And I'm just now blogging about it. So sue me.
The Party
Anyhoo, we had an awesome birthday party that was WAY MORE low key than the previous 2. We did Tinkerbell and her fairy friends theme. The cupcakes were made by yours truly with colorful sprinkles in them (like Funfetti cake) and pastel icing. There were also fairy rings on top for the kids to wear after they ate the cupcake.
There were minimal decorations because, let's face it, kids don't really care about decorations. We had a Tinkerbell Happy Birthday banner and some paper lanterns. That's it. Layla (Laura and Lee) was nice enough to let us borrow her small bounce house as there were only 7 kids there. They all had fun and Jayna loved all of her gifts and her friends being there.
The party favors were wands and fairy wings for the girls and Bobble glasses and a catching game for the boys. Although...everyone played with everything. :)
I was horrible at taking the pictures this year...Chris took most of them. I've been working on being in the action more which automatically means less pictures on my part. I loved playing with the kids and talking with some friends.
And the collage:
We had lots of fairy and princess gifts. One of her favorite things is her Viewmaster thingy with the Beauty and the Beast reels. She looks at those pictures for the longest time and talks about how the Beast turns nice. :)
The Pediatrician Visit
At 3 years old, Jayna is 37.25 inches tall and weighs 36 pounds. She is thinning out!! Her BMI is in the 86th percentile. She's still big, but not too big. She is doing all of the normal things that 3-year-olds do and her speech is even a little advanced at this point.
I was told that we're doing everything that we should be doing and that we're doing a good job. That is great considering that I feel like I screw her up a little more with each passing day. She even answered almost all the doctor's questions on her own...which was very awesome and very sad at the same time.
The ENT Visit
We visited the ENT earlier this week and got good news. Both of Jayna's ear drums are healthy, without tubes and doing what they're supposed to!! NO MORE ENT VISITS!! I've been waiting for this day for a long time. I'm trying not to worry about something else going wrong.
The Ophthalmologist Visit
A couple of weeks ago, we went to the eye doctor. Jayna's exotropia isn't getting any better with the occlusion therapy (long words for "eye patch"). We are continuing the eye patch until January when she goes back for a reevaluation. If it isn't any better by then, she'll most likely have to have eye muscle surgery on both of her eyes. It is minimally invasive and not painful. But it's still surgery and she's still my baby. I suppose we'll see how it goes.
Sense of Humor
The kid is hilarious. She has recently picked up on the notion of teasing. One day we were sitting on the couch together and this was our conversation:
Me: Let's cuddle for a minute before school, Jaynie.
Jayna: I don't wanna cuddle, mommy.
Me: (sad face) Awww!!! But why not?
Jayna: Because your mustache tickles me.
She then broke out into belly laughter and didn't stop laughing for probably 30 seconds. She then looked up at me and said, "I just teasing you, mommy." (She got that from Beauty and the Beast when Belle's dad drinks out of Chip the teacup.)
When she was about 18 months old and I would help her get undressed for bath, I'd pull her shirt over her head and say, "I am cornholio!!" You know, like Beavis and Butthead. I stopped doing that over a year ago. Very recently, she'll pull her shirt over her head and run through the house saying, "I am cornholio!" I never thought she'd remember that from so long ago!
She LOVES to do the "Party on, Wayne." Party on, Garth." Exchange. She is overall a very funny kid and keeps us on our toes and laughing.
Emotions
I am of the opinion that three-year-olds are actually COMPOSED of emotions. And then when they turn 4, they grow bones and organs and stuff. It seems that is all there is to Jayna some days. And she can go from the happiest person alive to the angriest kid ever in about 20 seconds. She is quick to laugh, but she is even quicker to become frustrated and sad or angry. We've been talking a lot with her about how most of the time when she is frustrated, if she'd ask for help and use words instead of whining, things would get better. We're slowly and very wearily working through it.
As you all probably know, Jayna has an imaginary friend, Babe. Babe seems to be the target for many of Jayna's emotions and I can't decide if that's good or bad. One part of me thinks that I shouldn't let her do that because I don't want her "taking out her emotions" on unsuspecting REAL people later in life. The other part of me thinks that it's just her way of working out the emotions on her own.
Jayna has become pretty angry lately. At first I, of course, blamed all of that on myself. I was doing something wrong. But she is really just now learning anger and how to deal with it. It's rough for me, but it's even worse for her. The best I can do is just help her work through it.
Behavior
Nine times out of 10, Jayna is the best kid I could ask for. But when she isn't, SHE IS NOT. Absolutely not. When something goes wrong, something goes TERRIBLY wrong. I've been working on my reaction to her also. There are times when I can very effectively predict how she will react to something...and when that happens, I get downright pissed. And I react more strongly than I normally would.
That being said, we're also working on what works for punishment. Currently, we take things away and/or issue a time out. Let me tell you, folks: TIME OUTS DO NOT WORK. Hands down. Making a kid be quiet when they really just want to be upset for a minute is ridiculous. I've recently changed the process of time out and I make her go to a different room until she can stop with her fit and be calm. It works WAY better. For now. The taking things away does seem to work. We automatically take away television because she doesn't need to watch that much television anyway. But we also take away whatever is her favorite toy at that moment. And we take it for an entire day. Everytime she thinks about playing with that toy, she'll say, "I got my dressup (or whatever) taken away, right mommy? Because I screamed at you (or whatever). I will play with it tomorrow." It seems to be sinking in.
Growing Up
Having a kid who is 3 is soooo much easier and more fun than having a baby. THERE! I said it!! Babies are not my favorite thing. I like them, but I don't want anymore. I love the fact that Jayna sleeps all through the night, is potty trained and likes to be a part of whatever we're doing as a family. She's even stopped taking naps (as of about a week ago), so we are much more free to go and do things on a whim without having to worry about being back home for nap.
In short, 3-year-olds are simultaneously much easier and much more difficult. But all you parents out there already knew that. I feel very fortunate to have a happy and healthy child who loves me dearly. :)
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