3 year check-up

On Tuesday after her birthday, Eden went in for her 3-year checkup. Her stats ...

• 28 pounds (15-20% for weight)
• 34 and a half inches (5% for height)

She is also making new connections every day ...

• On the way to the doctor's office, Eden asked Ashley if the police car in front of them was for hurt people. When Ashley told her it was sometimes for hurt people but mainly for people who had done something bad and that ambulances were for hurt people, she responded, "That's what I thought it was."
• When they left the parking lot Eden said, "You can park [a car] and go to the park." She was quite pleased that she had used the same word two ways.
• When her babysitter Kim and E were talking about letters the other day, Kim said L was for lemon, and E responded, "Like lemonade that I get at Chick-fil-A."
• When she asked what day it was last week and we told her Friday, she said, "Oh, like my fried okra"

Some of her favorite things to do ...

• Play cd's on the player in her room. She especially likes to put them in, take them out, put them in, you get the picture. She knows that certain cds are off limits for bedtime - we have 4 "quiet" cds suitable for sleeping.
• Type letters on the computer. We'll open up a word document for her with a large font and she tells us the letters before she types them. She told us she could type Ms. T's name - it's a T.
• Play computer games - mainly ones on PBS Kids, but I have also found other alphabet games. She is quite good at spotting her letters (both lower and upper case) and distinguishing between letters.
• Play doctor, puppy dog, and cooking in her kitchen
• Read books and watch her videos or PBS Kids
• Dance and show her "moves". Her favorite is to put her head on the floor, stick one leg in the air, and then put up an arm and start waving it. Still not sure where she got that one from :) but she did it at school the other day to the great amusement of her teachers.
• Yell at the top of her lungs - we have to remind her that that is an outside voice at least once every three days.

I know the alphabet.

Can't believe we have not posted this yet. At the end of February one night at dinner, E asked to look at her "cards" after she was done eating. We got her alphabet cards out of the drawer, and Graham started showing them to her. We were blown away when we realized she had gone through nearly the entire stack naming letters and words that went with them. Really, we were just shocked. Needless to say, we're pretty proud of this newfound skill. And, yes, I e-mailed the director of her PDO the very next day to check on what they'd be learning next year in E's class since I was pretty sure knowing all your letters before you're 3 was a fairly big deal :).

Just a warning, the video's long ... but we figured at least Aunt Beverly would like seeing the whole thing :)

More about E's 3-year update tomorrow.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

birthday leftovers

The day after her birthday, Eden had to show off her cute new outfit (and everyone who saw her at school had to comment on it as well) ...

Her room also got a bit older. There are the party decorations as new room decor ...

and NO MORE BED RAIL (she would not let us put it back on after Britton and Courtney left). She has only fallen out of bed once so far.

the big day

On her actual birthday ...

... we started the morning with a little Aunt and Uncle time ...

... followed by presents from me and Ashley. We gave her new pots and pans for her kitchen (just like mine so she feels like she is really helping).

Then there was more Britton-Courtney time

... followed by good-byes.

After church, we settled down with some new books and tried to get back to life as normal. Having a big birthday weekend was great for Eden - seeing family is always very fun for her ... and we enjoy it too!

 

afternoon playdate

Eden's Party, Take 2

After quiet time (and not just for Eden), those of us left around had a great time in the backyard ...

... playing ball ...

... and doctor (in Eden's castle turned doctor's offie) ...

She would call someone's name (which most of the time was Courtney's) and remind that person she had an appointment.  Everyone had to take a turn at crawling through the tunnels to get to the inside of the castle ... ur ... doctor's office suite to get their temperature taken, knees checked, and shots.

... more baseball ...

... and just general frolicking ...

... and hanging out.

Once the party headed inside, there were plenty of books to share and games to play ....

... and everyone crashed very hard, very early.

what happened to spring?

On Tuesday, the temp was in the upper 80's, so we played outside [E played. I tried to sit as much as possible.] I realize that technically this is springtime weather for Louisiana, but the pictures make me think otherwise.

ajb

today

detox

After the party was over, we were all in the mood for a bit of down time. Eden spent a while outside with her Nona painting with one of her new gifts. We were so thankful that both of her grandmothers were able to spend time with her celebrating E's birthday and seeing her with her friends.

 

celebrating the plus 3

On March 13, Eden turned three. Of course, we started celebrating early (like Thursday) - just like her Momma.

We started Eden's birthday celebration with a tea party!

And by Friday night, we were building a castle. But not just any castle - a box castle. I had been collecting appliance boxes since Monday of her birthday week - a very kind woman named Hollie at Appliance Distributors of Louisiana would save me a few boxes every day. This is what those boxes (and a little help from a very creative brother-in-law and skilled knifesman father-in-law) produced. Ashley was disappointed she couldn't help physically execute the design but she was the original source for the idea so she gets some credit, too.

We finally got to bed around midnight (not all due to the castle construction, State was playing their last basketball game of the season). We woke up to Eden asking if she could go find her Coco and Britton and Granddaddy and CC ... and a whole lot of presents. She knew it was the day of her party, and she was pretty pumped. She was so excited that she had to go for her presents and "just get it ready" for later.

Around 9:00, Nona arrived! Eden was happy to see her (especially since Nona did not make Eden put her clothes on right away).

They played, and we finished cooking, decorating, and getting things set up for the 10:30 arrival of guests.