Josie Grace, three years old

Her birthday came and went, and this post got left behind. I can't miss the chance to talk about my girl, Josie, so better late than never.

Josie is three years old. 

She's still bossy, assertive, and loud. She loves to yell or scream, especially when she's in a room that echoes loudly. More times than not, she's shouting out commands or suggestions to her sister, me or nobody in particular. 

But there is a new side to her that has crept up this past year. She is no longer loud and out spoken when we are in public. She's become a bit shy and unsure of new situations. It took some major adjusting for me and the hubby because we were so used to her just jumping right in. We have learned to step back, let her say no if she isn't feeling something, and giving her the chance to try it when she is ready. Once she feels ready, she's back to her old ways, jumping right in with no problems. 

One example: swimming. She used to just march right into the lake, throwing caution to the wind, fully dressed and everything. Now, she is the first to say that you must be "cay-er-ful" near the water and especially when you are on the dock. She's so cautious around the water that I'm hardly even worried about her "alone" (not holding my hand makes me feel like she's alone) when she's on the dock. Of course, she's three, not thirteen, so she's still not trusted by open water by herself, but it's interesting how much it's changed in just a year. (Her sister, on the other hand, has zero fear of water and has taken a fall into the water fully dressed already once this year.)

Josie physically grew up this year without gaining any major weight or growing "out" at all. She's still wearing the same size clothing (3T) but dresses, shorts, and pants are suddenly getting close to "too short" status and we'll have to move up a size soon because of it. All of her current 4T clothing are hugely baggy on her, so I'm not sure how this will go. She's completely grown into her "preschool" age as far as her physical appearance. No longer are there chubby baby legs, cheeks, or arms. She's suddenly so big. Throw in a major haircut, and both mommy and daddy feel we've been left in the dust here. 

 If anyone feels like they need some attitude, Jo's got plenty to share. I've heard distant rumors about three year old girls and emotions but I had hoped she'd skip that stage. Let me just tell you, she hasn't. Between throwing herself on the floor, giving herself "room time outs" to collect herself, and screaming uncontrollably for what feels like hours and hours, she's on a whole new level of exhausting us. There are some days where we look at each other after the girls are in bed and can't believe how quiet it is. 

I feel for her, though. I know that she isn't trying to purposefully upset us. She truly feels those emotions with all of her heart and hasn't figured out how to express them. It's a hard thing to watch and there really isn't much I can do except model the appropriate responses to things that go wrong in my life. 

With those extreme lows come the extreme highs. She is full of life. I swear that she is silly like 80% of the time. She's quick to say "Okay, mama, I will do that!" and is happy to help her sister or friend if the situation arises. I love watching her heart shine through with silly songs that she makes up (she just started doing this, and it's hilarious), changing words around, making the most ridiculous faces, and dancing to her "ballet music" station on Pandora. She's all about the colors purple and pink, loves ballet (or what she knows of it), loves to watch people dance at weddings (although participating is still a bit much at this point), and loves to explore new places (hello, aisles of Walmart and Target). 

She loves dress up. She recently discovered a bunch of dresses from when my sister and I were young, and she has one on almost all day every day. She often tries to dress her sister, although Audrey only goes along with it for a few minutes. Josie, on the other hand, loves to be fancy all day long. She loves to play with her kitchen, making tea, sandwiches, and fruit baskets all the time. She seems to never tire of it...  

While she loves to learn in a natural setting, she doesn't quite seem ready for the school setting. This summer I tried to do a ten minute school session with her each day, but she would get frustrated and silly (defense mechanism this time) and I could just tell she wasn't ready. The last thing I want to do is create a hostile environment around learning, so we've backed off with that and I've tried to continue teaching her little things with whatever we are doing or what is around us. This lesson was more for me than her. She is already teaching me how she learns and where I need to relax.