  

Three year interview:
Nicknames: Ella-belle, Buggy
How old are you? Free! (Three)
What is your favorite color? Pink
What is your favorite animal? Little baby tigers
What is your favorite book? The little princess books (Disney princess board books)
What is your favorite TV show? "Scarious George" (Curious George), Doc McStuffins, and Mickey Mouse Club House
What is your favorite movie? Rapunzel (Tangled)
What is your favorite song? Ariel ("Part of Your World" from the Little Mermaid)
What is your favorite food? Chicken nuggets with ranch and macaroni and cheese
What is your favorite drink? Chocolate milk
What is your favorite breakfast food? French toast
What is your favorite snack? Cheerios and fruit snacks
What is your favorite outfit? Dresses
What is your favorite game? Soccer
What is your favorite toy? My baby dolls and my princess castles and princesses
Who is your best friend? Sophie and Nathan and Lucy
What is your favorite thing to do? Play doctor
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Go to a park
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My panda pillow
Where is your favorite place to go?  Starbucks to see Daddy and have hot cocoa
What is your favorite restaurant? Red Robin and have mac and cheese
Where do you want to go on vacation? To visit Grandma and Grandpa at Disneyland
What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor like Dr. Spence
What did you do on your birthday? Had a princess party and Cinderella came and I blewed out a candle on my cupcake!

I love sleepy eyed pictures after just waking up :). Her birthday morning...

  Happy Birthday Ella Grace! We love you to pieces!