There is nothing I hate more than when people warn you about things to come with your child. For example,
“How old is Paige now?”
“She’s two”
“Oh boy, just wait, threes were the worst year for us!”
Honestly I hear things like this all the time. When she was a baby it was “just wait until she starts walking, it’s a nightmare!”. No matter what, the next milestone is “bad” for some reason or another. Can’t we just be positive?! Being a parent is hard enough as it is, I’d like to focus on the positives please. Let’s practice; “three years old?! What a great time! They can talk and have full conversations with you. They can pee and poop on their own, without your help! They even learn how to actually wipe their bums appropriately. They also start preschool and start developing friendships…how exciting!”.Yes, more positive vibes, please.
So, yes, Paige turned three …
Last year I made an Elmo cake, this year I attempted to make cool Trolls cupcakes.
The theme was Trolls, because that’s (for now) her favorite movie. Mainly, she likes the songs. In fact, I would say she’s obsessed. Her first day of preschool ended with a note to all the parents, in which they pointed out the following;
**** The music playing during snack this afternoon was “Can’t Stop the Feeling” from Trolls. Paige said. “Can you pause this song?” Mary Beth said, “Why?” She replied “Well..If I am eating.. I can’t dance!!” *****
Here are some things were struggled (struggle still) with over the past year
- We moved into my Mother in Law’s house, then moved into a new home. This was a huge transition for all of us, but it especially effected Paige, who, like most toddlers, doesn’t do well with transitions.
- Adenoids and runny noses and vomiting. Paige has, since birth, had a runny nose. We had her adenoids removed late last year and things have gotten better. However, since having her adenoids removed, she has had issues with throwing up. Since moving into our new home (right after having her adenoids removed) she has throw up on about ten different occasions. Three of those times were from an illness, the others? Well, we recently found out via an upper GI series that she has bad GERD. We now have her on Xantac, which will reduce the acid and possible esophageal erosion, but will not reduce the throwing up. Our doctor said she has to grow out of it (and most kids grow out of it by age 1, not Paige!).
- Paige was a late talker. Or at least according to the internet she was. When you read the internet it makes you think if they aren’t talking in sentences by age 2 you have a serious problem on your hands. So, we brought her to a speech therapist who told us she did in fact have a mild speech delay (so, the internet was right). After five months of 30-minute sessions per week therapy (yes, that’s it!) she’s currently talking at a level of, I would say, a five year old (I’m not kidding folks, speech therapy is good stuff!)
- Tantrums escalated. The girl is strong willed, to the max degree. My mom says I was strong willed (and still am) but that Paige is even more so. Literally I cringe when I have to say “no” because I know what’s coming. I will not turn into that parent who doesn’t say no because I’m afraid of how my child will act. I will continue saying NO until she understands that she isn’t the boss of me!
- Paige is active and literally never stops. I know what you’re thinking; what toddler ever stops?! Well, both her babysitter and her new preschool teachers have pointed out that Paige literally hops form one thing to another. She is just a busy body and is truly excited about life. This is great, but it makes for exhausted parents and caregivers!
- Bedtime started becoming more difficult. Cameron falls asleep at the drop of a hat. It’s 8pm, I put him in his bed, he goes to sleep. Paige used to be the same way. That is, until she turned two. Now, bedtime is a 1-2 hour ordeal and it’s just not fun.
Here are some things that were great over the past year;
- Paige found her voice. While this has been both good and bad, it’s mainly been good, because we can finally communicate with her.
- I had another baby and it couldn’t have gone more smoothly. You know how I said Paige hates transitions? Well, she absolutely did not get bothered one bit by the addition of a new baby/human being into her life. We are beyond thankful for this.
- Paige potty trained like a freaking champ. I mean, in two days, she was good to go. Ok, so she still wears a pull up to bed, we havne’t tackled that quite yet, but it’s dry 99% of the time (I think we do that for our own greedy benefit!)
- She’s gaining her independence. She can literally do so a many things on her own and with a 6 month old at home, this makes mommy and daddy’s life much easier! Of course, sometimes she’s too independent and gets mad when she doesn’t allow us to do things “all by herself”.
Here are some things that are coming up in the next year (will they go well?!)
- Starting preschool. Yep, she started preschool this week. So far so good, but the teachers have already mentioned that they are working with her on patience and communicating without crying.
- Cameron will start needing our attention more. Let’s face it, babies need a lot of attention, but they need even more attention when they start crawling and walking! Not sure how Paige will handle this.
- My husband is starting a new job, which means more hours (probably) and therefore I may be a little frazzled and our schedules will be a little off.
- No more naps.Yeah, I said it here, I think we are fazing out of naps. I hope this ends up being a good thing; I think it will. Paige basically doesn’t nap for me or Nick anymore, but she does at her daycare. I’m thinking since we have so much trouble putting her to sleep at night, taking naps out completely is probably best. ahhhh!
So, I’ve got a three year old now. I’m not expecting everything to be easy and graceful, but I’m hoping to make the best out of things and enjoy this time as much as possible! I know there will be a day that I look back and wish that Paige was a toddler again. After all, she loves me, asks for me all the time, sings and dances with me, reads with me, plays with me, and doesn’t (yet) get annoyed with me. What more could I ask for?!
