Marissa is 3

I can't keep up with this little girl.  "Lil' Miss Take Care of Herself" is full of cheer, adventure, and spunk.

Her third year (age 2) was "fun" (*insert happy yet mischievous laughter here*).  Marissa's eagerness, her imagination, and her happy little voice is very entertaining, yet her busy-body nature is exhaustive.  I love the age two and a half--seeing their physical and verbal abilities catch up to their desires.  If they want something, they can often either get it or communicate what they want.  I like to see this as a blessing, even if it meant I didn't get much done around the house because I could rarely leave her to entertain herself for fear of where she'll go or what she would get into when I'm not paying close enough attention.  Like scissors.  Or flooding the bathroom sink.  Walking down the street (only happened once--I learned my lesson).  I have to put dirty knives up on the windowsill behind the sink where she can't reach in case she wants to use the sink, or worse, wash them for me.  She likes to brush her own teeth, get her own snacks, and put on her own shoes.  We've re-rolled and wasted a lot of TP.  And she's testing defiance--doing/going/getting what it is she wants even after I tell her no (an age appropriate milestone I'm happy to try to curb now, rather than when she's older, stronger, and smarter).  At least she hasn't seriously attempted to climb out of her crib yet.

I still love the age 2.5, as I did with all my children, but if the above wasn't enough to wear me out, my parenting was tested in 2-3 month phases of:
--teething that meant shopping through Costco with a screaming toddler,
--a hives allergy that left her lethargic and with red scratchy skin (to the point of her drawing blood), that we found no cause of even in blood tests,
--and the pacifier addiction that followed because she deserved soothing from the pain, and she would go help herself to any paci she could find in her crib or in my purse or glove box of the car.

CAPTIONS: Happy with her prizes for being good so the doctor could "look at her blood." Napping with socks on her hands so she doesn't scratch herself.  Some of the rash on her body.

We all deserved a party for surviving three years, so for her birthday we went BIG.  We continued our tradition of taking the family to Disneyland for each of their 3rd birthdays, only this year we went a month early instead of a day early because of our schedule and projected crowds during the holidays, and we went for the two-day/two-parks deal.  We enjoyed using our new motorhome at the campground up there and staying the night.  We did day two at California adventure because we had never been there before.  Susan and Bernie camped with us. Bernie relaxed at camp with Daisy while Susan came into the parks with us.  It was helpful having 1:1 adult-child ratio and the kids loved having her there.  Marissa loved the rides at both parks.

Day one was Friday at Disneyland.  Of course the girls all loved Dumbo and the teacups, and Marissa is big enough to ride the carousel horse without anyone holding her.  Grammy stayed outside and took pictures.

Marissa has been very interested in princesses lately, especially Ariel, so when we saw their schedule on the Disney smartphone app, we made a point to be there.  She was all excited, but very nervous when she saw them life size.  She got to see Princesses Aurora and Ariel outside the castle, and then we went across to Fairyland, but she wouldn't go near or even let Tinkerbell look at her.

Addisyn and Piper were brave enough for Matterhorn and Thunder Mountain, and still liked the Toontown coaster.  Marissa napped in the stroller on the way to ToonTown and missed Mickey and Minnie's house, but at least she got to see other characters.  We got to It's A Small World just before dusk, and it was really cool to see the first day of the holiday lights come on just as we came outside from the ride (and hear the crowd "ooooohhh and ahhhhhh" in unison).  We found the Winnie the Pooh ride around after dark (which they loved!) and headed back to the RV park where we were able to watch the fireworks from our site.

California Adventure had lots of little kiddie rides in "Bugs Land" that Marissa loved.  The adults could barely contort our legs into the tiny bumper cars, but the girls had a blast driving them.  Marissa was wide-eyed and loving the Little Mermaid ride, and in the gift shop outside we got a plush Ariel doll for big sisters to give her for her birthday gift.

Marissa also loved the thrill of flying on the Golden Zephyrs high in the sky (mommy did not move her hand off her leg the entire ride!).  Addisyn and Piper got a couple more thrill rides including the giant white "California Screaming"

roller coaster (Piper just barely skimmed the height limit).

