3 Years Old

Hailey Rian Buckner, you are 3 years old.  

Actually 3 years + 2 and a half months.  

I'm not sure why I've procrastinated so long on doing your 3 year blog post.  You just keep doing new and funny things every day and I always think "Oh, I want to include that!".  Plus it's such a daunting idea to try to sum up a 3 year old into a concise post - I'm surely going to leave something out.  Ugh - I just need to face the fact that you are going to continue to grow and change and do new and different things every day, and there is no possible way to record and document every single thing.  That's hard for me.  But alas, here is my best synopsis of your sweet, beautiful life at 3 years (+ 2 and a half months) :)

Easy things first!

• 33 pounds (72%)
• 3 feet, 1 inch (42%)
• 3T and 4T clothing
• 7.5 or 8 shoes 
• Hair: Blonde
• Eyes: Blue
• Teeth: 20
• Nicknames: H, Hail, H'ie, Peanut, Angel
• You are potty trained!  You still wear pull-ups overnight, but that's it.  You are such a big girl!

Favorites:

• Breakfast foods: Oatmeal, fruit, jelly bread
• Lunch foods: Yogurt, fruit, PBJ, crackers
• Favorite fruits: mango, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, blueberries
• Snacks: Popcorn, apple with peanut butter, raw/dry oatmeal (you call them "clean oats" and, for the record, I think it's a pretty weird snack), green smoothies, graham crackers, frozen peas (strange, too, but you like it...)
• Dinner foods: Applesauce, green beans, plain pasta, black beans, raw spinach leaves
• Desserts/"Special Treats": ice cream (chocolate only), cookies, and graham crackers.  You love any chocolate in general (like mommy!) - for your birthday you requested chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate ice cream!  
• Just a note about eating in general: You are still extremely picky.  However, we are slowly (very slowly) but surely making progress in this area.  You will now try new foods.  You usually only take that one bite, but the fact that you try new things is good enough for me.  You still don't eat any meat or potatoes and while you used to willingly eat white cheese (not yellow!), you now don't like any cheese at all.  Sigh.  
• Beverages: Milk, water, and apple juice

• TV Shows: Clifford.  That has been your #1 favorite since you started watching TV around 16 months old.  Other favorites have come and gone, but your love for Clifford has stayed true.  Other favorites lately have been Doc McStuffins, Bubble Guppies, PAW Patrol, Caillou, and Super Why.

• Movies:  We have our wonderful Super Aunt Di to thank for introducing you to the world of Disney movies.  We had a few "Disney Dates" with her recently and she would bring over 2-3 movies at a time!  You LOVED Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Tarzan, Mulan, and Tangled (Rapunzel).  And let's not forget about the Frozen craze that is going on right now.  There's even a chance your daddy and I love that movie as much as you do {or maybe more!}.  You love to dress up as Queen Elsa with your "Elsa cape" and crown, high heels, and wand.  And we can't forget about the "Elsa braid"! 

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• Color: Red
• Toy:  Disney Princess figurines, Little People, baby dolls

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• Play activity: Dressing up, playing with your dollhouse, and playing tea party in your room.  You are constantly using your imagination - it is so much fun to watch your mind at work!

• Learning activity:  Painting, Play-doh, and activities in your Busy Box.  Plus you're starting to draw smiley faces and stick figures.

• Animal:  Dogs - any size or type!  You have no fear.
• Attachments:  You like to sleep with different baby dolls each night, and lately you've taken a liking to your taggie blanket.  You still don't have (and have never had) one particular lovey that you absolutely can't sleep without.  This makes more sense to me now that you're older and I've seen more of your easygoing, calm personality.  You're a "roll with the punches" kind of kid and you don't get ruffled or upset too easily.  I would certainly say that you got that trait from me.  
• Song: Anything from Frozen.  You are overheard singing songs from that movie almost daily.  I love to hear you sing your version of the words... such as "Let it go..... Let it go.... Pocket full of riiiice!"
• Sport:  "Binastics" and dancing :)  You also love to kick the soccer ball outside and play baseball with daddy.  

 

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• Books:  Bunny Cakes, Caps for Sale, Pinkalicious, Ballet Kitty, Curious George goes to the Chocolate Factory, Ten Red Apples, Lion King, Make Way for Ducklings
• Best Friends:  Kenzie Klemme and "Cousins" as she calls them - Collin and Keaton!  I would also consider your sister Addison a best friend.

