You Are Awesome

Grace,

You are just awesome.  I love love love being your mom, particularly now that you've turned 3.  Somehow just before your birthday you become quite a handful and then after that you are much more fun again.  It might be just the chaos of the holidays each year.

Every month you change so much!  I just read you 10 books until you fell asleep.  It seems you have caught on to giving me more and more books as a way to extend bedtime.  That's okay.  I'll just push your bedtime back to accomodate it.  I never could understand parents who limit their kids to one, two or three books!  Tonight you fell asleep mid-book but I finished reading The Cat in the Hat to you anyway, just relishing the time we have together & watching you sleep (and snore). You are so beautiful!

A big change this month?  You are sleeping in your toddler bed!  The first six/seven months of your life you coslept in the bed with us.  We always said we would never do that.  Then we met you and realized that's what you needed so we adjusted.  Then you started sleeping on the couch.  We couldn't leave you in your crib because you were strong so early that you'd just climb out.  We converted you to a toddler bed & would find you every morning on the couch.  You just woke up and moved to where you wanted to be.

We waited until you were ready for your bed.  I am really glad we did.  Growing up, my parents took a very authoritarian approach and bedtime was always filled with threats, etc.  Recently, I noticed you'd been using your room as your room.  You played in there more, realized all your clothes were there, checked your outfits out in the mirror in there, etc.  A few weeks ago I started mentioning your bed as we played in your room and that one night soon you were going to sleep in it.  Each time you would start to cry & I just said "Oh you don't have to do that now!  Someday we will."  After less than a week, when I said it was time for bed, you grabbed your blankies and headed for your room.  I seized the opportunity, grabbed a bunch of books to read & it went great.  Yes, you cry a little bit sometimes but you never really throw a big fit about it.  You're cute.  You'll turn your light on and come out & all I say gently is "It's time to go night night." and you run back to your bed.  Other times, I'll just ignore you & you'll stay in the hallway for a few minutes, then whimper, turn your light off and go to bed.  Thank you for being easy on something Grace!  I honestly think we haven't yelled or had any traumatic moments about it because we waited until you were ready.

You are the toughest kid I know.  You ran into an open kitchen drawer with your eye tonight & fussed for 2 minutes and it was done.  I would have been upset for at least another hour!  You are just so tough!  You have incredible motor skills that allow you to dangerous balancing acts and not fall but when you do fall, you're never really injured.  I'd say you're a tomboy but you love necklaces, finger nail polish, and dress up shoes too much.  By the way, you've recently been using markers to color your finger nails & toe nails.  I drew the line when you started coloring the bottoms of your feet though.  When they get wet that washable marker starts coming off & there are little foot prints everywhere!

You are talking & understanding so much more now!  I am totally impressed by you.  Each day you say new words.  I recently called a speech therapist I'm friends with & we talked about you for an hour.  She agreed with me that you wouldn't qualify for speech now so there's no sense in taking you in for an evaluation.  Go Grace!  Of course, your new language skills make for some funny moments.  Lately you follow me to the bathroom a lot and ask me "You poop?"  Um...not right now but thanks for asking!  When I get really upset about something and launch into a mommy lecture like "Stop pouring milk all over my floor!" you press your fingers to your lips and "Shush" me.  It's sooooo funny and effective.  I can't stay angry with this little person shushing me.

You still love to dance.  My favorite was tonight.  You kept putting your hands over your head and trying to spin in a circle--a very very fast circle.  Poor thing, you'd lose your balance & fall down.  You aren't one to give up though so I finally had to coax you into a new dance move to keep you from getting hurt.

You are starting to sing now that your language is coming.  You love to figure out the words in songs.  You can usually pinpoint the first and last words of a line.  It's hilarious to hear you hit high notes because the squeaking is beyond adorable. 

You pretend to be a puppy A LOT.  You love licking our faces and we cringe and bear it because we love you and you are so cute.  You'll grab my face, turn it & give it a big lick.  When I go "eww!" you just laugh hysterically.  We were having a hard time not running out and getting you a new puppy so we ended up buying you a FurReal dog that is a robotic dog.  You think he's great & have taken him on car rides.  I still see a real dog in your future but we're hoping to hold off a bit longer.

We built our first snowman together, me and you.  It was a blast.  We ended up building him 3 times because you would pat him down a lot--and he'd fall down.  He also fell down when you hugged him.  You are quite the hugger.  You'll ask "You need a hug?" and we'll say "Hey!  I need a hug!"  you laugh, then run into our arms, giving us a kiss if we're lucky.  Then you turn to the other one of us and wait for them to say "HEY!  I need a hug, too!" You'll go back and forth at least a dozen times.

You and I do a lot together. We play ball and tonight you made up a game where I hold a small basket & use it to catch the ball you throw.  You help me move the laundry from the washer to the dryer.  I taught you to grunt and yell PULL evidently because you do that all the time now.  We cook together, too.  You would love to crack eggs but I've talked you into letting me crack them into a container and then you dump it into the batter.  Your favorite foods right now are anything chocolate, pancakes, and of course, ice cream. With your daddy, you play playdoh, Moon Dough and train a bunch.  You'll have a picnic with anyone willing. 

You are the sweetest little girl I know.  You brighten our days and I absolutely love it.  I'm already dreading the day we don't get to spend as much time together.  I hope someday we'll be best friends because you are awesome & I love having awesome friends.  In the meantime, I'll have to be a bit mean to you as I stop you from eating dirty snow, make you wear gloves outside, refuse to let you put pudding in your hair, and make you change your dress after 3 days of wearing the same one.  Thank you for being my little buddy and such a sweetheart.

Love you!
Momma