On the tame side, we learned how to draw Minnie Mouse at the "Animation Academy" and make still frames appear to move.  Marissa wasn't afraid of the characters today and when she met Pluto, she played with his whiskers, did "nosies", and gave him a big hug!  We were so amazed, we took about 40 pictures of it.  We stayed awake late for the water show and fireworks.

Her REAL birthday happened to be a Friday, and on the same day as the Alpine Parade of Lights so we covered our ears when the old firetrucks honked their way by and admired the creative floats.  The kids all sledded down the man-made snow hill in the shopping center parking lot, and then we headed over to Jacob's house for the cake she helped me bake, and open gifts.  It was a late night.  We let her keep her paci that night.

In the morning we gathered all the paci's we could find and let Marissa wrap them in tissue paper and put in a gift bag to give to Baby Megan.  I had tried weaning her away from the pacifiers after being so reliant on them (hiding them in the zipper compartment of my purse and using distractions as much as possible), but it was a struggle since she'd cry for them and hunt for them.  Despite her protests, and the benefit of using it for a bedtime routine, I was confident she didn't NEED one to self-soothe anymore.  And despite my confidence, I was truly fearful and nervous for weeks in anticipation of going cold-turkey.  Well, my instincts were right and it wasn't so awful.  She only asked for one for a couple of days. Keeping her busy and tired helped.

Perhaps taking the pacifier away made falling asleep for naps harder, but 3 is about the age her sisters stopped daily naps so I didn't worry too much when she started boycotting her afternoon naps.  We still try (unless we are busy or out and about) and tell her to try to sleep or just lay down with her friends (stuffed animals) quietly.  Sometimes it takes her two hours to fall asleep for nap and then takes a long time at bedtime too because she woke up from nap so late (5/6pm).  She will fall asleep much more quickly at night if she missed sleeping that afternoon.  Sometimes she can't fall asleep because she waited for her naptime diaper to make a BM.

She potty trained this year and likes wearing panties now, but has trouble with the physical mechanics of making a poop come out while sitting.  I usually offer her a diaper mid-day for a BM, which I consider a better alternative than risking constipation.  We empty the diaper in the toilet and she happily flushes them "bye-bye."



Marissa has grown and her hair is finally starting to grow now too.  I am proud that I finally got her growth chart painted this year too.

STATS: 
   Height: 37.75" -growth of about 3" (~60%ile)
   Weight: 28 lbs -gain of 4.5 lbs (~25%ile)
Her height/weight percentiles are fairly consistent, being slightly taller and less weight than her female peers.  She is almost as tall as her cousin Jacob who is 4 yrs old, and her height is coincidentally the exact same as Piper's was at age 3.





Marissa's gross motor skills are strong--she climbs, swings, pedals her bikes, does "tricks" on them, balances and maneuvers a 2-wheel scooter remarkably, and loves everything at gymnastics class, especially hanging and swinging on the bars.

Her fine-motor skills are impressive too--using scissors to follow a line while cutting paper, drawing a rudimentary letter M or circle shape in various sizes, and she can color mostly INside the lines.

Is drumming gross or fine motor skills?

She has learned a lot of academic things like letters and numbers from her sisters playing pretend school with her, and from her current favorite show "Team UmiZoomi."  She likes to measure things, and can identify a handful of letters and numbers.

Listening to her imaginative play is fun.  She has a quiet high-pitched squeaky voice she uses whenever she is animating a doll in play, but sometimes it's her fingers talking to each other, or the Hot Wheels car she's personifying.  One day at the store she was using her little squeaky voice counting the holes in the shopping cart, and corrected me when I commented on it: "I'm not counting mom, my FINGER is counting."

Her favorite two-syllable words: "ye-ah" and "hey-lp"

Marissa and Great Grandma Ann have spent a lot of time together this year, visiting nearly every week.

One of the most special birthday gifts she got this year was the large teddy bear that was special to Grandma Ann.  This is the momma bear to the baby bear she and grandpa gave me as a kid many years ago, so now the set is together again.  I showed her my matching bear and now she likes to get it and bring it to me at various times of day.