My Happy Hoarder!

I have to blog about my happy hoarder before we leave to go on vacation and I will have so many more stories to tell about you! First of all, we call you the "hoarder" b/c you are. You are constantly carrying things around in bags, going through your drawers getting out clothes to carry on, asking if you can bring things home from places or take things with you. It is a constant swap meet around our house! And your latest craze is long sleeve shirts...in the heat! Granted it's getting chillier out now so it's been okay lately but it's been a few weeks and you even want to wear a thermal shirt or a hoodie in the heat! Getting you dressed lately has been a nightmare! You are more than prepared for fall! So bizarre! You are a very thoughtful child. If one of your siblings is in the very back seat of the car and you're in the middle, you are always asking if they are okay "back there." You still love dinosaurs, trains, movies, riding your bike, food, dips of any type, swimming, boating, fishing, and snuggling. You are so looking forward to the beach and you can't wait to see dolphins so I definitely hope we can make that dream come true for you. You are obsessed with anything sea related these days...ocean, water, whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles, fish...anything. Since you started preschool, you're loving it. You are learning so much I can tell. You hate goodbyes. If someone leaves your life even if only for a second or a day, you have to say goodbye, give them a hug and a kiss, a high five and "knucks" and you must repeat this process at least 4 times. You get very teary eyed and emotional if someone doesn't bid you the proper farewell and do it enough times. You pay a lot of attention to detail and ask A LOT of questions. You are always the first one to pay anyone a compliment on their outfit, jewelry, hair, etc. You're always saying, "mommy, that shirt is really cute." So sweet. I could just eat you up!

Could you be any cuter???

I don't know if they get much cuter than you these days...or sweeter most of the time. You are funny, witty, smart, you pay attention to detail, you're thoughtful...I am amazed everyday at the stuff you pick up on at the age of 3. With all of this being said though, you are still a normal 3 yr old. You still fight with your siblings and throw the occasional tantrum, but it's almost always over independence and your fight to do things when you want to do them. The other biggest fight with you lately would be at the dinner table. You can hold a bite of food in your mouth longer than anyone else I've ever seen! I think you only recognize a couple of food groups: chocolate, chips, candy and ice cream. We were eating dinner the other night and I gave out my usual threat to make you eat dinner, "eat your dinner or you're going in timeout." Your response was, "I don't like the way you're talking to me at all!" And you you cocked your head as you said it and everything...I actually laughed out loud b/c it was so funny! Not appropriate I'm sure but sometimes I can't help myself...you are so my child! You like to ride your bike but not as much as your brother. You are bossy and you hate when we discipline your brother or sister, you're the only person who gets to boss them apparently. You have some hilarious dance moves and actually start ballet, tap and tumbling tomorrow night. I'm not sure who's more excited to see you dance for the 1st time, your mom or your grandma....we'll see if YOU actually like it! You live to entertain the crowd though so I can't imagine you not liking it. You use words that are way too big for you like concentrate and ridiculous. You still love Darla and take her just about everywhere. You include her in all your shenanigans. If you're in trouble, Darla is in bigger trouble. You comment all the time on what you're doing with her and how good of a mom you are to her. And you really are. You love bags packed with anything. You and your brother are like little hoarders packing all your bags full of random stuff and carting it all over the place...mommy is lucky to keep track of anything these days. Nothing is sacred! You love to get dressed, have your hair done, nails painted, etc. You are a true girl! Pink is your favorite color, right along with purple. You are a good sharer most of the time. You like to cuddle and snuggle when it's convenient for you. You love school and walk in like you own the place, they love you also. You are not a follower as far as I can tell so far. Your cousin got mad at you all weekend b/c you wouldn't do what she told you to. This was a proud moment for mommy as I want you to be an independent thinker. I jokingly named you "lumpy neck" this past month b/c you've had swollen lymph nodes in your neck and you had us worried, but after some bloodwork and a lot of observing, the dr has determined that it's nothing for now. I guess you're just skinny! You are a ham in front of the camera and we couldn't love you more.

3rd baby won't be left behind...

I can't believe how much you've grown and how beautiful you are! When you're not wrinkling your nose and giving people dirty looks that is! Grandma swears everytime she comes over that you look at her as if you've never seen her before...that's just how you roll! You are the funniest little circus to hit this house. You never stop moving and you aren't going to let those 3 yr olds think they're running this show. Everyone knows who really rules this house....you! When will they understand that if they'd just share with you, you wouldn't have to take everything, wreck it, and run!? It's as simple as that....Quinney's way or the highway....I have no idea where you get this mentality from!? :) You love to eat still, anything and everything that you can get your hands on. You love to drink from a straw...again you think you're big already. You'd prefer a big fork to a baby fork and don't even dream of giving you cut up grapes b/c that is not going to cut it. They must be whole....doesn't matter if they are the #1 choking food! You fight for your independence. You carry around your little stepping stool and just get to whatever you want. You make no noise and just mill around the house getting into stuff. Your favorite thing is mommy's nightstand where you reprogram the alarm and the phone as well as hide the remote in one fell swoop. Your favorite word right now is "no." Unless you're talking about food or dogs. You LOVE dogs. You can't stand when Whalen is outside. You can say the following words:
Bodie = Brody
Mimi = Finley
Mommy
Daddy
Gigi
Mawmaw
Pawpaw
Dog
Ball
Nonni = this could be anything but usually your blanket
B= binky
ET = your brother's favorite movie
Nemo = a movie we think you like to watch for about the 1st 5 minutes

You are still an amazing sleeper! You really would probably be taking 2 naps still if we would let you. You go down at 8 and wake up at 8 or later. You love your glow worm, your blanket, and a binky and you're down. You love to be read to and sung to. "Happy Boo" means you want Happy Birthday, "Up above the" means you want Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. You are constantly grabbing books and then you just turn around and back into the closest lap you can find, it's hilarious! You prefer the same books but I am amazed by all you are learning these days. I worked for a few days and I came home and you knew what all the items were in this entire book. Just goes to show that I can't miss more than a day or you go and grow up on me! Most days you are like a blur that runs through the house, you are so fast but you don't care if you fall. You love riding your bike, but of course you are already trying to ride F & B's big bikes. You are a total waterbug...you LOVE the water. We took you to the lake this past weekend and you were swimming like a fish. You would have thought you were 4 the way you were kicking your legs. You don't even hesitate to get into the water. You are afraid of nothing! There is nothing you won't try. Everywhere we go people remark on how beautiful you are and it's true! You love to give hugs and kisses now. You skip and hop all over this house and one thing's for sure....you refuse to be left behind!

1st day of preschool

You both survived your first day and it went off w/o a hitch! I knew Finley would do just fine but Brody had been a little apprehensive to say the least in the past couple of weeks just in discussing it. I wasn't sure how he would do on this first morning. He asked a lot of questions the night before when he was going to bed. He started to tear up and needed lots of hugs, kisses, high fives and "knucks" as he calls it before mommy could leave that morning. But all in all it went well. Finley Paige gave her one hug and ran off to socialize as if to say, "Mom who?" Your teachers all loved you and said you did great...what's not to love right???
As you can see from the above pics, naps aren't high on the priority list at preschool, at least not where you two are concerned. When I asked you if you did take a nap...Brody's reply was, "well we rested mom!" Finley prompted melted down upon getting in the car and cried the entire way home over a drink of water, I put her in timeout as warned when we got home, and she promptly fell asleep in the timeout chair for an hour and a half. They do need naps, they just aren't on high on the list of things they WANT to do these days at 3 yrs old!