You have a new hobby – collecting acorns for mom & dad!

It was so cute…about 2 weeks ago you proudly presented me with 3 acorns when I picked you up from school.  I am guessing you found them on the playground during recess.  My hands were full, and I was not quite sure what to do with them, so I put them in my pocket.  As I was tucking you into bed that night you asked me where the acorns were.  I was sure glad you did because they were still in my pants pocket, in the dirty clothes, awaiting their imminent trip to the washing machine.  I promptly took them out and put them on top of the bathroom vanity.

The next morning one of the first things you asked me was the whereabouts of said acorns!  You don’t forget a thing.  I proudly grabbed them from the vanity and showed them to you…thinking that would be the end of that.  Boy was I wrong.  You proceeded to instruct me to take them to work so I could show the acorns to all my friends.  Ha!

I began to wonder when I would be able, if ever, to part with these acorns.  Thinking quickly….like I seldom do….I told you that my friends may be sad that they don’t have any acorns and asked if it would be okay if I shared my acorns with them.  The immediate response was No!  Mommy those are your acorns!

Needless to say…those 3 acorns are still on my bathroom vanity….wondering what their final destination will be…and when they might get there.

Not to worry though – knowing those 3 are safe and sound, you’ve now begun collecting acorns for daddy!  I am sure glad he’s not going to miss out on all the fun. Ha!  We love you monkey!

You love music, dancing, and singing!  Your current favorite song is Carly Rae Jepson’s “Call me Maybe”…it’s an upbeat number with fun lyrics!  You are also big into the Christmas music right now.  Anytime we get in the car you ask for it to be turned on!

Like me, you love to make up songs and will often time just bust out singing for no apparent reason.  You will often ask me to sing about something random…the fan, the dresser, the trees, the lights.  I of course, willingly oblige by making up silly lyrics to a funny tune.  Though the lyrics are not altered, one of my personal favorites is the rap version of Row, Row, Row Your Boat, that I came up with.  It never fails to get a giggle out of you!  We have so much fun singing together!

We just celebrated an amazing Thanksgiving weekend.  Grandma Karen flew down from Iowa and spent the week with us.  We went to Tim and Sherrie’s for Thanksgiving day and you had a ton of fun playing with all the other kids.  We even took the bounce house and the brand new Wii U.  Everyone had a great time and it was a blessing to be surrounded with so much love on such a special day.

We also got to join Colton, Jordan, and Emerson at the Allen Event Center for Disney on Ice!  You wore your Princess dress – you were Rapunzel from Tangled, and had a blast.  It was a little loud in parts but your favorite parts of the show were Rapunzel and Tinkerbell!

We’ve always heard the 3’s are worse than the 2’s….it’s true.  You have been super whiney and fussy lately.  Not about anything in particular just about things in general.  It’s particularly bad when you are tired.  You’ve also taken to a pretty early wake-up time recently – 6:15 to 6:30am, which I am sure is not helping.  

You are doing great with your glasses!  You wear them almost all of the time.  Understandably you get sick of them sometimes but for the most part you are good about keeping them on!  It helps that you look absolutely precious in them.  

You still adore your baby brother and have a knack for making him laugh.  We put him in the shopping cart for the first time last week.  It was at Sam’s where they have the double wide carts so you were able to sit next to him…you both loved every minute of it!  You love to do silly things to make him laugh like throw yourself on the floor or make funny sounds.  When you get him going he actually belly laughs…not just a baby giggle…it’s a full on crack up session!

It’s hard to believe how fast you are growing.  You are so mature and when compared to other children of your age the comments are usually the same – “she’s so well spoken”, “she’s so smart”, “she’s so grown up”!

You are on the fast track to being bi-lingual.  You already know how to count to 10 in Spanish and your dad took it upon himself to teach you all of the colors as well.  You not only took to it, you seemed to really enjoy it.  So, we are moving on to other things like animals and foods.  Fun, fun!

Grandma Karen and Grandpa Bruce came to visit us over the Labor Day weekend!  We did lots of fun things with them but the one we all enjoyed the most was our visit to Sea Life Aquarium in Grapevine Mills Mall.  What a fun first experience for us all!  Probably made more fun by the fact that we went on a weekday to avoid the crowd.  We got to see all kinds of fish, turtles, starfish, seahorses, and other sea animals.  You had a great time and Brady was mesmerized by all the sights, sounds, and colors.

