The Gillespie Family: Lacey is THREE!

Our baby is growing up so fast! She is THREE! At three years old, Lacey is 37.5 inches tall, weighs 30 pounds, and has a BMI in the 25th-50th percentile. She wears size 3T and shoe size 8.

Despite the many ways in which she is becoming a big girl, she still likes to be the baby. Lacey always want to be held, carried, sit in your lap, etc. While I love my cuddle bug, she is a bit big to be carried all the time. She also remains a bit shy when in new situations, and it has taken her a good several weeks to warm up at school.

Lacey is repeating the 2 year old class at Harding Academy due to her September birthday. They allowed her in early last year, but with the idea that she would need to repeat it to get on track with their age cut off date. Academically, she is doing very well. She knows all her colors, can count past 10 (usually to 12 or 13) and has a very strong vocabulary. I am often surprised by the words I hear her using at her age. One of her favorite phrases is "that's bisgusting!" which she says all the time, even when it's not appropriate because the way she says it makes us laugh. She is also good with song lyrics and she sings often.

Smart as she is, she is equally cunning, and it keeps us on our toes, to put it nicely. Lacey is so strong willed and obstinate. Potty training has especially been a challenge. Using the potty is one of very few areas where young children can exert control, and she has done it. We initially went to potty train around the new year, but I was sick and couldn't keep it up for a couple intense training days that I had without work. I then decided I would try again at spring break and that was a bust. She could do it, and did a few times very successfully, but then would just decide she wasn't going to do it again. Finally, in June my mom stayed with them one week while my sister was gone and she kept taking Lacey to the potty and rewarding with treats (which I had also done before). She was beginning to be successful and I couldn't let it go this time. We kept at it all summer and I eventually just put her in pull-ups because she kept having accidents from refusing to go earlier. One time I came home with chocolate ice cream, which she loves, and all she had to do to get it was go potty and she refused. So Luke went and he earned his ice cream and we ate it in front of her and she acted like she didn't care at all. I think it killed me more than her. The good news is that school has been fantastic for this. She was completely trained before school, but if she refused to go at one point, she would have accident later. And she was still having a problem pooping in the potty. So far she really has not had any accidents at school due to going to regularly as part of their schedule, praise the Lord! And she wears panties, too, not pull-ups, so this is a big win!

Lacey has alway had trouble with regular sleep patterns and has bucked naps in most of the last several months. I never believed moms who said their kids stopped napping at age 2 until I had one. In fact, over the summer I started just giving her "room time" where she was kept in her room, even just to play, in order to both encourage a set time for her to sleep if she was inclined and to make sure she knew what was expected of her. At the end of her last school year naps were a real problem and that was one of my biggest concerns going into this new school year. However, so far so good this year, which is a big answered prayer! In fact, school is a lot of the reason she takes naps at all, so I am so thankful for that routine.

Bedtime remains a problem as well. Lacey cannot fall asleep easily and, especially if she has had a nap that day, she often will not fall asleep until 9:30 or even later many nights. I finally put up a baby gate in her doorway to at least keep her in her room, high enough she cannot climb over and low enough she cannot get under. We do a full bedtime routine to calm down with a bath most nights, books, prayers, songs, hugs and kisses, but she still can't go right to sleep. Between her strong will and desire to be up and part of it all, watch out world!

Lacey is so girly! Her favorite color is purple and she loves all things sparkly. Her favorite shoes are red patent. She absolutely loves to dress up in her dress up clothes, shoes and purse and walk around the house. She loves tutus and layers them over or under the dress up clothes. The Disney princesses are a recent favorite, with Elsa and Ariel being her top two favorites.

And yet, thanks to her brother's influence, she talks about toots and burps and potty words for which she gets into trouble. Interesting thing is, which totally makes sense if you know her personality, she will risk the ultimate punishment (apple cider vinegar for mouth offenses) and see how far she can get, whereas Luke is scared to death of the punishment and so he now says fewer potty words than Lacey.

Another thing she has learned from Luke is all about Ninja Turtles and, more recently, Star Wars. A few weeks ago I was reading Luke a Ninja Turtle book and she looks at me and says, "Mom is Master Yoda in this one?" Her Daddy was so proud.

Something gained from her brother that I am not so happy about is her increased pickiness. While there are some food she likes and will continue to eat despite him refusing to do so, she is starting to now refuse some of the things he does, making it much more difficult to feed her. She is still a much better eater than Luke, but she still falls in the picky category.

Miss Lacey had a Frozen themed party.