3.5 Years Old

Fun fact: this is my 400th blog post!  If you have stuck with me through all 400, wow, and thank you!  I continue to love having this historical documentation of the last six years since we began this chapter of our lives in South Carolina.  I am also always touched to hear from friends and family that I haven't done the best job of staying in touch with that they still check in on us via the blog.  Hugs to all you dear readers!

Three and a half and a whole lot of sass

Today my precious, silly, feisty, compassionate, stubborn, and independent Katherine is three and a half years old.  It hurts my heart for some reason to reflect on how fast time is passing.  We're at the halfway mark of one of the best ages ever and I want time to slow down so we can squeeze in more memories during this stage.  She is innocent and inquisitive, old enough to do a lot of things herself but young enough to still want to curl up in our laps at the end of the day.  She is full of questions and giggles and imagination and big dreams that I hope she never loses.

Shopping diva learning to drive

Kate is smart.  I know all parents say and think that about their kids (and they should) but I continue to be amazed at the way her little mind is rapidly developing and storing information and then coming to correct conclusions.  She recognizes all of her letters, her name, can count, trace letters, and remembers everything.  She makes astute observations and categorizes things, one of her favorites is to point out that her and Daddy have dark hair so they are the same, but Mommy and Luke do not and so they are different.

Kate is also funny.  The other day I told her not to go outside until I was ready but she opened the door anyway and I said, "Wait! I didn't tell you to go out yet."  and she sweetly responded, "But I'm an American."  I guess they talked about freedom at school for the Fourth of July?  

Sleeping on our road trip last weekend with her favorite pal, Lissa Cheetah

Favorite activities:  Kate plays soccer once a week and takes a ballet/tap class once a week.  She loves both.  She enjoys coloring, doing puzzles, playing pretend (lately she likes to act like a doggie and fetch chew toys), playgrounds, cooking, and splashing in the kiddie pool. 

Our tiny dancer

She loves to dress up, negotiate how many bedtime books we will read each night, watch Daniel Tiger, Sheriff Callie, Thomas the Train, Bob the Builder, Mickey or Princess Sofia, and build forts in the living room under blankets.  Her favorite foods can change drastically from one meal to the next, but toddler staples like animal crackers, goldfish, applesauce, yogurt, tater tots and macaroni are almost always a safe bet.  She told me yesterday, "Mommy, I can't wait until I know how to read!" and we spend a lot of time in her chair reading her current favorites like Dragons Love Tacos, Steam Train Dream Train, Click Clack Moo, and If You Give a Moose a Muffin.  For the first two years of her life Kate ended every night with Matt reading her Goodnight Moon, but somewhere in the last couple of months she decided she did not like it anymore.

Favorite folks: Definitely a tie between her Daddy and her brother for the number one spot in her heart.  I don't know how many times I've glanced over at her and Luke playing and she sneakily leans over to kiss his cheek just because she loves him.  Her hugs and kisses right now are the best, especially because she says sweet things like, "Mommy, you are my favorite, I love you so much!" while she does it.  Other favorite people in her life are our neighbor Colton, her baby cousin Hannah who she talks about all the time, and all of her grandparents who she goes around the house pointing out in photographs.

Best friends

So far age three has had it's share of ridiculous tantrums too, and Kate is no stranger to the timeout corner at our house.  The reasons for a meltdown are often really dumb, like the other day Matt poured milk into her cereal before he poured it into her cup and a giant screaming, kicking, freak out ensued.  Kate has started napping for much shorter (sometimes not at all) periods and there is definitely a correlation between her moodiness and being well rested.  While I hate the crazy tantrums, what I hate more is when she gets whiny.  Whiny Kate ends up in timeout too, which often triggers a tantrum, so the two irrational and irritating toddler personalities go hand in hand.

Luckily, sweet and helpful Kate is around far more than her angry side.  She enjoys helping with chores, she is fiercely protective over Luke (she tells other kids on playgrounds to watch out for her little brother), and I can always count on her to let me know if something is out of place or dirty.  She likes to sing the blessing at dinner and adorably says "Father, Godther" instead of "God our Father," but even cute mess ups like this don't stick around long and I've already noticed some words she used to say wrong are now spoken clearly and less childlike as she grows.

I still can't believe sometimes that this amazing little girl has been entrusted to me and Matt to raise and love.  I never knew how much I could love someone else until she came along.  I've never been so excited to have another person report to me about their bathroom habits.  I have never been challenged before to explain things under pressure and constant firing of follow up questions regarding where the clouds come from (don't worry, some of my 3rd grade science education came back to me), why sometimes we need a fork and other times a spoon, and how birds learn to fly.  None of my accomplishments in life made me beam with pride like I do when I see that she has done something for the first time entirely by herself and she is grinning proudly about it too.

Sweet Kate, you light up our lives.  How are you suddenly halfway through being three!?  I love you more than I could ever explain to you.  Happy half birthday my love!