Sydney's Puh
One update we forgot to make was with respect to Sydney's "puh" aka pacifier. She gave it up back in either late January or early February. She hadn't been using one at nap time for a very long time but was taking little breaks in her room by herself to suck on it any time she got upset. On a night of particularly bad behavior, we took it away for the night. The next day, we pushed the issue further, and she agreed to stop using it in exchange for a new toy (2 Thomas & Friends engines). The first few week or so was rough whenever she got upset, but she got got over it. I will admit feeling incredibly guilty about making her give it up, but it had to happen soon.
In other security item news, Sydney still loves her "ank" (blanket), but isn't as nuts about it as she used to be.
Bathroom Business
As we've noted on a number of occasions, Sydney had ongoing constipation for quite some time. We were giving her Mirilax daily and sometimes she would go a week without going. It seems like we've finally turned a corner on this one. She's actually been very regular lately and the drama surrounding going has gone down substantially. In fact she's even gone at school which is a breakthrough in itself. Let's hope this trend holds. ...of course the next thing here is going to be figuring out how to discontinue the reward of getting chocolate when she goes. We'll probably just keep doing that for awhile.
Big Girl Bed
Last week, Sydney's new bunk beds arrived and yesterday we assembled them. We figured she would sleep on the bottom bunk for awhile, but she insisted that she wanted to sleep on the top and did it successfully last night. She's asleep on the top tonight as well. She found navigating the ladder difficult at first but has got it down pretty well now. That was actually our big concern because this bed is built for a 6 year old. Anyway, she's super excited and loves her new bed. This frees up the crib for baby brother, coming in 3 weeks.
Sick last week... and perhaps again
Sydney was sick last week. She ran a high fever and threw up at school on Wednesday and then stayed home Thursday and Friday. She seemed much better all weekend but appears to be getting a cold as of this evening.
Dad's not so bad...
The last few months have been kind of rough from the perspective of being the choice parent. Long ago, Sydney used to alternate who she wanted. One day, it was all Meghan. The next, it was all me. One day it was Nana. For the last few months, however, it's been all Meghan. I could basically do no right. After spending some time with Syd at the park a few weeks ago and spending much of Thursday and Friday with her, I'm now getting lots of hugs, kisses, and snuggling. I've probably heard "I love you" twice a day for the last 3 or 4. It's really nice to be back in her good graces. Hopefully it will hold.
Cartoons
Sydney was on the biggest Thomas and Friends kick for a long time. Then she just stopped asking to watch it. At one point she was watching the show on TV, then downloading clips from youtube on our tablet. She couldn't get enough. Then I bought 4 full length Thomas movies and her interest immediately dropped. I will say that while she was sick, we watched a lot of Thomas, but that interest seems to be waning.
The other thing we've been watching a little of is Tom & Jerry. I initially showed it to her because I was looking for something funny without anything scary in it. At first, the violence really bothered her, but I guess that she eventually realized that neither of them ever really gets hurt and it's just silly. Anyway, we watched a lot of Tom & Jerry while she was sick.
Playing with Baby Emmett
Baby Emmett is Sydney's favorite doll. Baby Emmett is also a girl. We have birthday parties for Baby Emmett on a fairly regular basis and Baby Emmett sometimes turns 1, 2, 3, or 4. Often, we find that Baby Emmett gets in trouble by doing many of the things that Sydney gets in trouble for. Sydney then gives her a talking to or puts her in time out. Watching Sydney act this out is interesting and slightly odd. Oddest of all however is when Sydney can't find Baby Emmett. She'll walk around the house calling "Emmett? Where are you?".
Clothes
Sydney still won't wear jeans but has a pair for 4T jeans that look bedazzled. They are very cute and I actually got her to wear them for awhile one day, but she insisted that she change because they were too long. Based on that criteria alone, it's unlikely that jeans are going to work anytime soon. 3T jeans would probably be the right length but would be too small around the waist. Right now, Meghan is buying her 5T dresses and 4T leggings/shorts.
In other unrelated clothing news, I got Sydney dressed the other morning and before she left she demanded that Meghan let her change into a different dress. Apparently she was concerned that she was going to get into trouble at school if she showed up in a dress without leggings or pantyhose (in the end she wore a different dress without leggings or pantyhose). Meghan and Sydney confirmed with both Sydney's teacher and the director upon arrival that she did NOT have to wear leggings or pantyhose. We're not sure where she got the idea in her head. We suspect that someone didn't get to go outside on a cold day because of it but who knows.
Quotes
"You don't go to school to play, you go to school to learn!"
That's what Sydney came back with when I was giving her a talk about enjoying being 3 because she got to play with her friends at school.
"You're not un-serious"
No idea where she got the "un", but "un-serious" is part of Sydney's vernacular.
"You're just kidding"
Sydney now senses my sarcasm and calls me on it.
Pictures
I need to post some pictures but haven't been keeping up with the picture taking as well as in the past. Sydney also now tries to smile for pictures which means that 9 out of 10 shots have some less than flattering facial expression. I'll get pics up eventually.
Tantrums
The "terrible two" tantrums seem to be subsiding. ...that's good.
While we don't advocate Sydney swearing, she did something that we couldn't help giggling about a few weeks back. When Sydney gets mad and is getting ready to throw a tantrum, she often tells us she's going to do something. Example, "I'm a kick and scream." "I'm a cry all night." "Then I'm a not going to be your friend." Etc. I don't recall the exact situation, but out of her mouth came, "Then I'm a go in the bathroom and say dammit!". *walks into the bathroom and closes door* "Dammit... Dammit... Dammit" Meghan and I just started at each other laughing.
The other super silly tantrum event that comes to mind is taking off her pants and underwear. Why, I have NO idea. On perhaps two or three occasions, Sydney got completely mad at us, took off her pants, and threw her underwear at us. Again, once she was out of sight, we were laughing about that one. "I'm a throw my underwear at you!"
Writing
Sydney is learning to write at school. At this point though, her letters can appear in any order or orientation. She wrote her name backwards and upside down at a restaurant last night while we were waiting for our food. Other times she runs out of room and just sticks letters where ever there is room. Still, she's picking it up and you can actually decipher what she writes much of the time.
Counting
Sydney can now count to 40 unassisted. For awhile, she was consistently skipping a few numbers and repeating others. I also always got a kick out of "Eleventeen" which she threw in once or twice on the way to 20.
Reading
More recently, Sydney has taken an interest in how everything is spelled. She wants to make words with her magnetic letters. She wants to know how everything is spelled. A couple weeks back, she and I spent a solid hour going through a deck of 80 flash cards and spelling each word. ...we used these same flash cards to teach her what things were called when she was maybe 2.
Tonight she wanted something else to do on the tablet, and I found a phonics program. She was extremely interested but got tired because bedtime was approaching. I suspect that she could actually learn this if we spent some time on it.
Shapes
While Sydney and I were building with blocks the other day, I built some kind of 5 sided tower. Sydney looks at it, thinks for a minute, and says,
-- "That looks like a pentagon."
-- I looked at her blankly, and then said, "Actually, it is a pentagon."
-- She then say's, "it's kind of like a hexagon."
-- "Sydney, how many sides does a hexagon have?"
-- "6"
I wouldn't have expected a 3 year old to identify pentagons and hexagons.