Usually it takes a while for my mind to catch up with the reality of time and my babies growing up. For some reason though, it feels like Lucy has been three for a while now and the calendar has finally caught up! Maybe Lucy claiming during her first week of officially being three that "I can do anything, now that I'm almost four" has helped me come to terms with three. Either way, three she is and as my friend's pediatrician told her,"Three is just like two, only with a bigger vocabulary." True that! I like the term "threenager" a relative of mine coined for her three year old daughter. The sass that is coming out of our little threenager's mouth is shocking at times.
-Me: "Lucy, please sit down." Lucy: "No, YOU sit down!"
-Me: "If you don't stop that right now we will not be going to the park." Lucy: "No, if YOU don't stop that right now, YOU won't be going to the park and I won't be your friend anymore!"
-Me: "Lucy, it's time to go now." Lucy: "I will spit in your face and be naughty if I can't stay and I'm not going to like you anymore!"
-Me: "Lucy, what are you doing?" Lucy: "I'm not being a good listener, and I'm not sharing!"
That's probably enough to give you the general idea of our girl's budding vocabulary. Most times I am at a loss as to how to respond to such sass, but we have had many a conversation about "sweet words" versus "rude words" and are really trying to use positive reinforcement techniques on the "sweet words".
Fortunately, Lucy isn't all sass and still says some pretty cute things as well. The other day she found our swim bag that we take to the beach and emerged from the bathroom wearing a pair of goggles and asked me if I liked her "Googles". Some of you might remember that for the longest time she called Will by his first name instead of Dad which really bothered Will. Well, now she refers to him as "Big Guy" so I'm not sure if that is an improvement or not. In other news, she now calls me Liz if I don't respond to Mom in a quick enough fashion. Her favorite exclamation is "oh boy!" and when we get into the car to go anywhere she says "On the road again folks!" as we pull out of our driveway. She has also begun to determine the difference between boys and girls and has even taken this new knowledge and applied it to what Will and I can and cannot do. For instance, only ladies can read "lady books" (where the main character is female) and only daddies can read "man books". If I am singing a song by or about a man she will remind me that the song is a "man song" and not to be sung by me. I was informed that "Do you know the muffin man" has to be sung "Do you know the cupcake lady" if I am going to sing it.
Lucy has gotten a little bit more adventurous with new foods - we're talking ground beef and mangoes - not sushi and tabbouleh. But any attempt on her part to try foods she had previously banned is exciting for Will and I. One evening however, Lucy was picking away at her plate and when I asked her if she wasn't hungry, she told me, "I want the chickens to have it Mom." The chickens do love Lucy's table scraps that is for sure.
Lucy's had her hands pecked a couple of times, so now when she plays with the chickens, she keeps her hands in her pockets. The other day she was in their pen bossing talking to them while I was watering the garden nearby. All of a sudden I heard the most horrific screams. I dropped the hose and ran for the pen expecting to find the chickens pecking her to death. Instead, I found the chickens going crazy on a bracelet Lucy had dropped, and Lucy freaking out screaming, "My BRACELET!!! My BRACELET!" Imagine my relief! I recovered the bracelet and removed Lucy from chicken territory, only to find Lucy minutes later chewing on the exact same bracelet! Double ew. She does love the chickens though, as long as they stay away from her jewelry and has named several of them so far. The names are kind of new agey: Friendly, Stone, Daisy and Dandelion. She is still thinking up names for the rest of them.
Lucy has become quite a little helper around the house. She can put a new garbage bag into our kitchen garbage can very efficiently, and has also taken her job of watering some grass seed we planted very seriously. She received a kit for planting wild flowers from her Aunt Jane for her birthday and has been taking care of them all on her own. Here she is below planting the seeds.
Lucy and Emma are interacting more with each passing week. Since Emma's birthday came first this past month, it was like Lucy had two birthdays - Emma doesn't yet understand the law of possession, and Lucy takes full advantage. Here Lucy is below "sharing" Emma's new dollhouse by letting Emma play with her.
Emma also received her own "Simone" doll for her first birthday from Grandma T. just like Lucy received Simone for her first birthday. Unfortunately, Lucy now believes she has "twins" as she told us and just today she named Emma's new doll Annabelle. We have been trying to enforce the fact that it isn't Lucy's doll but have decided short of putting the doll away until Emma understands it is hers, we don't stand a chance. The first night after Emma got the new doll we were tucking Lucy into bed and she kept trying to speed up the routine. Will and I kept exchanging glances and raising our eyebrows at each other because it was like Lucy was trying to kick us out. This has NEVER happened before and usually it is all we can do to get out of her room in under a half hour as she thinks up every trick in the book to make us stay. We thought this was very strange until we caught her taking a peek under her pillow and saw Emma's new doll hiding under there. We decided to ignore it and take advantage of our ticket out. The next morning, and every day since, Lucy will secretly bring Emma's doll downstairs in the morning and then bring her upstairs at night and hide her in her bed. Will and I have decided to pretend we don't notice, because it makes bedtime a breeze.
Sibling rivalry is alive and well between these two. If one has a toy, the other one won't rest until they have it. If my lap is occupied by one, chances are good that it is just a matter of time before the other one realizes and needs to sit in my lap as well. If Will picks one girl up, he better be prepared to carry two.
All throughout winter we've talked about the things we can do when spring gets here. One of them was to ride the new carousel at the Detroit Zoo that is put away during the winter. Here Lucy is below on her first ride of the season.
Posts
