Olivia at 3 years 8 months

It feels like I haven’t done one of these posts in forever, but it’s only been four months. What’s crazy is this is the last 3-year update, because she’s going to be 4 in four months and we’ll have another baby in the house. That blows my mind.

We’ve been keeping busy this summer and one of the favorites is SeaQuest where Olivia can touch and feed all sorts of animals. Like these birds. I was so proud of her because one of the rules about being there in the birdcage is you need to stay calm and keep your legs and arms still. Not usually easy for a three-year-old, but she did amazing and kept her cool when no less than 20 of these colorful birds swarmed us to eat seeds. She thought it was the greatest thing ever to have them land on her.

This was actually on the 4th of July where earlier that morning she ran her first kids’ sparkler dash. Man, I was so proud of her. Plus watching her madly pumping her arms and legs with the other 3 and 4-year-olds while parents cheered them on was pretty adorable. I cried. Naturally. Because of course, it’s one of those moments I almost didn’t get to have.

Stats

She weighs 38 pounds as of her doctor’s visit last month and officially measures 3 feet tall according to them. She’s in 4T clothes, and some of those, especially if they were hand-me-downs, are getting tight or too short. She’s in size 8 shoes but already grew out of one of those pairs.

Milestones

The girl is scootering champ. She’s really gotten good at balancing on the two-wheeler we had bought her a few months ago. And she’s getting better at her balance bike, but it’s not her preference. She can skip and balance on the curb when we go for walks. She can almost totally dress herself, but some clothes will give her trouble. She knows to look for the tags and is 50/50 with getting her shoes on the correct foot. We’re working on washing hands. She has the process down pat but doesn’t spend the time needed to scrub (because yes, her mom is a nurse) so we’re working on “Count to ten and then you can rinse!” It’s… going OK.

Her drawings are getting good. She can now draw little people with arms and legs and it’s the cutest thing ever. She loves to sit and “read” books and now almost never tears the pages. I know her daycare has been working with her on properly holding a pencil, but she still fists it most of the time. I know this is something we need to work on because she should be able to do it by now. It’s just that when she’s at the table creating works of art, I’m usually doing dishes or cleaning and not paying attention.

Emotionally, she just ended a stage of some pretty awful and epic tantrums and now we’re left with lots of attitude and sass. Lots of talking back. Chris and I try to get her to name her feelings and she’s pretty good at telling us, “I’m mad!” with a good foot stomp thrown in. Oy. Preschoolers. I’ve noticed lately she’s really starting to develop friendships with others, and playing more with them than side-by-side.

Health

At the end of May, Olivia had this really weird episode when we were outside. Everything was going well, Chris was mowing, and I was sitting in a chair watching Olivia play. She came over to me saying Toby had threw up. Apparently, he really did once I went over to look, but she started acting really weird right after that. Whiny, crying and honestly looking like she was going to throw up. Cue my horrible puke anxiety. Chris came over and distracted her, but she started feeling really warm. We all ended up going inside and Chris and Olivia sat on the couch watching a movie. I, of course, was trying to keep a panic attack down. But nothing ever came of it. She was fine except for that weird fever. I luckily had an appointment with my therapist the next day and we talked about her possibly seeing Toby throw up and it triggered a response in her, even making herself sick with a fever. I’m hoping she’s not picking up on my anxiety, but kids are so freaking intuitive.

In mid-June, she spiked another fever, vomited once, and then had a fever off and on for a few days with a really junky cough. I took her to the doctor and we decided to wait on antibiotics, but then she started complaining her ear was hurting so we started them. Of course, I was worried about pneumonia since she had that at the end of December. But the antibiotics helped.

 

Eating

The pickiness with food has gradually gotten a little worse. When it’s the meals she loves, she will eat her body weight in them. Otherwise, it’s, “I don’t LIKE (insert unsuspecting food). I don’t LIKE it, Mom!” I don’t make a different meal for her, but if it’s something I know she won’t care for, I’ve kind of gone back to giving her an alternate or storing her dinner until later and she can eat it if she’s still hungry. Breakfasts and lunches aren’t a problem because she likes those types of foods way better. Otherwise, she’s all about pizza and tacos still. One of her most requested lunches lately is crackers with sliced cheese and deli meat. We’re working on having her take her plate to the sink when she’s done eating, but I’m not the most consistent when it comes to that. She is really good, however, at going to wash up afterward in the bathroom sink without being asked.

She doesn’t ask to nurse anymore, but she does still talk about it. My favorite is when she nurses her babies. Scratch that. My favorite is when she asks Chris to nurse her babies because she’s too busy.

Potty Training

She’s still in a pull-up at night. About 6 weeks ago, she had a stretch where she would wake up dry in the morning 50% of the time. She had a dry night a few nights ago, but otherwise, she wakes up wet every time. Naps are a hit or miss. I honestly think she just doesn’t care right now. We started a sticker chart for staying dry and she earned her first prize, a Nella sword which she picked out herself.

Sleep

I swear she went through some sort of regression back almost two months ago that lasted damn near an entire month. And I wouldn’t say it was horrible, but bedtime was sort of a shit show with lots of tears for one of us to sleep with her and “I CAN’T SLEEP BY MYSELF!!!!! I’M GOING TO BE ALL ALOOOONE AND I DON’T HAVE ANYBODY!!!!!!”

No one said having a girl would be drama-free.

So that, combined with coming out of her room 2,538 times before 10:00 pm was a lot of fun. Still, it could have been worse, because for the most part, once she was asleep, it was all good.

Our new bedtime ritual consists of a book, brush teeth, PJs on, and then prayers in bed. Since my belly is getting bigger and the heartburn is intense at night, I sit on her bed to kiss her goodnight instead of leaning over the railing. Let’s see, we do an Eskimo kiss AKA “nose thing,” “beard scratch where we rub cheeks (she got this from Chris, but for some reason thinks I have a beard too), “ear thing” where we rub ears (???) and then I kiss her for real. Sometimes this all needs to be repeated. Sometimes Queso gets this treatment as well.

Her bedtime is between 7:30 and 8:00 and she’ll wake in the mornings anywhere from 6:15 to 7:45 am. Luckily, she loves turning on the TV by herself and hanging out in the living room, so usually, I can sleep in a bit later.

She’s still napping, but some days it’s only an hour and sometimes she’ll refuse completely although it’s rare.

Favorites

• Toys: Legos, Mouse Trap, Pop The Pig game, her Fisher Price Little People camper, making us food from her kitchen stuff, her scooter, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, her art supplies
• Books: Anything My Little Pony — much to my dismay, anything Disney, Luna Girl and the Witch Baby, her Highlights magazines
• TV shows: Boss Baby, Trolls, My Little Pony, Magic School Bus
• Movies: Finding Dory, “Tiana,” Hotel Transylvania 3
• Activities: Riding on her scooter, going to the park, being outside in general, “nature walks,” playing in the sprinkler, going to the pool, picnics, picking out library books

Dislikes

“Mosquito bites” which are actually just mosquitos, “cutworms” because “we don’t yike cutworms, right?” (this was due to gardening earlier this summer and helping us throw the cutworms out of the garden beds), not being able to eat incessantly, and when we have to leave places (although she’s getting much better at this).

Looking Forward To

The rest of the summer. Our trip to Iowa to visit the relatives. We were supposed to go in April but she got sick. We’re still going back and forth bringing with us this year to the state fair but that depends on how smoking hot it is here. And of course our annual North Shore trip. It’s the last one until this little one comes along. Otherwise, I’m just trying to soak everything in. With this pregnancy and having a three-year-old. Because time just passes by so quickly now.