Anna is 3!

Three seems like such a magical age to me. I loved the baby stage, and I'm hoping the 3-4 stage is easier than the 1-2 stage. I'm not going to lie...I've been waiting for her to be 3. I try to live in the moment, but on some of those pulling-my-hair-out moments, I couldn't help but to dream of the future when life hopefully becomes a little easier. I've come to the realization that some things will get easier as she gets older, BUT she is who she is, and a short temper and little patience is not going to change overnight (or ever) just because she's 3. So we will work with it!I love my daughter so much for who she is and all she can do. Here are some highlights:

Anna loves:

• purple


• Pink Baby


• kitty cats


• Hello-Kitty


• Barbie


• princesses (mainly Belle)


• helping


• shoes


• skirts and dresses


• dress-ups


• choosing


• being outside


• doing things by herself


• books


• being the boss


• babies


• Bryan and me


• her teacher, Ms. Michelle


• her friends, Kiley and Gracie


• her aunts, Jen and Jami


• her cousins, Jackson, Drew, Lilly, Zach, and Brady


• all her grandparents


• hugs and kisses


• junk food


• chips and salsa


• go-gurt


• pancakes


• cheeseburgerfries (that's how she says it, like it's one word)


• bags, purses, and pockets


• flip flops


• sleeping in my and Bryan's bed


• laughing


• play hide-and-seek


• talking on the phone


• playing on the iPad or iPhone


• cereal


• Target


• routine


• when things are "the same, yay" (jump up and down now)


• running


• jumping on beds


• Monkey Joes


• singing


• finding A for Anna
  

Anna can:

• 
  identify her capital letters (except for V,W, sometimes H and T)


• name some months and days


• say her birthday is in April


• identify the weather


• ask for help (this is huge, because she can do it without screaming and crying when things go wrong)


• play games


• play pretend


• tell how to get to Meijer and Target, home, Tots', the Y, and probably other places


• tell left and right (not 100%, but good for a little kid)


• dress herself


• pick out clothes


• identify colors (8 pack Crayolas plus white and pink)


• identify shapes (circle, square, triangle, hexagon, diamond, heart, star, rectangle)


• point and count with 1 to 1 correspondence, but the actual numbers aren't quite in order. It usually sounds something like this, "one, two, fwee, eight, nine, ten, yeyen, eighteen, nineteen." We're still working on it :)


• understand consequences and makes the better choice (not 100% here either, but that's ok)


• sing songs and tell me other things she's learned at school


• make up her own songs


• use her words to tell us she's hungry or sick or that she's ready to leave
  

I love my girl. She is funny, spirited, and so loving. I'm lucky to be her mother.

Today I am thankful for:

• 
  a great family that came down for Anna's party and called today


• cupcakes


• sunny warm weather


• open windows


• a loving baby