Megan at Three Years (and three months)!

Before we do another Owen post I think it's time Megan got her own little spotlight, outside of the weekly funnies, that is.  Megan is now about three years and three months old.  I had her in right away on her birthday and she also asked for herself to be re-weighed and re-measured at Owen's check up but there wasn't any change.  Here is where she stands:

Height - 37 1/4 inches - 53%

Weight - 35lbs 2oz - 85%

Body Mass Index - 91%

The doctor wasn't too thrilled about her BMI - they prefer kids to be between 5% and 85%, so we have surpassed the top end of it.  I guess if she doesn't slim down on her own she'll have to go on a diet but overall I think she's doing just fine.  Yes, she still has some baby pudginess and maybe she'll lose some of it this summer or else hit a really big growth spurt and shoot up :)  She is very active and also eats well so I don't know what else we can really do.  Perhaps all of those fruit snacks for using the toilet and crackers before bed didn't help... I am surprised that Megan's feet really haven't changed sizes this whole last year.  She wore size 7 toddler shoes and those shoes are now just a little bit snug.  Weird.

Here are some recent pictures I took of Megan.  I think they turned out really well considering she doesn't really like being in front of the camera.  She is like her mommy and would rather be the one shooting and telling people to smile.

 

 

Megan is a darling little girl who wears her heart on her sleeve.  She is fun to be around, although quite bossy at times.  She has things set in her mind on how they should work and you're in trouble if your ideas don't follow her plan.  Maybe that's why she asks to many questions.  Megan wants to know as many details to every play as she possibly can.  She would rather know details than be surprised.  Her favorite question is "Where are we going tomorrow?"  She asks a lot of "why" questions just like other youngsters but I feel all of her questions are sincere.  "I don't know" answers are not good enough - you'd better have reasons for everything!

Megan getting enough sleep is very important but sometimes very tricky.  Naps are hit and miss.  It's about every other day that she gets a good afternoon nap.  And when they are afternoon naps she's usually sleeping until 4:30 or so at night.  You're probably thinking that that's the reason it's hard to get her to bed at night but even when we don't have a nap it's still hard.  Megan is one consistently inconsistent when it comes to bedtime.  We have to make her think that she's in charge so we made a little checklist of bedtime things for her to follow.  We used it for a while and it really did help but we've drifted away from it lately.  Megan's been in our bed a lot the past month+.  We are still trying many options like her sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag but haven't found the best way to break her of the "sleeping in Mommy-Daddy bed" habit.

We've signed Megan up for preschool at our church, Trinity, this coming fall.  I am 100% sure she's ready for it and needs it.  We also signed her up for swimming lessons which start next week!  She is so excited and tells me that she's going to have three lessons: swimming, piano (on my keyboard), and talking (reading)!  I can't wait to see what she takes away from everything she gets involved in.  Comparing this summer to last she is so much more brave on the playground and also with kids in the neighborhood.  I still make sure she stays close but just out of the blue she will start talking with groups of kids, asking them what their names are, asking them if they want to walk with us, or telling them she likes their bike.  It even makes my heart melt when she goes up to kids at the playground and says, "My name's Megan Kristine Lewis.  What's yours?"  Many times she doesn't get a response because she's asking older kids but her heart is in the right place.  Oh, and yep, you read it right - she is also learning all of our names, first, middle and last.  Not to mention memorizing our ages.  It's cool that she is three just like Daddy is 33 and Owen is one just like Mommy is 31!

Megan is completely potty trained with occasional accidents.  Our biggest problem is when she gets so emotional when she doesn't get her way.  I can always tell when she has to go potty because those are the times she seems to act out the most.  The other night at dinner she started screaming at me with her arms up in the air and next thing I knew she was racing to the bathroom to pee.  It's getting better!  Every night is dry so no worries there.

When Megan turned two she also learned the word "mine".  I think this year is the year of the whine.  It started right away when she turned three and it's as if there is a whine over everything.  She has a very shrill voice at times that just pierces your ears.  And then there is her shouting voice.... She doesn't really project her voice, just talks more from her throat.  Funny that when you want her to talk up to other people she gets so shy but has no problem yelling at the top of her lungs at home...  

One of my favorite Megan pronunciations is the word "sure" which she uses frequently instead of "yes".  She pronounces it like "show 'er", so with a long O sound instead of long U.  Cute and polite at the same time!  Megan's vocabulary is quite large and I am always surprised that she just has to hear a word once and it's engraved in her brain.  A favorite Megan expression is something she says to me after I've apparently said something dumb like telling her to go to bed without a treat, "hahaha.....Mommy" (shaking her head, with a sigh).

Megan is slowly learning how to dress herself.  She can do socks and shoes with a little help from us telling her which shoe goes on each foot.  She can now pull up her panties and pants after going potty too.  Shirts are a little trickier but we haven't worked on them much together either.  Oh, but coats - the Grandma Lewis upside down way is still her favorite way to go!

I am still confused at why Megan is having such a problem with the ages thing.  She still thinks that she will one day be a baby in my tummy and that she will be a mommy to me some day.  I guess she thinks we will start aging backwards at some point in time or something.  Or maybe she just wants to experience being a baby since she doesn't remember it.  Who knows.....   She also associates us more or less with sizes than ages.  Owen is baby, she is little, I am medium and Daddy is big.  Megan also has another name for herself, Stinker!  Enough said there!

Speaking of babies, Megan just adores her little brother.  She does a great job of making him laugh, even if she does smack him around quite a bit.  Guess she's trying to show him "tough love"?  I ask her if she likes babies and she says she likes the ones Owen's age.  She doesn't have a lot of exposure to other babies so isn't comfortable with many others besides Owen and her cousins, Ethan and Lily.

What else.... Megan is still my little baker buddy.  She is getting better at mixing, knowing ingredients, counting how many scoops or eggs we put in.  She is a lot of fun in the kitchen.  Megan likes to serve food to her stuffed dogs - bowls of cereal and a bowl of water is what they eat!  Oh, and she

I don't think I posted these pictures yet but just a couple fun ones from the past couple months.