The weekend also marked another first – this one not so happy.  You had your first screaming fit in a restaurant.  You were jumping around the booth, not sitting on your bottom, grabbing at things across the table, and just being ornery.   When I attempted to pull you out of the booth so you and I could go have a little off-site chat you began screaming at the top of your lungs.  It was loud…and embarrassing!  I was thankful you calmed down enough to let me get you out of the booth and in to the lobby area so we could chat.

After reminding you that you would be more successful at getting the things you want if you would just use your words and talk to mommy and daddy, as opposed to screaming and yelling, we both agreed that your behavior had not been acceptable.  We went back to the table where you proceeded to apologize to grandma, grandpa, and daddy and then we all enjoyed a nice dinner.

Unfortunately, the very same thing happened the following night while we were out to dinner at a different restaurant.  This time, we went outside and had another little chat about acceptable behavior (and the fact that screaming is not included in that definition), came back in and apologized to everyone at the table, and then enjoyed the rest of our dinner.  Oh the joys of parenting an almost always very well behaved 3 year old!  🙂

Oh and we have decided you have bionic hearing – you don’t miss a thing!  Not one!   And we know this because anytime we say anything you are questioning it.  Mommy and daddy’s conversations are about to become a lot more boring.

Well, you left the security of Ms. Kelsea’s class and started in your new room this week.  You are officially in Ms. Nadia’s Pre-K class.  That’s right, the pre-cursor to kindergarten!  Where has the time gone?!  

Fortunately, many of your friends from Ms. Kelsea’s class moved up to your new room, too – so you still get to play with Addison, Olivia, and Lauren every day!

Though you were anxious at the thought of leaving your comfort zone at first, you’ve done rather well with the transition!  In preparation, Ms. Kelsea would take you to your new room to visit & you told her you were most excited about the baby dolls.  Not surprisingly, you are often found playing in that corner of the room – baby dolls, kitchen supplies, doll house, etc.  It’s fair to say your first week in your new room has been a success!   

We went to your cousin, Carys’, 4^th birthday party last Saturday – it was at a trampoline park in Southlake.  It ended up being girls day out as daddy stayed home with Brady so he could nap.  

Given your cautious nature, I was preparing myself for a day full of hesitancy and lots of observation.  Much to my (pleasant) surprise you were as eager as ever to get onto the trampolines!  You even jumped into the foam pit – a 3 foot drop off into a pit full of foam blocks!  After you chickened out the first time on that one I was certain you would not make it back.  But you surprised me again when you wanted to get in line a second time and followed through!  

I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant myself (not sure where you get it from 🙂 ), but I ended up having a great time jumping on the trampolines with you.  I am pretty sure you did too since you’ve told me a few times since then that you had fun with me at the trampolines.  You made me feel like a kid again!

You’ve always been, and will be our our little girl but you are growing up so fast.  With the arrival of your little brother you are no longer the smallest one in the house.  You know big from small, but what a great time to teach what “medium” means.  We taught you that Brady was small, mom and daddy were big, and that you are medium.  As we should have expected you took your knowledge to a whole new level and put your own Hailey spin on it.

The other day we were talking about Brady’s bouncy chair.  When I told you that you could not sit in it, before I could finish my thought you said “Daddy, I can’t sit in Brady’s chair because I’m too medium sized?”.  A few days later I asked you to get your cup off of the counter.  When you failed to reach it you said “Daddy, please get my cup.  I can’t reach it.  I’m too medium-sized”.

So there you have it.  Now anytime you are too small or to big for something, you now just use the one-size-fits-all phrase “I’m too medium sized”.

You truly get cuter by the day.

Love,
Daddy

This evening you and I went for a walk and tricycle ride.  The clouds rolled fast and just as we got to the front porch it started to rain.  The temperature was about 90 degrees and there was no thunder or lighting.  Not missing a fun opportunity daddy took your tricycle inside and you and I played in the rain for about 15 minutes.  Running, twirling, and splashing in the puddles.  We were soaked to the bone and you had a BLAST!  I truly cherish moments like this with you.

Love,
Daddy