Orelia at Age Three

Three is fun.  We are loving age three and all the laughter that comes with it.

She's laughing.  We're laughing.  Everybody's laughing.

Right around her birthday her language took another turn for the better and she started speaking in more nuanced phrases that she picks up everyday.  Now she isn't just "speaking in sentences" like she was at age two, but she's speaking in sentences closer to how an adult would speak.

She still has a few phrases that are quintessentially Orelia and make me smile.

"From I like to."  - Her response when I ask her why she did/does something

"He wants sister?" - What she asks when Bennett is crawling towards her/on top of her

"He loves me all the way?" - What she asks when she wants to make sure that Bennett loves her as much as she loves him

"That's gi-gusting!!" - That's disgusting!  Yuck!  This one is used frequently and every chance she gets.

She can now throw and catch and kick pretty well.  She likes to practice these skills on her own time and is occasionally very interested in a game of catch, but usually ignores the balls laying all over the yard.

She can also successfully ride a tricycle pretty well.  She likes doing it at preschool best where she can roam freely and needn't worry about staying on the sidewalk or anything practical like that.

She continues to be a smart lady, but she isn't particularly academically inclined.  Some kids love memorizing, and that is just not her.  When she wants to learn something she will, but until then she isn't interested.

Her internal math skills have gotten pretty good lately.  She can do some simple addition and subtraction in her head like how many more stickers she needs to get a reward or how many more bites she has to eat to get dessert.  The essentials.

I love that she knows how we do things in our house.  She knows where things go and is happy (usually) to put them away when I ask her to.  We are not an overly orderly family, but she knows where her shoes need to be put and where her dirty laundry goes.

She knows she has to sit in her place until she is excused and she is pretty good with the pleases and thank yous.  It's amazing how much nicer a request is on my ears if accompanied by a little manners.

She shows as much spunk as ever and makes us and those around her laugh at her antics.

She can come up with her own fun nowadays, which is nice.  She lately likes to pretend to be sick or take pretend naps (how thrilling, I know), and likes to play in her kitchen a lot.

She's an affectionate girl and loves to kiss, hug, and cuddle everyone in our family.  She loves hugging her friends, though they are usually less inclined.

She loves princesses and Star Wars, so we are basically buying everything in the Target dollar bins these days.

She and John have now seen all six Star Wars movies together, and she wants to read her Star Wars books every day.  Her favorite topic if conversation is to have Daddy tell her "how Darth Vader gets burned in the fire."  HA!

She likes to "kill" Darth Vader with her light saber or her magic wand.  She is always triumphant.

I think she loves the complexity of Star Wars and the "big kid" nature of it all, but she's very much a princess kind of gal too.  She wears a dress every day (as well as a cardigan for every hour of the day including bed time) and has lots of opinions about her own clothes as well as those around her.  A tiara is a common accessory and she can relate a lot to Fancy Nancy (still one of her favorite series).

Orelia is the nickname-giver in our house, so somehow she remains without one.  Dad is sometimes "Dadum" or "Dum Dum" (which she doesn't even get).  She calls me "Mar" occasionally, though I have no idea why.  Bennett has changed from "Boosky" to "Buddy."  Orelia is just Orelia.  She is such a little person now and we love watching her grow more into her personality every day.  We are so lucky to have her in our lives.