Three! Tres! Trois!

Michaela is THREE! According to child development books, this makes her not a toddler anymore, but a "preschooler"! Though she will be having a family birthday party this weekend, we did not let her go uncelebrated on the official day of her birth. We (kids and I) spent the morning at the zoo with our friends Sarah, Lily and Nathan. Unfortunately there are no pictures because I forgot my camera. Michaela loves to look at all the "aminals." She says her favorite animal at the zoo is the hippo. However, I'm skeptical about this because she spent most of the time yesterday talking about the tigers and polar bears. It must be the pressure of answering in the moment, because these are the answers she just gave me, which seem to not be correct to me. I will put what I think in parentheses.
Favorite color: Orange (blue/purple)
Favorite play activity: Games - Candyland (baby dolls)
Favorite place to go: Mimi & Papa's (the park)
Favorite food: Chicken nuggets (ice cream, brownies, fruits of all kinds, cucumbers)

An 'on her birthday' present - a real soccer ball!

Michaela had her first dental appointment this week. She has 20 teeth, all in great shape with no cavities. She was a champ sitting in the dental chair and wearing the neat-o sunglasses they provided her. This was the first time we tried this dentist - close to our house - and they seemed really great. I think the hardest part for her was having to choose a prize from three full drawers of options.

We just got back from the doctor for her 3-year checkup and she was pronounced in great health. She has just bested 30 pounds and is 38 inches tall. This puts her in the 50% for weight and the 74% for height. Maybe Josiah won't outgrow her so soon after all.

It's hard to summarize her year in just one post, so I won't even try. Some recent accomplishments are that she can pedal and steer her tricycle up and down our street (with a parent right on her tail). She is like a new driver, however, who can't look one way without also steering that way, which is very dangerous for all concerned (say if you have, perhaps, a mother walking next to her pushing a baby in a stroller...). She still loves reading. We try to go to the library every week to get a few new ones. But she also regularly requests that we read the kids' Bible we purchased for her. She loves to talk, talk, talk, all the time. On a recent drive I was trying to find a new place and needed to focus. I asked her to stop talking, please. She said, "But I love to talk!" So we agreed that she could talk but I would not listen or respond until we reached our destination. She asks, all the time, 3 different questions: "How are you doing?," "What are you doing?," and "Why?" Recently she's been telling me, "I'm not talking to you, Mama, I'm talking to my babies."

Look at all the tiny pieces of hardware!

For her birthday, Adam and I purchased a play structure and Adam put it up in the backyard. The pictures that follow demonstrate all the man hours he put into it. She loves it, and says it's "like a park!" It is. Puckett Park.

I didn't get my counter top back for a week

Hmmm... glad for directions

Michaela initially thought the play set was going to be like this, and was worried she would bonk her head.

So glad to finally be up in the fort!

After the zoo and a short nap, Michaela got to go out to birthday ice cream with her Daddy. If this isn't a happy face, I don't know what is! Then Adam brought her home and left me with a child on a sugar high for the afternoon.