Stats:
At her three year appointment, Kaitlyn weighed in at 28 lbs and measured 35.5". Almost three feet! She is still tiny for her age but surprisingly she's in the 20th percentile for weight and 21st percentile for height. We recently weighed and measured her and not much has changed. Still under 30 lbs and measuring at 36". She barely makes the cutoff to go on kids' rides at the amusement park, or to IKEA's playland. I asked her pediatrician how tall she will end up being and he said that a good estimate is to take the average between the father's height less five inches and the mother's height. That puts her in at about 5'4" when she grows up, though I think she will be even more petite!
Sleep:
Ever since we came back from Hong Kong last year and she transitioned to a toddler bed, sleep has always been and continues to be a challenge. Putting Kaitlyn down every night is such a chore. There's a bunch of rituals that must be followed: last sips of water, turn on the white noise machine, turn on her dream light (this stuffed animal that projects stars onto the ceiling), make sure her bedroom door is wide open and that the hallway light is on, tuck her in and sing three specific songs, then give her a hug and a kiss. Despite all that, it still takes Kaitlyn at least an hour to fall asleep, and we end up going into her room numerous times after putting her down. She uses every excuse she can think of - she needs water, needs to go potty, she even calls us if she lost a stuffed animal in her bed and can't find it (even if it's within an arm's reach). She just hates being alone in her room and getting her to fall asleep is such an ordeal. We try to get her in bed by 8pm, although she still doesn't fall asleep until 9-9:30pm.
In the morning, she consistently comes to our room around 6:30am and climbs into bed between us - she has this alarm clock/night light that turns green when it's okay to get out of bed. Sometimes she falls back asleep but other times, especially on weekends, I give her the iPhone and she'll watch videos while we try to catch a few more minutes of sleep. It's lazy on my part, but I love having her next to me in bed and snuggling in the morning.
On weekends, Kaitlyn naps for about two hours on our living room couch, the only place she will nap (aside from the car seat). There have been a few times when she didn't nap and had no problems falling asleep at night, so maybe it's time to drop her naps. But then I don't know what I would do without those two hours of downtime - I need to nap too!
Potty Training:
Seems like forever ago, but Kaitlyn has been fully potty trained since she turned three. It was a pretty quick process and took us two days to completely train her. It helped that she had been using a potty at daycare since she was two years old. She still gets really excited whenever she does number two in the toilet, and still expects M&M's every time she does (since that's what we used to train her). She still wears pull-ups to bed, and would rather wet her pull-ups than get out of bed in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, so we don't see that changing anytime soon.
Activities:
There are so many activities I want to enroll Kaitlyn in, including dance and soccer, but I also want to avoid committing our entire weekends to them. So for now, Kaitlyn is continuing with swim lessons on Saturday mornings. Since she turned three, she advanced to the next level of swim class and now goes into the water without a parent. She really likes to follow directions and please the teacher, so she's pretty good in class. She can swim with her face underwater halfway across the pool, kicking and paddling at the same time. Now she's working on her upfaces, as she doesn't seem to realize that it's okay to lift her head out of the water to breathe when she needs to.
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| One of her earlier photos when she was still using a floatie during class. |
At home, Kaitlyn's favorite activity is playing with play-doh. I think this all stemmed from her obsession with watching YouTube videos of play-doh demonstrations - I'm not sure how she came across them in the first place but if you search "Elmo play-doh" on YouTube, you will see all these videos that got her hooked. She got two play-doh making sets for Christmas and plays with them almost every day. One of the play-doh sets teaches color mixing, so now she knows that yellow and blue make green, etc. Eventually she ends up mixing all of the colors together and ends up with a huge brown glob. Not to mention all the play-doh that she leaves out and then dries up - we go through cans of play-doh each week!
Aside from play-doh, Kaitlyn enjoys drawing, pretending to cook for Brady or her stuffed animals, and riding her scooter at the park. She's also very attached to me and always wants to "help Mommy," whether it's cooking or cleaning. She absolutely loved making Christmas cookies with me over the holidays so I see more baking activities with her in the future.
Kaitlyn also watches more iPad and TV than I'd like to admit. We try to limit it to early mornings and after work when we're just getting home, but there are chunks of time when we just need a break and the TV or iPad is the best babysitter. We have a few episodes on the DVR and she goes through phases where she requests the same shows over and over. Past favorites have included Dora, Barney, and Super Why!, and currently she likes Caillou. On the iPad, she loves Pocoyo and Shaun the Sheep, and always requests those Elmo play-doh videos in the morning. The TV watching is not ideal but what can I say, we're a TV family and we like having it on in the background. There's always a sporting event or Food Network / HGTV episode on. At least if there's something on TV that she has no interest in, she will just stop watching and do something else.
Eating:
If there's one meal that Kaitlyn eats really well, it's breakfast. Especially weekend breakfasts at restaurants. We got into a ritual of going out for breakfast every Saturday after swimming, and Kaitlyn absolutely loves her poached egg, bacon, and toast meals. It's the one meal that we consistently see her eat and enjoy the most, so we love our weekend breakfast/brunch outings. Yum.
Aside from breakfast, Kaitlyn can be a picky eater. She always prefers anything with cheese - mac n' cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc. - she definitely is our daughter. Other favorites include noodles, pesto pasta, and chicken nuggets.
Personality:
I was a little nervous that since she never experienced her terrible twos, she would get the terrible threes. However, we're halfway through three now and I can't say it's that bad. Kaitlyn does have her moments when she doesn't get what she wants. But rather than throw tantrums, she just gets quiet and clingy and refuses to cooperate. Then it's just a matter of waiting it out until she's ready to move on. I admit that I do get impatient with her at times, and it's frustrating when things that normally only take a few minutes drag on for much longer (like getting dressed in the mornings). But at the end of the day, relatively speaking, she's a good kid and I can't complain. She just makes my heart melt when she tells me, "Mommy, I love you. You're my best friend." Aww....
Brady:
Adding Brady to our family has been one of the best decisions we have made. Although owning a dog is a lot of work, he and Kaitlyn are best friends and she loves him so much. She likes to treat him like a younger sibling and her caring, nurturing personality comes out when she's with him. Brady also goes to doggie daycare and when they're in the car together after work, Kaitlyn will ask "Brady, did you have fun at preschool today? Did you play hard with your friends?" At home, she will read him books and sing to him while he sleeps. He's a patient dog and very tolerant of Kaitlyn, and it's so fun watching them grow up together.
Big Sister:
Kaitlyn is definitely excited about becoming a big sister. I don't think she understands exactly what that will entail, but she's already been saving her own toys and books to give to baby, and is excited about sharing a room with him/her. She keeps changing her mind about whether she wants a baby sister or baby brother (currently it's sister), but we can't confirm for her since we don't know ourselves! Either way, I think she will be excited to help Mommy (even if it means getting in the way) and have a new subordinate to boss around (in addition to Brady). We're all looking forward to it!
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