Terrible Threes

Penelope is clearly learning and growing just like Micah is these days, but at three years old the growth is so much more painful. When things aren't going her way, she angrily hits, spits, and kicks me. When she wants to get a rise out of Micah, she giddily pulls his hair as hard as she can. When she isn't getting the attention she desires, she smiles while spitting her food on the floor, spilling a glass of water, or destroying a game/tower/creation of Micah's.

And on top of all this, she refuses to go to sleep. Last night she only got out of bed 6 times. Once because "her hands were cold." It was 75 degrees outside at 8pm and we don't have air conditioning. The night before she was up so many times I couldn't count. It took over an hour and a half from the time I first left her room to the time she was asleep, and my best guess is that she got up about 30 times in that span. "I want another song." "I'm hungry." "I'm thirsty." "I have to poop." "I want Dada." "I want Mama." "I need a hug."

Despite all of that, she is learning and growing every day. She learned to ride a tricycle, not a small feat. She often seems to be our head dog trainer, shouting commands to Thalia all day long. She tells excellent jokes and makes clever rhymes. She consistently enjoys Micah's potty humor. She's learning to assemble puzzles independently. She tells everyone she loves that she loves them. She thinks everything is "so cute," including chickens and snakes as well as babies and dogs.

She's a lover and I love her, but man is the 3-year old hump a tough one!

Learning & Growing

Micah is changing by leaps and bounds these days. We've taken several long car trips this summer, driving to Chicago, New Jersey, and to Presque Isle. He reads comic books for hours on end. I believe he read for over four hours in the car on multiple occasions. On our way to New Jersey last week, he started reading when we got into the car at 7pm, read by the light of a little LED light after it got dark, and finally stopped when I forced him to turn the light off at 10pm. When he comes home from the library, he sits down with his books and is quiet for hours. The other night we finished a chapter of a novel I'm reading with him and he wanted to read more, so he read a few more (very complex) pages after I said goodnight.

On top of all this reading, he has been swimming almost every day for the past three weeks. He couldn't even attempt to swim at the end of June, he was so panicked by the thought. We signed him up for lessons beginning the first week of July and took him to the pool for the first time this summer the night before lessons started. During his first week of lessons, all the other kids jumped into the pool while he carefully eased himself into the water, all the other kids hung onto the side practicing kicking while he draped his arms up to the elbows over the edge and kicked only while the teacher watched. Then one night during the second week of lessons, he was showing me how he could swim while his head went deeper and deeper into the water and I realized that he could hold his breath for the first time ever. I told him if he just put his head in the water, he would be swimming under water and just like that, he became a swimmer. He's still not paddling hard enough to swim with his head up, but he can swim across the pool underwater and is excited to go to swim lessons every day.

Next up, I need to teach him to ride a bike!