Wow, sweetheart. This one really snuck up on me. How are you already 3.5? For some reason this is hitting me hard tonight as I know that tomorrow you will be closer to 4 than you are to 3. This makes me incredibly sad. I really am not sad on a day to day basis as I consider you getting older. It's just too much fun and so much reward (or so much of the monotony, routine, and stress) to get caught up in how sad it all is. But when I stop, when I have these moments...it overwhelms me. It's the same story every letter, right?
It's getting harder and harder to identify just a few favorite things. You have the fiercest, most powerful love and that translates into the absolute best hugs in the world. You have picked up on this fact and use it to your advantage on a regular basis. No one can turn down your hugs, no matter how they are feeling. For awhile you wouldn't let us kiss you before bed because you would cackle and say "kisses make me sweaty." I think this stemmed from me saying I shouldn't kiss you one day after I had exercised and then you were reinforced with lots of laughter when you repeated it. Daddy and I think you are so funny. You make us laugh every day.
Your attention to detail, while sometimes exasperating, is really interesting to watch. Your socks have to be put on at just the right angle; your clothes have to match in a particular way that only you understand; and you have very specific ways that you want to color and play games. I hope that points to adaptively high conscientiousness in adulthood but your current organization system for your belongings leads me to question this sometimes.
There's a funny thing about you that we haven't been able to figure out. One of the most common things we hear (from doctors, nurses, strangers, family of friends) is that people can tell that you are "just so smart". This is often hard for me to swallow because I know that intelligence isn't assessed in this manner and that toddler skills don't really translate incredibly well into academic success. Maybe it is just something that people say to parents to make them feel good but it happens at an alarming rate. To be clear, though, your dad and I think you are brilliant and adorable.
Your transition to the 3 year old class was rough. Your emotions got stronger. You got louder and yelled more. You got put in time out a lot at school. We were starting to get nervous when things just leveled out and seem more settled now. You mostly love going to school. You know your ABC song, can identify most letters, shapes, and colors. You are learning about various occupations and I love hearing your stories about your friends and teachers at the end of the day. I'm already thinking about you going to pre-k and how that seems so impossibly big and far from now.
Within the last week, your dad and I have looked at each other with knowing glances more than once as we begin to understand all of the grumblings about threenagers. For awhile we were thinking we might have actually missed this phase. While you have become more emotionally stable and rarely throw tantrums, you've definitely gotten more headstrong and curious about boundaries. You are persistent and demanding. Limits have become more difficult to enforce (but we know that's the time they're most important!). You also ask "why" about evvvvvvvverything. I love answering your genuine questions ("why does it get dark? why does the moon come out?") but I get frustrated when you ask why just to ask why ("I want a tomato." [hand you a tomato] "why did you give me a tomato?') all.day.long. But you know what? These are also qualities that I am so proud that you have. I want you to be intellectually curious. And headstrong. And persistent. You're going to be a force to reckon with one day. But man. It can be exhausting to parent.
I am so lucky that I get to spend lots of time with you. Sometimes this is rough on all of us and I certainly don't pretend to enjoy every moment. But I sure do enjoy a lot of them. I've recently started telling you at the end of the day how much fun I had and we each try to name our favorite part of the day or evening. I should probably start writing those down somewhere.
Some of your favorite things are sliding, coloring, being outside, and candy. You currently don't have a favorite show because you want to find every possible show on Netflix with each one more annoying than the last until we completely lose our minds. Your favorite books are Where's my mom? and Fancy Nancy. I love watching you 'read' them. You love to make up games for us to play and then instructing us on the rules as we go. The most recent games you made up were "Shimmer and Shine Play-Doh" which inexplicably involved pouring water out of a pink cup onto your leg in the bathtub and a game with dolls where we laid them all on the table and each took turns picking our 'team' of babies, putting them back and doing that over and over again. I love listening to your running commentary of what you're drawing, coloring, or playing. Your voice is the sweetest. Lately you also have been singing a lot. Your songs are right on trend as you perfect the art of the mash-up. A recent was "one little two little three little monkeys jumping on the bed. one fell off and jump up and down sit right back down little monkey." You like going to gymnastics and that we "get a special drink" (sonic slush) on the way home on some weeks. You love Jasper and Madeline and have become so incredibly helpful and gentle with them. They both even seem to be starting to really love you.
Tonight we made half-birthday Halloween cookies. You thought this was the best idea ever and all of your play tonight centered on half birthdays and parties. You also kept saying "we don't make cake because we are out of eggs" and you were right. :)
