In just three months from today, my (oldest) baby girl will be THREE YEARS OLD.

Something about having a 3-year-old makes me feel really old.

I wasn’t planning to do an update on Little Bug this month since I did one last month, but in the last couple of weeks several big things have happened for my almost 3-year-old girl.

Little Bug can now ride her tricycle!

We gave her this for her 2nd birthday and she at first couldn’t reach the peddles so she would push herself along with her feet on the ground or…

get someone like Grandpa to push her!

But now, she can ride her tricycle like the big girl that she is!

Little Bug absolutely LOVES to paint!! I will be incorporating paint into her learning activities since painting really grabs her attention.

Little Bug has started pretty frequently saying, “Mommy I want a bed like yours!!” Yes, Little Bug is almost 3 and still in a crib. She is just safer that way! My plan has always been to move her to a big girl bed for her 3rd birthday, which is why we bought a second (much cheaper) crib for Sweet Pea (of which she does not sleep in, but that is another story for another time).

Instead of going ahead and making the crib to bed transition, we gave her a pillow and, let me tell you, Little Bug thought that was the coolest!

I am looking forward to redoing Little Bug’s nursery into a big girl room! I think we will go shopping and let her pick a bedspread for her big girl bed (the twin bed that is now in Sweet Pea’s nursery that was Dave’s bed growing up!). Then, she will get the bedding for her 3rd birthday and we will redo her bedroom and move furniture around in early June.

As long as the pillow continues to serve as a good distractor!

I am just worried I won’t sleep a wink knowing Little Bug has free reign of the house when we are sound asleep! I plan to teach her that her big girl bed is like her crib in that Mommy will come and get her when it is time to get out of bed. It still makes me nervous that she could get up and do who knows what in the middle of night while we are in bed! Hopefully I am worrying for nothing and she makes this transition well! I know most kids make this transition way sooner than age 3 and do well.

Little Bug continues to far exceed my expectations on potty-training! She has a bladder of steel, I am convinced. We will be riding in the car and she will say, “I need to go pee-pee!” Then she will say, “Mommy is there a potty in a car?”. And I will say, “No, so hold it and we will be home very soon!” She’s made it every time!

She is very good about knowing she needs to go and running to the potty. She has had several accidents, but no where near the amount of accidents I was expecting!

We bought her some pull-ups to wear at nap and bedtime and she was so excited about this. She said, “My friends wear these too!!” She was happy to not have to put on a diaper for naps and bedtime.

In the last couple of weeks, much to my complete surprise, Little Bug has started playing on her own (some) beyond just the time she plays in her room daily during Independent Playtime! It started with her really wanting to go play in the backyard one day. I needed to be inside so I could fix our lunch. That is always a challenging part of our day because I am needing to fix lunch but Little Bug is insistent on me playing with her! So on this day I told her I needed to fix lunch but she could go outside and play in the backyard if she wanted too. (I can see the backyard from the kitchen windows.) She didn’t want to do that, of course, because she said she would be by herself. I told her Pup would go with her, and off they went!! She played outside while I fixed lunch (in peace)!!

Since then she has gone out to play several more times (always with Pup). And I have found her entertaining herself more with toys and books while I am taking care of Sweet Pea or fixing meals. It is so nice to see her reaching this point.

This independence has also brought on some “terrible two” behavior. I don’t really like that word choice, but Little Bug has certainly started stating her strong desire to do something, or not do something, her desire to wear a certain outfit or pair of shoes, and if things don’t go her way, she can let it be known that she is NOT happy about it.

This is very tiring on Mommy! But I just try to remain consistent and patient, which some days is VERY hard to do!

Two and three year olds are just interesting little creations. They are trying to exert their independence, yet they still need SO much guidance and instruction from their parents, and often times, the fits are a result of her independence going a little too far, too quickly.

I feel like my life is a balancing act of not hovering and constantly saying “no”! I want her to find some independence, but at the same time, I am her mother and it is my responsibility to set limits and boundaries for her. So I just try to live by this motto: Say yes when I can and no when I have too. (from Babywise…yes Babywise is more than just about eating and sleeping! It’s about character development, too.)

For example: Her first painting experience. She wanted to paint herself up to her elbows. Did I really want her to do that? Not really…it was a big mess to clean up right before dinner! But, it was something I could say yes too. She wasn’t going to hurt anything doing that. And, most importantly, she was having fun! However, when she went to try and paint the table and her seat, I said “no”. She needs to learn there are boundaries of where it is acceptable to paint and where it is not acceptable to paint.

I see some very challenging times ahead with Little Bug as she continues to exert this newfound independence, but I also see a tremendous opportunity to continue to mold and shape this little girl into the God-fearing woman I pray she becomes one day. I love being her Mommy and taking on these responsibilities, even though many days it leaves me counting down the minutes until bedtime (or when Daddy comes home)!

Almost three years old.

It is hard to believe there was ever a time in my life when this girl wasn’t a part of my every day life!

My firstborn.

She taught me a love that we can only learn from being parents.

The past three years have been filled with tremendous joy as I have watched that tiny helpless, constantly overstimulated, five pound baby girl grow into a hilarious, smart, beautiful, spunky, chatter-box almost 3-year-old girl! God is going to use this girl in mighty ways. I am privileged to be her mother and to be able to have an intricate part in helping to mold her into the woman God desires her to be.

Side Note as I am posting this today: Poor thing is not doing well. I think she has bad seasonal allergies. Every year when the pollen starts, she gets congestion and all the allergy symptoms. She has had congestion and a little cough on and off for about a month now (which is when pollen started), but this past weekend things got really bad for her. She had so much congestion that it was making her throw up. Poor girl. She spiked a fever which worried me. I called the doctor and she said if she is still running fever on Monday to bring her in. I am taking her in today because I want to make sure all the congestion hasn’t started some infection. Please pray she feels better soon.

- Elaine