Growing a Little Schulze: Claire, age 3

Claire, age 3
March 2013

A little about Claire and her first few months of being 3, February through June.

Personality: She's moved on from the fearless toddler she was to a curious but cautious preschooler. She is working through some of the fears that had cropped up but she still has issues with the unexpected. She likes routines and knowing what to expect. Every night at bedtime she asks what we are going to do in the morning.

She is definitely curious and a keen observer (except when you ask her to find her blanket/toy/cup/etc!). She has questions about everything. Sometimes her questions make no sense or I don't know what she means. So I can't give her an answer. And that's frustrating for her. And it's hard for her to grasp that some times we just don't know an answer. She demands, "can't you just tell me??" and we have to explain that we really just don't know.

She has her sweet side and her silly, spunky side. She is eager to please but is also testing limits and exploring her own power in the world. She started talking back and saying no to requests and directions. The first few weeks of being 3 were awful. The whining, melt downs, emotional dramatics, and testing of limits was almost unbearable. Fortunately she did shape up a little bit. The whining is ever present, but the melt downs and tantrums decreased significantly.

Since she does want to please, she has become sensitive to correction. She can deal with being told no but a sharp reprimand or a punishment like timeout brings on the tears.

She is usually sweet with Ellie. But Ellie being mobile and able to come after her and get into her toys makes her freak out sometimes. We encourage her to take her toys to the table when she wants to escape Ellie's grabbing hands.

Development, play, life skills, etc.:
At her 3 year doctor appointment, they asked Claire to count and she wouldn't. They next day she counted 5 and 6 items in a book with one-to-one correspondence. I was surprised but apparently Jeff was not. Her rote counting is coming along too. It is pretty funny to hear her attempt the teens, "firteen, sixteen, twelb, firteen..."

She is finally getting the concept of jigsaw puzzles! We have a couple 24 piece wooden puzzles. In June she was finally able to do them herself. Even when given a brand new puzzle, she was able to sit down and put it together with no help.

Favorite play activities include puzzles, legos, arts and crafts, and play-doh. She loves putting plastic animals in the play-doh and making tracks and various marks. Sometimes she will settle into pretend play but if I am around she wants me to tell her what to do. "Mama, what should I do-ooooo?" But if she has quiet time in her room she can entertain herself for an hour.

Motorically, she loves climbing. She loves ride on toys and her bike but does not get the concept of pedaling or steering. Her fine motor seems pretty good in manipulating small objects. Using scissors is still a long way off!

She's able to do many more self care and life tasks. She can mostly dress herself. She started by mastering socks and most shoes. Then she moved on to underwear and pants. She can put a shirt or dress on but has difficulty taking them off. She will clean up her dishes after a meal. She can scrape her scraps into the trash and put her plate and cup in the sink. She knows which things are breakable, or to ask about it, so that she can put the breakable items on the counter instead of tossing them into the sink.

She also making strides in conquering some of her fears. Her reaction to the pool this summer was much different than last year! Last year she was afraid of the mushroom waterfall on the splash pad and of going beyond the steps in the big pool. This year she started off a little hesitant our first visit but quickly progressed to trying everything and even jumping into the pool!

Potty Training:
We finally had potty training success! An attempt in January didn't go well, so we left it alone for a little longer. She seemed scared about pooping on the potty. Finally over her spring break in March and April I decided it was time. I really talked up using the potty and how it was okay to be a little scared but that she could do it. We put the little potty in the kitchen or the bathroom depending on whether Ellie was around and let Claire run around in underwear. We had multiple accidents but made good progress with pee the first two days. And she just didn't poop the first 2 days. We gave her plenty of poop inducing foods to make sure she wouldn't get too constipated if she was holding it in. Finally she had to go. I caught her grunting and rushed her to the potty and she did it! We had some fits and starts from there. We had to make sure we watched her for signs to make sure we encouraged her to go to the potty instead of pooping in her underwear. But once she crossed that first hurdle we were on our way.

And because she was older she was quickly pretty independent. She loved the little potty at home but was fine using a big potty if we were out and about. Jeff quickly tired of emptying the little potty so he pushed for trying to a step stool/potty seat combo so she could use the regular toilet. When we had tried one months earlier she had hated it. But this time she hopped up on it like it was no big deal. And she did really well on the go. She was good about letting us know if she had to go. In the beginning there multiple stops at a gas station on the way home from school with me trying to juggle both Ellie and Claire in a little stall. But we soon learned that she could go quite a while without needing the restroom and if she did announce she needed to go, she could usually hold it until we got home.

Food: Our good eater has gone away. Well, not completely I guess. But she definitely eats much less and is more picky about what she will eat. She's wary of new things and doesn't like things mixed together like in casseroles. But she will still try at least bite of something for us. She wants snacks all the time. She'd rather snack her way through the day than have a meal. She used to down water no problem but now all she wants is milk and juice. We're trying to hold firm on the importance of water.
Favorite foods: juice, milk, yogurt, PBJ, grilled cheese, boxed macaroni and cheese, pasta wtih red sauce, fruit, green beans, peas
Dislikes: fish, cottage cheese, sharp cheeses, pineapple

Sleep: We've officially said good-bye to nap time. She would still fall asleep occasionally in the early part of being 3, but it was making her stay awake late at night. She'd be messing around in her room until 9:30. So we traded in the nap time for peace at bedtime. She'll sleep 8 pm to 8 am, give or take. She went through a phase of waking up extra early at the beginning of the summer (7, 7:15) which made her cranky for a bit. This coincided with early wake-ups from Ellie (6:45) so I'm not sure if Ellie's noise was waking Claire up or if some unknown factor was waking them both.

