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Dear Vera: 32, 33, 34, 35 Mo. & 3 Years Old

By Dawn Sailors In Dear Vera, Offspring (Baby things)

Dear Vera,

I’ve been such a slacker lately with these ‘monthly’ posts for you. (Is it really already time to take 37 month pics?!) But such is life. Your dad is finally out of basketball mode now and you’re so happy to have him around more in the evenings. For a while you and I got to spend quite a bit of time as just the two of us, and at first it was a rough transition. You are quite the little independent, full of stubborn ideas of your own. I had a hard time making it through a day without a toddler meltdown from you for a few weeks there. I tend to want you to do exactly what needs to be done right away, and get frustrated when things don’t go as efficiently as I want them to because you have ideas of your own. But we found the secret- for us at least. You’re a toddler. It’s that simple. And I love it. I realized that it wasn’t really you that was causing the stress in most situations, it was me. You’re still so little, even though I tend to be fooled by the fact that you act older sometimes, and I expect a lot. That can be a good thing when it means you have a great vocabulary and are very polite, but I’ve realized that sometimes it’s too much for a toddler. You  are still learning, and part of that means trying things out on your own in your own way. Once I figured that out, life got a whole lot easier for everyone. That, combined with some positive reinforcement for being so helpful and such a good listener when you really need to be, was all it took.

Your language skills and attitude have been making every day hilarious lately. More than one person has commented on your ability to have an actual phone conversation (asking and responding to questions in full sentences), and I never know what to expect out of your little mouth. You like to test new phrases out by trying them and then asking “Can I say that?” Sometimes yes, sometimes no. For example, you may not say “Oh my Lord!” You can, however, say “Boom shaka-laka!” to your little heart’s content. :) When you responded to a question the other day with “Duh, Mom!   …Can I say that?” I had to stop laughing before I could tell you that it wasn’t very polite, but you could use it sparingly.

Today you told me you were going to use your wand (a toy you love) to make your dad disappear because he didn’t clean up after himself. Then you quickly changed your mind. “No, I wouldn’t do that, because I love daddy.” It’s so cute to see your little mind figure things out and come to your conclusions.

You’re officially in your new room for a few months now, and you love it. You call it your polka-dot room, and are getting pretty good at going to bed. You still like to get up and open your door at least 4-5 times a night for various things. Like telling us good night, getting one extra hug, requesting a pair of socks or ice in your water. But after you have exhausted your ideas for postponing the inevitable you close your own door and hop in bed without tears until at least 7-8am, so I am thrilled with that.

You love to read books (well, be read to) and do puzzles, and I try to let you do both as much as possible. You also love your dolls, and have at least 5 on your bed any given night. We finally took you to see Frozen, your first movie at a theater (the movie heater as you call it), and you absolutely loved it. You were so animated in your reactions and since then you’ve been running around singing all the songs and acting out different scenes from the movie and making your dad play Princess Anna while you play Ice Queen Elsa. You’re becoming quite the actress, and even have the hand movements and gestures down.

Probably the most exciting thing for you right now is that you’ll be getting a new baby cousin and a new baby brother or sister very soon. You keep telling me random facts about babies, like they are wiggly, and they don’t have teeth, so they can only have milk. You also like to tell me all the things you’re going to share with the baby, like any old toys or clothes that you’ve grown out of. You’ll randomly pat me on the stomach and say “Hello baby! I love you!” or something equally as cute, and you regularly ask me how long you have to wait until the baby is here. Even though we won’t find out the gender until next week (so exciting!), you insist it is a girl and that you want a sister “…like you and Dania are sisters!” When I tell you that it might be a boy and ask if that would be ok too, you usually respond with “Yeah. My dad’s a boy.” So I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

Other than that, you’re still getting taller and thinner by the day. Your eyes still have that strange grayish color that looks brown one day and dark blue the next. Your hair is fuller, but still not long. (Even though you want it to be long and braided like Elsa’s.) You don’t, however, particularly like me to fix your hair. I chalk that up to not having much for so long, but we’re working on the idea that if you want long hair you have to take care of it. The idea of cutting it short is usually enough motivation to get you to sit still long enough for at least a comb, if not a pony-tail. Speaking of sitting still, you have so much energy! We’re planning to get you into an activity (probably gymnastics) this summer to help wrangle some of that. You love pretending to dance, jumping on your trampoline, and doing somersaults and other tricks, so I think that is something you’d really enjoy. Plus I can’t wait to see you in a tiny leotard. Hahaha..

We love you, little girl!
Love, Mom