Sleeping:

You take 1 nap every day right after lunch.  It's usually around 1 and a half to 2 hours long.  

We start the bath/bedtime routine at 7pm each night but you rarely fall asleep before 8pm.  You have become a pro at sweet-talking your way out of bed a few times before actually settling down to sleep.  Excuses range from having to go potty again... to claiming that your sock fell off... or needing a drink of water... or saying your covers fell off... or my personal favorite, "but mommy, I just want to clean my room!"  Sometimes, though, your stalling tactics are sweet things like wanting to give more hugs and kisses or just saying you miss me.  While those may be excuses, I can't help but give in on occasion and go lay with you for a little while - just chatting about our day and our plans for the next day while I stroke your soft blond hair and smooch your sweet cheeks.  Your sweetness and innocence are so special and endearing to me.  What's not so endearing is your pre-6am wake up calls!  You have never slept past 6:30am a day in your life.  On average, your morning wake up is between 5:45 - 6:10am.  7 days a week.  

Hailey is...

Full of life.  Happy, sweet, caring, loving, thoughtful, calm, independent, obedient, dramatic, talkative.  She is not lacking in the personality department - that is for sure!

She follows the rules and expects other kids to do the same.  That might just be a nice way of saying that she is a tattle-tail :)  "Uh oh, mama!  Her's not supposed to be touchin' that!"  We remind her often to worry about herself and let others do the same.  

Slow and thoughtful.  She takes her time with things and doesn't rush.  I have learned to stop asking her to hurry up because she is truly not dawdling or wasting time - she just takes her time with things, is careful, and wants things to be "just right".  This includes her love for cleaning up, lining up her babies on her pillow before bed, or getting dressed for the day.  It takes her at least 7 minutes to pick out a shirt and shorts to wear.  

Funny and dramatic.  So dramatic.  The faces she makes and the stories she tells.  So over the top.  She keeps Rian and I laughing all day long.  Partially because half of the time the things she says make no sense, but she is so serious about it.  Like out of the blue she'll say, "I went to the store last week! Keaton was there!  But he fell down and got a booboo and I broke my head!  Ouch!  And then I had an apple yesterday.  Yeah!  I did that!"......... What?

A chatterbox.  She has questions about everything, all day long.  We are in the midst of the "why??" stage and we hear that word probably 20 times a day.  She wants to know where we are going, what we're going to buy, who's going to be there, how far away the store is, etc.  I love how inquisitive she is about the world around her. 

Independent and Brave.  She has to do everything herself.  Everything.  If we pick her up and put her into the bathtub she will get angry and say "No, I want to do it!" Then get out and get back in by herself.  Same with getting into her carseat, onto the potty, into her chair at the table, etc.  And we are now officially to the point with potty training that she can do the whole potty routine by herself.  She goes into the bathroom, uses her step stool to turn on the light, moves the stool to the potty, climbs on and goes by herself, wipes herself, pulls up her pants, moves her stool to turn on the water, then washes and dries her own hands, then turns off the light.  It may take 20 minutes to do all that, but I'm so proud of her for wanting to do it.

Caring, Observant, and Loving.  She is never shy to give hugs and kisses... to anyone... whether she knows them well or not!  This is sometime a problem out in stores where if she sees a little kid she will say "Hi!  I'm Hailey!  What's your name? Is that your mommy?  This is MY mommy"  Then try to touch that child or give her a hug.  One time in her ballet class, she went down the line and hugged and kissed each girl.  I just shook my head and apologized to the other parents :)  Keeping our hands to our self is another lesson we are working on!  She means so well though.  She is concerned about others and watches out for them.  "I'm gonna put this pillow here for Addie so her can't fall."  "Daddy, you need your shoes!  It's hot outside!"  "Uh Oh!  Bucky needs food!  I'll get it for him."  

She is just an all around sweet, smart, funny, kind girl.  She knows all the letters of the alphabet, can count {roughly} to 16, knows all her colors and shapes, and even has 3 prayers memorized.  She says our dinner prayer each night and we all say the Our Father and Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep together each night before bed and she knows and recites them perfectly.  And then she says goodnight to our two angels in heaven, Grandma Helen and Aunt Jen, thanks them for watching over us, and thanks Jesus for another beautiful day.  She amazes us every single day and we absolutely recognize how lucky we are to have such wonderful child. 

Happy 3rd Birthday, Hailey!  Mommy & Daddy love you so much.

Here are the best pictures that most accurately depict our sweet & sassy 3 year old: