Yesterday, the baby of the family turned three years old. Now to some of you this seems so young, and to those of you with babies, it feels so much older. For me it feels like a little of both, since I have two that are older. It is also a year that will be bitter sweet. You see, I love and hate this age.
Having been through it twice already I know what a three year old can bring. At some point someone coined the phrase "the terrible two's". Whoever said that, just didn't have a three year old yet. I have found that three is WAY worse than two. For most of the year they are two, they are still so compliant and wanting to please you. They still do what they're told, to the best of their ability. Perhaps part of this is because they are still learning so much. A good portion of what we learn in life is learned by three. Talking, walking, eating, learning to use the bathroom, communicating, being social, all learned before three. They also feel like they are an extension of their parents. They don't realize they are their own person. It isn't until the END of being two, when they approach three, that they figure this out and the terribleness starts to happen.
This is when they start to get defiant and whiny. When they realize they are separate from you, and they can tell you no. With my older two, age three was a year of time outs. They are trying to figure out their boundaries and how much they can get away with. It can be quite maddening some days and having JUST gone through it with Lana, my patience is a little worn down for Georgia. The good thing is she isn't quite as difficult, and she is the last one, so yes, I tend to be a bit more lenient.
On the sweet side of this year, they are still very innocent. They question everything and still say things that are so cute and not yet annoying. Even though they want to assert their independence, they want to be with you and make you happy, most of the time anyway. Some three year olds, especially mine, are still small enough to carry around, although they do get heavy pretty quickly. This way I can pretend they are still little on some level. The baby voice sticks around for most of three as well as saying words incorrectly, which has always been one of my favorite things. I'm pretty sure I will cry the day Georgia says the word "orange" instead of "orangin".
So, once again I say, what the hell? Why is it that time seems to speed by faster as they get older? Or maybe it's as I got older. I don't really want to stop time, because let's face it, I would like them to leave home at some point. However, why can't it just slow the hell down?? I know, It doesn't and it won't. From what I'm told it just speeds up faster. So here I am, the day after my youngest daughter's third birthday, realizing that the baby/toddler stage of my motherhood is over forever. Hoping that I have done a good enough job teaching them in those first three years, when they learn so much. I now have three full fledged kids. A fact that makes me and my uterus sad some days. I don't think I will ever get over not having a baby around. Even if I was as crazy as that Dugger woman and on baby number 21. I'm sure that is why she still keeps having them. Because as much work as they are when they are babies and toddlers, they are so adorable and fun. I know I will find new things that will be fun about having kids, but I will always miss how much they grow in those first three years.
I will hang on to the cute things that will inevitably come up this year. Things that she still doesn't quite get. The other day we were dropping my mom off at the Burbank Airport. Just Georgia was with us, because the other two were in camp. She knows Nona lives in Florida, and that she was leaving that day. So in her three year old mind she understood some of that, but not exactly. That is why when we pulled up to the curb at the airport she said aloud to us,
"Is dis Florida?"
Those are the moments I am going to enjoy and savor for the next year. I'm going to do my best to forget about all the times she will defy me and sit in timeout for three minutes.
Happy Birthday to my baby girl! Today the tricycle, tomorrow the world!
Having been through it twice already I know what a three year old can bring. At some point someone coined the phrase "the terrible two's". Whoever said that, just didn't have a three year old yet. I have found that three is WAY worse than two. For most of the year they are two, they are still so compliant and wanting to please you. They still do what they're told, to the best of their ability. Perhaps part of this is because they are still learning so much. A good portion of what we learn in life is learned by three. Talking, walking, eating, learning to use the bathroom, communicating, being social, all learned before three. They also feel like they are an extension of their parents. They don't realize they are their own person. It isn't until the END of being two, when they approach three, that they figure this out and the terribleness starts to happen.
This is when they start to get defiant and whiny. When they realize they are separate from you, and they can tell you no. With my older two, age three was a year of time outs. They are trying to figure out their boundaries and how much they can get away with. It can be quite maddening some days and having JUST gone through it with Lana, my patience is a little worn down for Georgia. The good thing is she isn't quite as difficult, and she is the last one, so yes, I tend to be a bit more lenient.
On the sweet side of this year, they are still very innocent. They question everything and still say things that are so cute and not yet annoying. Even though they want to assert their independence, they want to be with you and make you happy, most of the time anyway. Some three year olds, especially mine, are still small enough to carry around, although they do get heavy pretty quickly. This way I can pretend they are still little on some level. The baby voice sticks around for most of three as well as saying words incorrectly, which has always been one of my favorite things. I'm pretty sure I will cry the day Georgia says the word "orange" instead of "orangin".
So, once again I say, what the hell? Why is it that time seems to speed by faster as they get older? Or maybe it's as I got older. I don't really want to stop time, because let's face it, I would like them to leave home at some point. However, why can't it just slow the hell down?? I know, It doesn't and it won't. From what I'm told it just speeds up faster. So here I am, the day after my youngest daughter's third birthday, realizing that the baby/toddler stage of my motherhood is over forever. Hoping that I have done a good enough job teaching them in those first three years, when they learn so much. I now have three full fledged kids. A fact that makes me and my uterus sad some days. I don't think I will ever get over not having a baby around. Even if I was as crazy as that Dugger woman and on baby number 21. I'm sure that is why she still keeps having them. Because as much work as they are when they are babies and toddlers, they are so adorable and fun. I know I will find new things that will be fun about having kids, but I will always miss how much they grow in those first three years.
I will hang on to the cute things that will inevitably come up this year. Things that she still doesn't quite get. The other day we were dropping my mom off at the Burbank Airport. Just Georgia was with us, because the other two were in camp. She knows Nona lives in Florida, and that she was leaving that day. So in her three year old mind she understood some of that, but not exactly. That is why when we pulled up to the curb at the airport she said aloud to us,
"Is dis Florida?"
Those are the moments I am going to enjoy and savor for the next year. I'm going to do my best to forget about all the times she will defy me and sit in timeout for three minutes.
Love me some Georgia! Happy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to your girl!You just made me panic about the fleetingness of time! My baby's one and a half and I know that I'll blink and she'll be three, then four then eighteen... so thanks for the reminder that we must enjoy and savor it!
ReplyDelete