Parker - 3 1/2 Years Old

Parker is officially closer to 4 than 3!  She amazes us every day with the things she is learning.  Parker loves to be independent and also loves to help with things.  She is good at watching out for her baby brother, i.e. the door to the basement is open and he notices it and she will beeline and shut the door before he can get there.  Parker has learned out to zip up her jacket on her own.  Often times she will change into clothes in the morning before she comes downstairs (always putting dirty clothes in her hamper).  She is fully potty-trained and stays dry during naps now although we do still use a pull-up for nighttime.  

Parker is very good about using her manners.  So many times she will say "Thank you for cooking this yummy dinner, Mommy"...just out of the blue!  

Parker can now write her name with no help and can write her last name with a little reminding of how letters go.  She likes for us to just trace the letter on the paper so she can remember.  She loves to color and draw and draws pictures of people all the time.  She is a bit of a perfectionist and will get upset if she colors outside of the lines.  We are working on understanding that mistakes are OK.

On the top one, Parker wrote our names and I drew the heart at her request

Play doh popsicles

picnic with Graham

drawing at school during naptime

We are kind of in between the stage of needing the afternoon nap and not needing it.  If she takes a nap, then bedtime is difficult in that she will lay awake, tossing & turning (occasionally getting out of bed) until 10:00 pm.  If she doesn't have a nap, she can be a bit crabby by bedtime.  Her teachers have changed the strategy for her naps at school by either letting her stay up and drawing (see above) or reading in her cot or limiting the nap to an hour.  

This video is pretty great.  Parker was in the living room and I could hear her talking so I went to listen and she was pretending to talk on the phone.  

Parker loves her books.  We always read two at bedtime and she also loves to just sit and look at the pictures.  Some stories she has memorized and she will "read" the story as she flips through.  Here is a recent bedtime story: