It's hard to believe that Rylie is 3 years old. The years have flown by like weeks! She continues to amaze us every day. At three years old, she is my little smarty pants. She picks up on everything- conversations, what she watches on TV, things mommy and daddy do. She studies things and is so observant. She only has to see or hear it one time and it will be repeated. For example, this morning I asked her is she wanted some milk and she told me, "No, I'm dehydrated, I need some water" (from Doc McStuffins). She plays very well on her own and has such an imagination. The conversations that she has with her babies or other inanimate objects such as her blanky, are so funny. She loves to give everyONE and everyTHING check ups with her doctor kit. She will tell you to take a long deep breath...and another. She also loves giving everyone haircuts with her hair styling accessories. She doesn't listen to a lot of "kids" music because we just don't play it that often. She knows all of the usuals- Twinkle Twinkle, Row Row Your Boat, I'm a Little Teapot, The Hokey Pokey, Farmer in the Dell, etc. But if we are in the car, we are usually listening to Country, so we receive requests for that music far more often. She has memorized the chorus to several songs- Drink in my hand, Over when it's over (Eric Church), Good Girl (Carrie Underwood), Even if it Breaks Your Heart (Eli Young Band), Red Solo Cup (Toby Keith), 5-1-5-0 (Dierks Bentley) and many more. She also memorizes books we read to her and has about 5 or so that she reads to us (which is kind of nice sometimes).
She has great facial expressions and often uses her hands when she's making a point. I love her innocence in that she thinks everyone is her friend...if only the world worked that way. When we take our walks, she sees a house down the street that 3 girls live in (that we have never met) and says "there's my friend's house". Or if they're outside, she'll wave and yell "hi friend". She is such a great big sister. She loves Reagan so much and gives her lots of hugs and kisses. If she hears her crying, she runs to give her a paci, rock her car seat or push her swing. She says things like, "It's ok Reagan, your big sister is coming!" or "I know baby, I know, mommy will feed you soon" or when she's a little more impatient, "Just a second Reagan, mommy is coming, just a second!" She has been a great little helper. We are so proud of this little girl.
Of course, she has her moments where she doesn't listen, talks sassy, whines, etc, but we remind ourselves that she is only three. Her vocabulary amazes me and it's fun to have conversations with her. We are definitely in the "Why" stage and we love her curiosity. She gives out plenty of kisses and hugs, which we can't get enough of. I love laying with her and reading stories at bed time, whereas Daddy tells her stories about "Princess Rylie". Rylie has very good manners, which she'll tell you herself. "No, no thank you. Mommy, I have good manners". She's a smart cookie, but play time with Daddy is interesting. He had some little magnets that Rylie started playing with, so he was showing and telling her the difference of positive and negative forces. They were also playing with her Leap Frog cash register and he was quizzing her on the Presidents on each of the coins. His expectations are a tad high.
She is still a little peanut. We have her 3 year check up next Friday, but she can still fit into 18-24 month shorts. Some of the 2T shorts are pretty loose on her yet. For example, while at Menards with Dan, she was running down and aisle and stopped, yelling to Daddy "My pants fell down!" and sure enough, she was standing there with her shorts around her ankles. And she likes to re-tell the story: "Remember when my orange pants fell down at save big money at benards? That was hilarious."
Rylie has been loving her gymnastics class and we'll definitely sign her up for the next one. We'll start swimming again this Fall too. One area that we need some work on is potty training. Rylie is STILL not potty trained. She could sit in a wet or dirty diaper half the day and doesn't care. She has been close a couple of times and often tells us when we go out to eat or out shopping (usually at the east covenient places- rather than, say, your own toilet at home). So we feel she knows, but just chooses not to tell us. I am so tired of changing her diapers and am getting impatient. Once we brought Reagan home, I felt like changing a diaper on Rylie was like changing a 5 year old. My goal was to have her trained by the time she was 3, but that came and went. Next week we are heading up North for a week. I think I'm just going to leave the diapers at home and we're going to figure this out!
Here are some of her three year old pictures. There are also a few more pictures of my furry baby Reagan.
