3 Years Old

Ainsley-bug turned 3 on the 1st, and she'd been waiting months for the day to come.  Birthdays are magical days with singing, cake, ice cream, and presents in Ainsley's eyes, and she loves anytime there is a birthday coming up. 

The evening before her birthday, we met Jacob, Kaila, and Alaina for supper, and then we talked Daddy into going to the Frozen Penguin for dessert. 

We had a whole day planned out the day of her birthday, but the ice/snow that we got the day before ruined our day to the Magic House.  We stayed home instead and made the most out of it.  We had birthday doughnuts and she was able to open a few presents that morning.  Of course, she got lots of cards in the mail, which she was ecstatic about!  She was falling asleep at lunch with the birthday money from her cards on top of her plate!

Little sister wanted all of Ainsley's presents

A Lalaloopsy doll!!!

I was able to lay down with the birthday girl that afternoon for a nap, which doesn't happen very often, and was nice!  We baked cupcakes that evening for her party the next day.  Ainsley kept saying that the chocolate (batter) was yummy in her tummy!

When I got the cupcakes done, I asked Ainsley if she liked them, and she replied:  "They're perfect, Mommy!"  She sure knows how to make my day!

Ainsley can be quite the diva and have major attitude, but the next minute she can be the sweetest little girl you ever saw.  It seems like she's the sweet little girl more and more and I absolutely love it! 

She wakes up every morning, rolls over, and gives me a hug and kiss.  This girl gives the best hugs ever.  She'll wrap her arms around you and squeeze and tight as she can, while saying:  "I lub you".  She loves saying:  "I lub you too" and telling me:  "I lub you soooooo much". 

She's also a very polite little girl.  My favorite recently is anytime someone tells Ainsley:  "Thank you", she replies with:  "Yer elcome" and sometimes just "Elcome".  I smile every time.  One of her favorite things to say is "No Thanks".  If I ask her if she wants chicken nuggets for lunch, she'll reply with:  "No Thanks."  If she really doesn't want something, she'll say "No Thank You" with a little bit of attitude.  If she doesn't want to take a bath and I ask her if she's ready to get in, she'll repeatedly say:  "No thank you, Mommy; No thank you, Mommy" while sobbing/crying.  I'm glad we've gotten away from the just plain old "NO" phase that had a lot of attitude included with that one little word.

Here's a video of her trying to get her tricycle to call Grandma Shelly.  Joel says he uses his voice commands in the truck to call people, and Ainsley sees him do it.  I guess she thought her tricycle was the same way.  She was getting mad because it wasn't calling Grandma Shelly!  She's asking at the end:  "Hear me? Hear me?"

She loves music, dancing, singing, reading, watching tv, playing outside, helping me clean or cook, going shopping, and her little sister. 

Milkshakes after shopping one afternoon

Ainsley has started wanting to pick out her own clothes.  Most days, I can deal with it.  It's those days that we have plans, or she needs to wear warm clothes that we have a fight.  It seems like she always wants to wear her short sleeve Bubble Guppies tshirt on the days that it's negative 10. 

A day when she dressed herself....we didn't leave the house!

Ainsley sure likes her little sister.  Of course, they fight (a lot), but they also have their rare moments when they play well together.  Even if one is mad at the other, it doesn't take them long to be right back by each others side.

One of their favorite places to play/hide

I started her in music class the beginning of December and it's been wonderful.  It's once a week for 45 minutes on Wednesday mornings.  It's the highlight of Ainsley's week.  Wednesday's have become Ainsley-Mommy days, while Lily goes to Lisa's and we go to music class.

Breakfast date before music class!

 

The music class is for kids ages 4 months-5 years.  They sing, dance, do rhythm patterns, and play instruments.  Ainsley absolutely loves all of it.  She knows almost every song now and is kind of the teacher's pet.  It's so much fun watching her in class.  She tries to be one of the first on the teacher's lap to do rhythm patterns, and likes to give suggestions on different animals, foods, etc. that go with the song they're singing.   

She loves playing the triangle during instrument time!

 

 

Ainsley's vocabulary expands every day and the girl likes to talk.  She doesn't stop sometimes.  I'm not exaggerating when I say we have to tell her to stop talking at night during supper to actually eat her food.  She loves to ask lots of questions, and I'm glad the "why" questions haven't started yet. 

Ainsley stayed the night with Mom last weekend and actually wanted to go bye-bye with Uncle Tanner and not stay with Grandma Shelly.  Tanner sent me the picture below of them, saying that he must be her favorite uncle if she wants to go with him instead of staying with Grandma Shelly.  It doesn't look like she was unhappy at all to leave Grandma Shelly!

She had her 3 year wellness check a few weeks ago and was 35 pounds and 37 3/4 inches tall.  She was right at the 90th percentile for weight and around the 60th for height.  Ainsley's really slimmed down the last year, not really putting on weight, but getting taller.  She's wearing size 4 clothes, and some size 5, size 9-10 shoes, and size 6 diapers.  I'm determined to get her out of the diapers in the next few months, though.

Potty training is something I bring up every few days with her, but she's been adamant about not wanting to sit on the toilet for at least 3 months.  She went through a stage where she would sit on the toilet for me, but never actually went.  That all changed yesterday after a music class mom told me a trick she used for her son.  She would set the potty chair in the living room in front of the tv and that's how she potty trained.  I brought the potty chair into the dining room and let her sit on it and watch tv, and after an hour and a half yesterday morning, SHE WENT PEE ON THE POTTY!!!!  That was the best Valentine's gift I could have received.  She went 5 times yesterday, and only had one accident.  She's done good again today, but it's definitely a work in progress.  She even went at Grandma Rita's this morning for Joel!  I'm hoping she continues to catch on and I can start buying diapers for only one child (although, Lily's getting close to the same size diaper at this point!)

Lily thinks it's funny to torment Ainsley while she's on the potty.  Little stinker!

She is still sleeping in our bed most of the night, and there are nights when I wish she would sleep in her own bed all night.  Ainsley is just like her Daddy, and has to have her feet and legs on top of the cover, so half way through the night, she's usually kicking like a mule to get the blanket off of her.  That doesn't make for a very happy Mommy, who likes to be fully covered up.  Even though there are times I wish she was in her own bed, it's still nice waking up next to her adorable face every morning, and getting a big hug and kiss from her.  (Poor Lily will never be able to come in our bed....there's not enough room with Ainsley in there!)

At her 3 year check up, I had the doctor once again look at her feet.  Ainsley has very flat feet and is knock kneed.  We've been worried about this for the last year or so, but the doctor said she would outgrow it.  The doctor thought at her last checkup that we should probably start physical therapy because of the knock knees and weak ankles.  So, we started physical therapy two weeks ago.  The physical therapist thought Ainsley's flat feet/knock knees was a little more progressed than most 3 year olds, but most kids outgrow it.  She said that there is a bone (I didn't write down the medical name) on the arch portion of Ainsley foot that should be near the top of the foot, but is actually touching the ground, and that is the physical therapist's main concern.  We're doing exercises/activities at home to work on strengthening her ankles and are also suppose to get shoes with a higher arch, even though when I asked about this over a year ago, the doctor said shoes don't matter!  The shoes will be a "cosmetic" fix as the therapist put it and won't make her knees knock together when she has them on, because the ankles won't be rolling in, but won't actually help to fix the issue.  The physical therapist says it will take awhile for us to see any changes, and it will be a very slow process.  I sure hope it gets a little better and we don't waste time and money on more physical therapy! 

Joel and I are so proud of the little girl Ainsley is becoming (even if she can have major attitude at times).  We can't wait to see what the next year brings!