Let me start with all of our little girl's nicknames, that way you don't find yourself lost or confused as I interchangeably use these names for her: Lex, Lulu, and Rosie (we also call her Lovey, Hunnie, Sweetie... but I won't be using those in this post, hehe).
Her Schedule:
- Alexa is usually the first one up in the morning sometime between 7-7:30 am. She gets the day started with a quick trip to the potty and then constanttt chatter. Seriously, once she is awake the girl does NOT stop talking!
- Then we talk, play with her "friends" (stuffed animals in her room), look at books, and sometimes watch a show (her favorite is Martha Speaks - a talking dog who helps build vocabulary!).
- Once I am done getting myself and the kids ready for the day, we all head downstairs for breakfast. Some of Alexa's favorite breakfast foods are cherry PopTarts, bagels, yogurt, Cream of Wheat, and fresh fruit.
- Between breakfast and lunch, we do different things on different days - go places (like the library, gym, zoo, COSI, shopping, classes at the Community Center, etc.) or play in the playroom.
- Lunchtime is around noon or a little after. For lunch, Alexa loves salami, pepperoni, and cheese sandwiches. She also recently really started to like pastrami! Sometimes she'll ask for mac n cheese or something else, but most days she eats a sandwich and fruit.
- After getting the kids and the kitchen mostly cleaned up, we head upstairs for nap. Lex goes potty, puts her shoes away, etc. while I lay Jack down. Then, I head to her room and read a book, sing, and close the door. Some days Alexa fights nap by talking to her "friends," but most days she will sleep from like 1:30 - 4:30 pm (give or take 30 minutes on either end of that).
- She may watch a show when she gets up from nap, depending on how much longer I think Jack will be sleeping, so that I can continue to do some housework. Then we have more play time - sometimes in the basement or sometimes in the kitchen, just depends how involved I am in that night's dinner.
- Dinner is served whenever Daddy walks through the door, most days this is between 5:30 - 6 pm. Lulu can be a picky eater, but it is mostly about bland things like potatoes. Her favorite dinner is jambalaya!! Basically, she likes some of each food group (I'll list her top 3): Proteins - seafood, pork, & ground beef, Veggies - broccoli, corn, & peas, Grains - rice, breads, & sometimes pasta, Fruit - strawberries, grapes, & apples, Dairy - milk, cheese, & yogurt.
- The time after dinner is a whirlwind of cleaning, playing, bathing, etc.
- Bedtime for Alexa usually ends up being about 8:30 pm. Her routine is to go potty and brush her teeth with Daddy (while I am putting Jack to bed), then one of us will read her a story. After a book, her and I say prayers (which consists of blessing the 50 or so family/friends that we are closest with - and yes, she can remember all of these names in the right order! - and then saying the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep prayer. I've also been giving her the option to say a special prayer if she has any requests). Then I sing a song, give her a kiss, and close the door.
There are a few big things going on between the 3rd - 4th year of life (according to Babycenter.com). In terms of Cognitive Development, it is talking. I poured over all the 'details' of this milestone, and based on Lex's vocabulary, sentence structure, speech patterns, and clarity, she is well-ahead of the ball game (no big shock here). In fact, the website mentions that extensive language development can be a sign of giftedness :) Next, in terms of Social & Emotional Development, it is independence. This ranges from establishing friendships without parents' help to playing WITH other children (not just next to them) to going potty or dressing all by herself. I would have to say that Alexa falls into typical development in this area. She does an excellent job at making friends (at the gym, community center classes, etc.) and is definitely beginning to play with them. The only part of going potty that Lex still gets help with is wiping, but that is something she needs to be doing on her own by the time she starts preschool in the fall (more on that later). Dressing herself is probably her biggest struggle of these tasks. Sometimes she gets so flustered when a limb/body part does not go exactly where it is supposed to right away. I've been trying to work on patience with her (something that anyone who knows me can attest to, is hard for me to set a good example of HAHA). Then, in terms of Physical Development, there is self-care and toilet training. This includes things like using utensils, brushing teeth, being "accident-free," staying dry at night, and using an adult toilet. Again, I think that Rosie is right where she needs to be (or even a little advanced). She does an okay job with utensils - it is def something that we are working on, along with how to sit at the table & other table manners. She has been 100% potty trained for almost a year now, including no diaper at night, and Alexa has always used an adult toilet (I hated those kid potties--so smelly & unsanitary, in my opinion).
