Parker - 3 Years Old

Parker's third birthday was last week and we had a lot of fun celebrating. Grandma and Grandpa drove in from St. Louis for a long weekend.  

On Parker's actual birthday (Friday), Greg and I went to work in the morning while G&G took Parker to a make-up gymnastics class at The Little Gym.  She did great, walking right in to a different class with a different teacher.  Then, I met them for lunch and then Greg met us for a boat ride on the Erie Canal.  The boat is called the Sam Patch and does a 90 minute cruise through a lock on the canal.  It was a very nice day with leaves just starting to change.

Friday evening we had pizza for dinner and cupcakes from Dolce Cupcakery that Parker helped pick out earlier that afternoon.  Papa G and Sandy joined us and it was a nice time.

The next day we got ready for Parker's big party.  We rented a bounce house but didn't tell her about it in advance, in case we needed to cancel due to weather.  It rained in the morning, but cleared up enough for it to arrive around lunch time.  

We just invited our immediate family and our small group of friends who all have kids.  Even though Parker is the only girl in the group, she had so much fun bouncing with her friends.

They left the bounce house overnight so after everyone left, Greg and I had a very fun (and exhausting) bounce session with Parker before bedtime.  Then she got to use it again Sunday morning.  

Following my sister's lead, we did our first annual birthday interview.  It would seem Parker is a little confused about her age and tells some people she is three, some she is four, and some even five!  

Parker is an energetic, sweet girl.  She loves to give hugs and kisses to her brother and always talks about her family (cousins, Grandparents).  Despite our efforts to avoid princess-mania, she officially has it.  Most of the day while we are at home, she is wearing her "princess dress" or one of her frilly dress up skirts.  She has also taken to wanting to wear her hair "long", which means not up in a ponytail.  We have acquiesced, but hope that she also continues to love playing sports, being outside, riding her bike and other non-girly things.  

Parker has no problem communicating her wants & needs, her vocabulary is pretty impressive.  She is getting better at using her manners.  While "thank you" has been pretty consistent for awhile, we are working on "May I have...please?" rather than "I need...".  

Parker loves books. We still read two books to her every night at bedtime and often times she will sit down with a book to just look at the pictures, or if it is one she is familiar with, sometimes read her own interpretation aloud.  She is also very into painting or drawing right now.  She likes to color a picture in completely, leaving no white left on the page.  Here is her first self-portrait:

Parker continues to do great at school.  Her favorite job to be assigned is Line Leader and she loves her weekly swim lesson.  She tells us each Monday how she went under the water but did not want to jump off the side of the pool to the teacher.  

The potty training is progressing.  She has been wearing underwear rather than pull-ups for over a week.  She has had some accidents, but does pretty well. We put on a diaper at bedtime still because I am not sure a pull-up will hold it all. 

Every day I am amazed at what a beautiful little girl she is becoming.  Her baby chub is making way to gorgeous little muscles.  She is going to be a looker! 

We had Parker's 3-year check-up later in the month and she is 33.6 lbs (90%) and 37.5" tall (75%).  They did a vision exam along with all the normal tests and questions.  They also took her blood pressure (88/54) and calculated her BMI (16.8), which are both within the healthy ranges.  That's our healthy girl!