Jaime Lynne

 

Jaime is getting so grown up.  She has her own friends and interests and is almost past tantrum stage.  I hope?  
We moved her to the bedroom downstairs and gave her a stepstool to reach her clothes in the closet.  She loves the independence and insists on picking her clothes, retrieving them and dressing all by herself.
She begs to go to Scouts with Justin and he often consents. She knows all of the boys' names (better than I do!) and points them out as they pass the sacrament.  She BEGS to spend time with her friends and cousins.  When she's around them she forgets about me and disappears into a make believe world of play for hours.  Last time her cousins were over they pretended to have a sleep over, and had me come down to tell them a story, sing a song and do prayers.

This happened.  Again.  See last time.

It was at home, with the scissors she got for Christmas.  On the day my visiting teachers said these exact words: "Wow, you're brave to let her use scissors!"  I walked away for a second to get Vida a diaper and change of clothes and it happened.  I was more than a bit frustrated.  We're not doing a pixie cut again.  I just comb a top layer over it.  Her hair is just now getting it's length back and I won't do it again.  I've also forbidden her from using scissors.

Her new stage of grownupness is full of questions and exploration.  I love it.  I love seeing her stop, furrow her brow and stare off into the distance.  The "Why?" stage wasn't too bad or too long, and I really enjoy explaining things to her.  She impresses me with how smart she is.

She's gotten into Dora, Diego and Yo Gabba Gabba and will tell me about the things she learns.  The other day she was pulling up her panties after going to the bathroom and said "Mom, my panties are amarilla!"  She'll also give me lectures about how it's important to brush your teeth, or explain to me what a planet is.  I wonder where she gets that incessant need to share what she's learned....hmmm.....

My favorite thing that she does is pick up my verbal ticks.  She says "yer awesome!" and "that was a great job!" when I do something good, and "yep, of course!"when I ask her to do something.  Grown up verbal ticks sound crazy cute out of a 3 year old mouth.  She calls Vida by all of the nicknames I constantly make up.  I've explained to her that "my work" is helping her and Vida, cleaning up, making food, doing laundry, etc.  So now, whenever she notices me doing something like that she says "is that your work, mom?"

She loves to make me laugh and entertain Vida.  My favorite is when she entertains Vida because she know's it's what I need at the moment.  I think she's taken it upon herself to be the tension breaker.  She won't think twice about telling someone to "be nice!" and during tense moments is known to break into songs that go something like this:

Don't be mad,

Everyone be happy.

Just be nice.

Everything is okaaaayy.....

She's still highly emotional, and still storms off to her room screaming if something doesn't go her way.  We're working on having her talk it out instead of whining or storming off, but it's a work in progress.  Keeping up with the stages and adapting teaching/parenting styles is a challenge that we're braving for the first time with Jaime and there are good days and bad days.  Someday I know I'll look back and remember how cute she was at this stage and probably long for the simplicity of it all.  For now, I'll just try to keep living in the moment with her - being the monster that chases, the horse/crab/koala that gives rides (yes, I do all of those, and yes, they all give different kinds of rides), the home ec teacher, personal assistant, nurse, life coach, confidant, cuddle buddy and friend.