Day 38: 3 Years, 5 Months

Today will be Maya's first monthly update. I have a lot of catching up to do since she is almost three and a half and I have never done this before. I'll start with the catch up things, stuff she has been up to since before the past month...

Maya started taking swim lessons and gymnastics at All About Kids in early June. The first term of swim lessons was with the parent. Arthur got in the pool with her every time and took directions from the instructor. Starting August 24, she had to be a big girl and swim with just the teacher. She has been doing awesome and maybe even better than when she was with Arthur. I think she tries to get away with more with us. Gymnastics didn't start out too well. She refused to sit on the color line and refused to stretch at her first class. She warmed up after about three classes and now she loves it. She is learning to do so much and it is so awesome to watch her improve.
Maya went to her first movie in the theater on June 24, 2010 and saw Toy Story 3. She was an angel at the movie and loved getting popcorn and lemonade. She also had a Dr.'s appointment that day and she weighed 34 lbs and was 39.5 in tall.

Maya has known almost all her letters and letter sounds for about five or six months now. She knows how to spell her name and she can almost write it. She can't write a "y" but has the "m" and the "a" down.

So what has been going on in the past month? Maya became a big sister and has had to deal with all the adjustments that come along with it. She is very attentive and loves her baby brother. She loves to help out with diaper changings and feedings. I'm hesitant to say this because I don't want to jinx anything, but I think we are starting to come out of the rough patch we had when we first brought Mitchell home. Don't get me wrong, we still have tantrums and whining, but I think it is more normal three year old stuff than it is a result of the new baby.

Bedtime is sometimes easy and sometimes a nightmare. Some nights she will go right to bed without fighting or crying and then the next night could be just awful. Sleeping all night in her bed is a toss up as well. If she wakes up in the middle of the night she will come to the gate at her door and cry out for us to come get her. We let her come to our bed for the sake of everyone getting more sleep. She still wears a pull up to bed and most mornings she is wet. I don't think we will be trying panties at night for a while.

Meal time is just horrible. Her diet basically consists of cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, granola bars, yogurt, milk, fruit, noodles, cheese, and fruit snacks. Getting her to eat "real" food is very difficult and often requires a bribe.

Here are some of the funny things she said lately:

When she meets someone new she usually introduces herself as "Princess." She will even correct us if we introduce her as Maya.

Her baby dolls are named by the color outfit they are wearing, so we have "pink baby" and "purple baby." Sometimes she gives them names, but we usually call them their color.

I guess this isn't really funny, but she has learned the word "dammit." We are trying to teach her that it is a bad word and I think she is catching on. Ooops, this one is mommy and daddy's fault.

When I first started breastfeeding Mitchell at home, Maya liked to pretend she was breastfeeding her dolls too. She hasn't done that in a few weeks, but she did say "when I get older and I have milk in my boobs, I can feed Mitchell too!"

Just a few other things she said this month that I don't want to forget:

"Let's figure out dinner."

"Oh shoot...drops!"

"Mommy, you don't want me to get big. Ok, I will drink something to make me stay pall (small)"

"You can't find me."