Kara Will Be THREE!

Wow! Our little, daughter is almost 3 years old! She has already become the 3 y/o toddler back in late January I started to see the transformation. Kara went from being 2 to 3 overnight with subtle changes all at once. Even though she officially turns 3 in age at the end of March. She physically has become a 3 y/o already. For instance, she is potty trained, figuring out problems with ways of being resourceful and growing and changing for the better.

Her potty training is 90% done. There are a few accidents here and there, but for the most part, she goes the whole day with no accidents and we are still working on overnight sleeping, etc. Knocked the potty training out by age 3. I am proud of Andrew and I as the parents on the tough times with Potty training! It was/is hard! Not fun at all, having to clean up messes and deal with a routine and try to teach a person how to use a potty, when for us (the adults) potty time is so "easy" and comes naturally for us to do. It was hard to get in a toddlers point of view and look at it that way. Through a toddlers eyes, they've gone their whole life (2-3 yrs) walking and standing in a diaper/pull ups and pooing/peeing any time they feel like it. Then they have to all of the sudden stop wearing diapers and sit on this giant toilet (with kiddo size seat adapter)...but still as a toddler, that can be scary. It would be so easy to just bounce back to an easy diaper. For Kara, she likes wearing her big kid panties and going potty, and getting a sticker each time. But she also is still learning, as well as we are to, the parents. We have to figure out potty training along side Kara and teach her.

Lately, Kara has been telling me, "Momma, I'm not a baby anymore. I'm a little girl!" She is realizing she is 3 now and a little girl. She points out some of her old toys (photo above) and tells me these are for babies and that she's not a baby anymore. Now the dolls are babies and she is taking care of the dolls. It is so sweet how she handles her dolls now, more motherly and covers them up with her blankies, pushes the doll in her toy stroller, feeds it a sippy cup. So very sweet, she is. Instantly overnight this just clicked and she was all of the sudden, older. I am blown away in the difference between 2 and 3.

We were hanging out in the living room, and she brings me a little purse of hers with a long elastic to me. Asking me to tie the elastic to the purse handles. She figured out that in doing this she could make long straps to wear the purse like mommas purse. When I tied the elastic to the purse she said, "Thanks, it's just like mommas purse!" and placed it on her shoulder! (see photos below) I was so blown away by her figuring this out, on her own, and being so resourceful. I love that she was so creative. If she could have tied it all together, then she would have. She came to me for the help with a vision in her mind. The difference between being 2 and 3 once again.

Her vocabulary has improved to an easy 7+ word sentences, since around 2 1/2. Now that she is 3 it's much more complete in thought, with her words used and questions that she comes up with. She is curious about so much and wants to know more about how something works or where it came from. Before it was just a simple thing, like being out of bananas. Now we are out of bananas and she wants to go to the store to get more. She understands now, that the bananas don't just come from the kitchen; she knows that we get these from the store. She knows we could just go to the store for more! Simple as that.

One day, I told her we were out...a few minutes later she is playing with her dolly and putting the doll in the toy stroller, collecting her purse and sippy cup...next thing, she looks at me and says, "Duke (the dog) and I are going to the store, Momma. We are getting bananas!" I said, "ok. go get bananas, see you later." I know she is only pretending and she can't actually go to the store. I will, though, get a little more worried when she starts riding a bike and says something like that. I hope she doesn't actually try to ride her bike to a store for bananas?! For now it is just pretend. I am proud of her figuring this out, that she wants to go and get bananas at the store and understands the whole process. This is just another example I see in her being a little 3 y/o compared to her being 2.

 

Now that she is actually turning 3 next week, we have her birthday party coming up! I am keeping it very simple. It's a Prince and Princess themed party at the house, cake and party favors. I bought the party favors from $1 sections of stores which are great deals! The kids she invited will come over dressed as a prince or princess. I'm dressing up too! Why not!? It's going to be fun! Kara wants her birthday cake to be PINK with Sprinkles! Easy enough, not to hard to please when she is 3. The birthday parties are only going to get more complicated and expensive as she gets older. This will be her first official birthday party with her friends all attending. I hope it goes well and everyone shows up! I'm so excited, being her mom and watching her grow is beautiful!