Language:
We have definitely reached the age of questions. Why, why, why all the time. She is losing many of her mispronunciations, which is kind of sad. She corrected Jeff one day when he said "restamont." And Home Depot sometimes isn't "Ho Peepo" any more. But we still get a few cute things:

Minion= mingyin
Onion = ongyin
Watermelon = pine a lope
Her- her is playing on the floor. Her is tired.
What did you say? = What you said?
Band-aid = Bandage
Carrots =kay-whuts
Pancakes = pant cakes
Binoculars=noculars
Tomatoes=matoes
Stethoscope = stellascope

Her verbal memory is also increasing. She can say much of her prayers by herself (sign of the cross, Now I lay me down, God bless ____).

Funny conversations and one-liners:
We are coloring at the table one day and she says out of the blue "You my best friend mama."

"Did you know whose church we are going to? Mama and dada's. It's by my school. Where my kids live. And Ms. Shell. And Ms randa. Ms baranda. (Her teachers were Ms. Michelle and Ms. Maranda)."

(I call her a cutie pie:)
Claire: I not cutie pie, I Claire Soltz
Jeff: Are you Claire Catherine Schulze?
Claire: No! I Claire Catherine Amelia Schulze, like Ellie.

Go go go! Having a bencher! (Go, go, go on an adventure, from cat in hat TV show)

(Riding in the car on Easter)
C: My friend wears sweater all the time.
J: Who does?
C: Eden does.
J: That's weird.
C: No it's not weird. It's -merican.
J: It's American?
C: Yeah! Ms Maranda has a sweater. And Ms. Shell has a jacket.

"Why you got your feets nakey mama? What's wrong with your feets? Are they dirty?"

C: Don't tell me no mama!
Me: I will tell you no whenever I need to. That's my job.
C: That's not your job! Your job is yes!

C: Mama, can you clean up my mess while I lay on the couch?

Claire is trying to open play dough I got out while I'm trying to wrangle Ellie to change her poopy diaper. She says "I'm busy mama. Are you busy? (Yes.) I'm very busy mama!"

In the car she announces: "All those trees out there are wearing My Little Pony underwear. Like me!"

C: Where we going daddy? Jeff: We are going north. C: Try again daddy!

She's making me pretend food:
I'm going to make you a strawberry apple pie vanilla.....and chocolate
(I pretend to eat it and drink from the cup. Then I put the cup in the dish)
She says in a very concerned voice: "Mama, don't put it in! You'll smash your pie!"

Grammi promised Claire a Thin Mint after she had lunch. So Claire is eating her sandwich and apples. I ask if she wants a pickle. She says, "No! Pickles are not chocolate cookies!"

My stomach rumbles.
Claire: That was you mama.
Me: Yes, that was my tummy making noise
Claire: Did it say "yum, yum, salad!" mama?

Claire (while drinking some juice): Mama, what taste is it?
Me: Black Cherry Berry
Claire: Is that the one we had lasterday?

Claire: Daddy do you know what's your skin?
Jeff: What?
Claire: It's ep ee dermis!
Jeff: Yep, you've got epidermis all over you, don't you! Where's your larynx?...
(Jeff is enjoying trying to teach her those plus spleen, kidneys, etc even though she can barely count past 10).

Claire: I want to do all of them.
Me: No, you can finish coloring that picture and then it's time for bed
Claire: (whining): No! Ma, that's disgusting!!Don't say that again. I don't like to go to bed. I not tired!

Claire is sitting on the couch with Jeff while he watches the World Cup
J: Uh oh, he's gonna get kicked out!
C: Who? The lello one? Or the green one?
J: That one. He pushed the guy, he knocked him over. That's not nice.
.....
J: There, it's in the goal. They scored!
C: Yay! They scored a goal
....
C: Yay! They scored a goal again!!
J: No, that's just a replay baby. They're just showing it again.

"When I get big I'm going to get holes in my ears for earrings, when I'm the mommy. Mommy, when you grow down you will be the girl. And when daddy grows really down he will be the baby."
(I hear a clatter from the bathroom).
Claire: Oh no! ....
Mommy? Can you give me a hand in here? My potty broke.
(I put the plastic screw back in her potty stepstool seat. She resumes bathroom activity.)
....
I have poo poo! .... It's a big one!
....
Mommy, can you come help me with poo poo wiping?

One day she asks me why she has half a sign in her shorts. And I am terribly confused. She gestures at the sign on her shorts. And I say "That's a peace sign..." Oh! peace = piece in her mind. And piece got translated to half.

Instead of dark blue and light blue we have inside blue and outside blue. I think inside blue is dark blue.

When watching a TV show that is almost over she will say "one more page and then something else is coming on!"

And if she wants help with something; "Can nobody help me with _____?"
Pictures:
And finally, an assortment of pictures of our 3 year old cutie pie