Some other "topics" for late-2's and early 3's on Babycenter.com include:
- Having fears: Not really.
- Bossiness: EXTREMELY... I try to remind Lex often that she is not the boss...
- Preschooler humor: Most definitely. She can crack a joke and if you make her laugh, she does so in giggling hysterics (which is too freaking cute for words!!).
- Sleeping through the night: This has been an on-again, off-again struggle for Alexa the past few months. Mostly stemming around times of sickness or her surgery (more on that in a moment). We eventually resorted to bribery going into the New Year to get her to stop waking us 2-5 times/night. Not sure what was causing all the wake-up calls throughout the night, I suspect some nightmares, but I knew it was important for Alexa to find a way to put herself back to sleep if she woke up. So besides the new My Little Pony she got after 5 nights of sleep (YAY!!!!!), we also have been keeping a small cup of water beside her bed at night. That way if she wakes up thirsty, she doesn't have to disturb us for a drink. Anyway, Alexa is back to sleeping through the night!
- Learning:
Words: Obv. Alexa has mastered the 3-4 word sentences typical of her peers and has a 300-1,000 word vocab. She has been doing TONS of Word Learning!!
Counting: I laughed when I saw that she should know how to count "1,2,3" (that's it) and be beginning to recognize #s! She can count to 12 (then gets confused) and has identified all the #s for months & months.
Colors: She can identify all basic colors (and more complex ones -- for example, her current favorite color is turquoise) and can sort things by color (we just made Rainbow Fruit Kabobs for a baby shower last weekend and she was extremely helpful!).
Symbols: Identifying symbols is the first step to learning to read, according to Babycenter. Which means Alexa is well on her way to beginning reading... It AMAZES the crap outta me the signs & symbols that she can identify. Too many businesses to even list. And I feel like I should also mention here, that she is a lil GPS. She knows roughly how to get to our house (and she knows our address), where certain stores are, where my OB's office is, where the gym is... The list goes on and on. - Working on manners: Please, thank you, excuse me, taking turns, greeting people, thank you notes... these are all things we've been practicing with Alexa since she was a baby (and now do with Jack too). For the most part, she is a polite little girl :)
- Fine motor skills: Rosie has pretty good finger control. You can definitely see an improvement in her coloring abilities in the past few months!
- Gross motor skills: She can tiptoe, stand on one foot, jump, and climb. But I would have to say this is the one area that Alexa is definitely not advanced in, and may even be below average in. It seems like gross motor development has always been slower for her than her peers.
- Chores: The website suggests now is a good time to begin giving children simple tasks around the house, like setting the table or picking up toys. Alexa's interest in wanting to set the table (completely per her request, not ever my asking or suggesting) is a relatively new one, but she is good at it and I can tell it makes her feel important :) And as for picking up toys, she'll help when told to do so but never does it unprompted.
- Disney Fairies. Particularly Tinkerbell and her "boyfriend" Terrance.
- her new bedroom!! Just last week we moved Alexa into her new "big girl bedroom" (which was phase 1 of preparing for #3s arrival in May). Besides letting her pick the paint color (she chose a turquoise), we also let her pick what kind of theme she wanted (no surprise here, she picked FAIRIES!!). She now has a queen-size bed, the dresser & rocking chair from her old room, as well as her new dollhouse, my old vanity, and a re-painted nightstand in her new room. It really is a very cool room for a 3-year-old!!
- the Grinch. Like obsessively loves the Grinch. She is wearing her Grinch t-shirt today, January 19th. I just put away her Grinch cups two days ago. She wants to watch the movie, read the book, watch the movie, read the book... And anyone who was around us the month of December guaranteed watched this movie at least once with her. Oh, and she literally knows EVERY WORD in the movie (which is really just a dramatization of the book).
