3 year check-in

Great to hear how everyone is doing as I have fond memories of our the 'roll
calls' of old when they were all little. Charlotte turns 3 tomorrow and
weaned when she was 26 months (when I was 20 weeks pregnant).

She is loving her little sister (now 6 months old and loves nursing, but
also LOVES solids - whereas Charlotte was very slow to start solids).

Charlotte loves to draw, run everywhere, has endless energy and is very
chatty. She was out of nappies during the day at 28 months and has been
going without at night for a month now.

I am so enjoying having a nursling again and keeping busy with the two
girls. The family feels very balanced with two, but I haven't ruled out
having another child just yet! If we do have another it will probably be a
while yet, as my menstral cycle didn't resume till Charlotte was 16 months
(but I guess I should be careful, just in case! - not that I have much
energy for 'extra-curricular' activities at the moment!)

Anyway, Sophie is stirring, so best go....

Check out the latest photos on www.nzcuties.com

All the best,

Sarah
"Phoebe & Allyson" wrote in message
...
Caterpillar turned 3 on May 31st. Most recent pic at
http://tinyurl.com/lzdaj.

She still nurses as much as I let her, which is sometimes two sides a day
and sometimes more. I think she's gone one day in her entire life without
nursing.

She started preschool the week before she turned 3, and loves it. She
potty-trained 3 days before the start of school, all on her own. She woke
up and said she was done with diapers and going to wear underwear, and so
she did. Oddly, I'd almost rather she was still in diapers, because a)
she refuses to use a full-size toilet, and cleaning poop out of a potty
chair is nasty, and b) she is so intensely private about going that she
won't say if she needs to go. If there's a potty nearby, she'll wander
off and take care of things (complete with emptying the potty into the
toilet and flushing) all by herself. If there's not one nearby, there's a
puddle on the floor.

I'm loving her being in preschool. She eats vegetables there. She
dresses herself there. She naps for 1.5 hours at school and still sleeps
11 hours at night on school days. She's never ready to go home when I
come to pick her up. She adores her teachers.

She does not sleep through the night. Most recently, she's been waking up
as soon as she pees and insisting on a dry diaper, which may mean she's
working on night training. But sometimes she wakes up with a bad dream or
just at random and wanders into our bed.

We had allergy testing done because she'd had some huge eczema flares, and
it turns out "she's allergic to outside." Every tree and weed that grows
in Oklahoma, plus grass. But not dust, mold, animals, or food, thank
goodness. Eczema itchies are probably a combination of allergy and
stress. So she's on Claritin + Sudafed pretty much continuously, plus
Benadryl as needed for itchies. That combination has kept her
sinus-infection-free for the last year, even though it doesn't keep her
nose from running.

We finally cut her hair from waist-length scraggly tangles to
shoulder-length. Halfway through, she decided against bangs, so she's
*still* got hair in her eyes. Which she will not tolerate having
barrettes in, or braided, or ponytailed, or pigtailed, or confined in any
way.

Phoebe

Zoe turned 3 on June 25, and is still nursing like a fiend. She nurses
to sleep, to wake up, and whenever I'll let her in between. She
occasionally talks about how big kids don't nurse, but that's as far as
it goes.

She's been potty trained and night trained for ages. She hasn't had an
ear infection since we had her adenoids removed & tubes put in her ears.
In the past year, she's grown a massive amount since she's not sick all
the time. But she's still strongly on the introverted side, and getting
her to talk to people, even people she knows moderately well, is
difficult. Preschool's been good for her in this regard, and she's
bonded with another more high-spirited, extroverted girl.

Coloring, painting, swimming, and cooking are some of her favorite
activities. Though for her 3rd birthday we got her a 2 wheeler (since
she finally demonstrated she COULD pedal her big wheel), and she's been
having a grand time riding her bike. She's still working out pedaling +
steering + braking, but I imagine she'll have it all worked out in no time.

Sleeping through the night is obviously for other people's children. I'm
looking forward for her to be old enough to turn her light on and grab a
book or something. Anything so that someday *soon* I get to sleep
through the night again!

It's odd nursing such an older child. She can lift up my shirt, undo my
nursing bra, and get everything situated for herself. I'm only necessary
since my breasts happen to be attached to me. If I don't feel like
nursing, she'll ask to snuggle with the "nurses" (what she calls
breasts). She's definitely very attached. I'm ready for her to wean,
because I'm really touched out. But I'm not yet so ready that I'd force her.

Leigh