THREE

Dearest little Goose,
Wheeeee! You are THREE! And you are fierce and mighty and stubborn and hilarious and silly and creative and introspective and fun-loving and very very busy. First thing in the morning, you ask "what is our day today?" wanting to know all of the things we have planned. We must have at least 3 fun things on the agenda or you will either protest or demand that something be added.

You love to go swimming, to play in sand, dancing, visiting Coney Island, playing at home with your dolls and toys, playing with your friend Ossie and being read to. It's a toss up on how excited you are to go to a playground, ride your scooter, go the Child Watch at the Y or hang out with your sister. Sometimes those are awesome and sometimes NOT.

You really like to sing and often sing to yourself while you're playing or riding in your stroller. Some favorites right at the moment are your Brooklyn Nature Days songs (I don't know them, but one is Heyla Sheyla, which is a bunch of silly words and sounds), Call Me Maybe, Fight Song, The Lady with the Alligator Purse, Irreplaceable, Please Don't Stop the Music and The Four Questions. 

You just finished up your first session of drop off ballet and swimming classes at the Y, which you loved. You did a year of Brooklyn Nature Days once a week and are continuing that through the summer. You're a bit slow to warm up in new situations (except ballet class, but maybe it didn't seem new to you since you've been going with your sister your whole life), but after a few weeks you are comfortable and having fun.

You have a total mind of your own and cannot be deterred when you've set your mind to something. You pick out your own clothes every day, you decide what you want to eat every day (breakfast is always toast with cream cheese and bagel seeds AND cookie dough AND smoothie) and you decide what mode of transportation we use. Just today we had to backtrack and add time to our walk home from camp because you NEEDED to walk over a specific sybridge and I missed the turn for it. There was no tantrum, simply "But, mama, I need to go over that skybridge. You need to go back"  Most often we accomodate the requests (within reason, of course!) because you're so pleasant about it all.I can't wait to see you grow into the fierce person you already are.

Now that you're three, you're super excited to be BIG! You can reach the water fountain at the Y all by yourself (and so now do so often), you can put on your own sunblock, you put on your own shoes and socks. The baby is almost all gone. ALMOST. You still nurse to sleep and use diapers, but other than that, your babyhood is solidly in the past.

Two and 3/4

Dearest little Goosey,
These days are SO MUCH FUN! Seriously. We have a blast.

You wake up in the morning either as baby Grace (from Little House on the Prairie) or baby Cece (from Doc McStuffins) and want to be called that name until you let us know you are now Beezus and you're 7 years old. Nothing else in your day changes based on who you are, it's just the name you want to be called. But you do also love playing pretend and will play family all day, loving being a mommy or a big sister to your dolls and loving switching their outfits and changing their diapers.

The next thing you want to know is "what is our day today?" This is while we are still in bed, you just want to get a sense of the lay of the land. You are almost always happy with whatever the day is, you just want to know. If it's raining, you say you love rainy days. If it's sunny and cold, you say you love that. If it's sunny and warm, you an't wait to go to the playground. You are truly easygoing about nearly everything. (Except of course if I call you by the wrong name of who you are pretending to be!)

You sing all the time when no one is watching. If you're playing by yourself, or riding in the stroller, you are singing to yourself. Sometimes they're songs we know, sometimes you're narrating your activities with a tune.

You have cute little vocal tics, too, like saying "yes I mam" and "bumbrella" for umbrella. You also often say "y" instead of "l" so in the middle of the day it's time for yunch and your sister is Eee Yie Za

In the past couple of weeks you've turned a corner on your scooting ability and now you love to scoot to the playground or the train or to pick up your sister at school. Usually you need a break once or twice in the course of every 10 minutes or so, but once you get back on: ZOOM.

You've been doing Brooklyn Nature Days for about 6 months now and you love it. Sometimes you say it's boring, but you always are happy to go and tell me all about it all week. I think the "boring" parts are just the being in nature parts, which is actually quite lovely

In addition to playing outside, you love going to the Y for indoor playground, Child Watch and arts & crafts. You love playing at home, cooking in your kitchen, coloring cards for your Nature Days teachers, dressing up and finding a cozy place to play pretend.

window sill tea party for lots of your guys

You also LOVE reading books and are very happy snuggling on the couch reading book after book. Right now your favorites are the Llama Llama books and the Sandra Boyton collection. Though you really enjoyed listening along with the Little House and Ramona Quimby books, too.

We are loving watching you grow and learn and become more and more of yourself.