- Care Bears and My Little Ponies. I found my old Care-a-Lot play set that Lex just loves playing with, and she received some MLP stuff from Santa that she really enjoys too!
- being girly. Most of the time, Alexa wants to wear a skirt or a dress. She likes getting her hair done, wants to wear make-up, jewelry, etc. And she loves to pick out which pair of shoes to wear! Oh, and I forgot to mention, she has a Coach (Yes, a COACH) purse. If we forget it at home when we are going shopping she freaks out!
- Jack
Alexa is
- learning the sounds that letters make. She has mastered a lot of the strong consonants (like b, p, d) and knows some of the vowels and soft consonants. We continue to work on this with her frequently.
- "Reading" (or retelling) books.
- constantly asking WHYYYYYYYYYYYY???????? I knew kids did this. Wasn't quite prepared for it to happen when my child was so 'young.' Find myself eventually answering with, "Because I said so" or "Because that's the way the world works" or "Because that's how God made it." Point being -- we have a very curious preschooler!
- quite dramatic. Know me? Enough said.
- busy. Rosie likes to "do work" -- which includes anything in the coloring, writing, or drawing domain. She also likes to play with her dolls (she has several Disney Fairy & Princess dolls in Barbie sizes), read books, dress up, and sing & dance. Once she is focused on playing with or doing something it is VERY hard to get her to stop, usually results in a minor meltdown until she understands she can come back to it later.
- a very good singer. She knows the words to You Are My Sunshine, Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and the Buckeye Battle Cry, to name a few.
In December, we made the decision that Alexa will attend preschool this fall. I spent hours researching various schools in our area, speaking to them, reading about their philosophies, looking at finances, etc. to determine what would be the best match for our brilliant daughter. I found it at a preschool not even a mile up the road from our house. We went and toured the school mid-Dec and at first Lex was shy, worried, hesitant, but that changed once she got a look around and saw some kids. She ended up having a blast with the class she hungout with for about 30 minutes while I talked to the director. She wanted so desperately to go back to their classroom with them when I told her it was time to leave... At least now I know she's excited :) She'll start in September and will be going on M, W, F mornings for 2.5 hrs. So... we'll see who cries more on Day 1, Alexa or Mommy. My bet is on me ;-)
Surgeries. Plural. Back in July, Alexa had tubes put in her ears after having nine ear infections in 13 months. Until two weeks ago, she had not had an ear infection since the ENT put the tubes in :) When she got the ear infection this month, it was nothing compared to the pain & misery (for her or for us) that we endured pre-tubes. The little device did it's job and drained the excess fluid from her ear, and her body fought off the infection without antibiotics. Thank goodness!! Then after having a scaaaaary sickness at the end of October (that resulted in a 2-night stay at Nationwide Children's Hospital), it was decided between us, the pediatrician, and the ENT that Alexa should have her tonsils and adenoids removed. She underwent that procedure on Dec. 7th. Just like when she awoke after the tubes, Alexa was inconsolable from the delirium that comes with awakening from anesthesia. It was a rough 7-10 days of pain, fighting to get her to at least stay hydrated, and lack of sleep... But we knew it was a necessary evil. And it has already improved Alexa's sleeping habits (she no longer snores) and eating habits (those tonsils must have been so huge that they were giving her issues swallowing because she eats SO MUCH MORE now!!).
I ended Jack's post with a series of photos of him, and I want to do the same with Alexa's post. It is amazing to see how much they change, yet oddly stay the same (and to see the sibling similarities too)!!
Welcome to the world, Alexa Rose Ritchey!!
3 Months
6 Months
9 Months
1 Year
18 Months
Big Sister
2 Years
2 Years, 3 Months
2 Years, 8 Months
2 Years, 11 Months
3 Years
She is our first-born. The one who made us parents. Hard to believe that was three years ago! I cannot even begin to count our lucky stars and thank God for this blessing. The other night, I asked Alexa if she knew how I felt when I looked at her. She thought about it and responded with, "Happy." SHE HAS NO IDEA!!!!!!! I love this little girl beyond measure and can't wait for the many more adventures we will have with her
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