Four Benders and a Greyhound: Dot is THREE!!! And going to be a BIG sister!

Miss Dot,

You are THREE years old! A lot has happened in the last six months! You are quite a sassy pants these days – watching you go from 2.5 to 3, was fascinating and sometimes frustrating. Both for you and us!

You are curious about everything – you want to ask questions, touch things, smell things, throw things, jump, climb, sing, and do everything. You also have started to really try to keep up with your cousins and bigger kids, which you sometimes struggle with and have had a lot of injuries lately. It’s been a busy six months for you – we enjoyed all of the holidays and you especially loved Christmas this year. You were VERY excited to meet Santa and receive some video messages from him, though you still did not want to sit on his lap this year. You enjoyed swim lessons, learned a lot at school (started soccer and dance lessons), and the biggest news of all – you found out you’re having a LITTLE BROTHER! We will now be four humans and a greyhound!!

You’re very excited about “growing into a big sister” and you’ve had a lot of changes in your day to day life already, even though the baby is not coming until September. You got a new bunk bed – which we call your “big, big girl bed” since the converted crib is your old big girl bed. You got some fun purple unicorn sheets and comforter, and after a few rough nights, you’ve finally settled into it. You happily donated your crib to the baby and are excited that the baby will sleep in the room across from you eventually. Hopefully, you will be a big helper to Mama and Daddy when the baby comes!

At three, you’re still growing and are very tall! You haven’t gained much weight and now weigh 32 lbs, but you’ve definitely grown a couple of inches and are 39" tall! You are sleeping a little less these days – probably about 10-11 hours at night and occasionally nap at school for an hour or so, though it is only about half the time that you are willing to take a nap. You have finally adopted a love of Princesses, despite our failure to indoctrinate you. You LOVE the movie and character Snow White and request to watch it frequently. At first you were somewhat terrified by the movie and the Queen and Huntsman who you call the “husband” – but now you kind of love being a little scared and request to watch the Queen part repeatedly. You also like the Little Mermaid and still love Spirit and Peppa Pig. You still love to play with your babies and got a new set to feed them from Grammy and Pa for your birthday. You love to draw on your easel and have really gotten into your kitchen that you got for Christmas. You like to ask people for their orders and then deliver those orders. You’re also obsessed with the baby stroller you got from your cousins at Christmas and like to “pack it up” and push it around the house.

You are very clever lately and think Mama’s jokes are funny sometimes. For example, you occasionally say your baby Rebecca’s name is Babanca. Mommy told you your bear’s name should be Bearbanca, and you thought that was hilarious. You also like to laugh at Kala and instruct her on what she should be doing, like Mama does. You show genuine compassion and concern for her and other animals and are always worried about them. We spotted a baby bunny on our patio the other day and you were very concerned that the yard man would scare the bunny and were only satisfied when Daddy assured you that the bunny could hide in a drain pipe until the yard man is gone. You thought that was an ok solution. You like to help bring the trash cans in and get the mail, and help Mama cook in the kitchen. You’re still willing to TRY most foods and we have a saying that “in the Bender household, we try all our food,” which you’ve adopted and think is a good motto. We also share our food, which has backfired on Mama and Daddy when you’ve stolen our food off our plates! You still love red sauce pasta, cheese, hummus, cucumbers, and chocolate.

You’re almost totally potty trained! You have not had an accident in several weeks… we had to work on holding in our potty at nap time, but I think you’ve finally gotten the hang of it! You stay dry all day though, and we are very proud of you. You still wear a night diaper though, because we are not quite there yet! You still want a candy after every time you go potty at home, and we’ve had to cut you off of chocolate in the evenings because you seem to have your Daddy’s sensitivity to caffeine. You like starbursts and gummy candies as well though!

We have certainly noticed your intellect growing. You like to learn new words – Daddy got you a book called Hippopposites and you’ve memorized it. You know what transparent and opaque mean and you inquire as to the meanings of other words in your books often. You also are a champion negotiator. Often Mama will tell you “one more” and you’ll say – two mama, two! You can count to twenty pretty well – and only occasionally miss fourteen! You know all of the letters of our first names and can state Mama’s, Daddy’s and your full names. You are learning about the world and ask a lot of questions about why things are the way they are, and usually are willing to accept our answers to those questions. We can’t wait to see how you grow in the next six months and how you become a big sister right about the time you’re turning 3.5!

Below are some photos from the holidays and the last six months!

Eating her favorite peach yogurt!