My Motherhood Update

I can’t believe I have an almost THREE year old! I know every mom says this, but it’s blowing my mind how fast she is growing up. She already acts like a “threenager”, so I guess it’s about time her real age catches up 😉 I’m not going to lie…2 was a tough age for me and people keep warning me 3 is even harder, but I’m hopeful!

As a mom I think it’s helpful to see what experiences other moms with similar aged kids are having. I feel like it helps normalize the daily mom life stressors and can also provide ideas to try with your own kiddo. So, today I wanted to share my motherhood update with you guys!

General Thoughts: Like I said 2 was a tough age as she really started to get her voice and want more independence than she was ready for. She talks up a storm and I’m so impressed with how much her vocabulary has grown this past year. Now that she can really communicate what she wants there is less guessing on my end which leads to less meltdowns. I feel like we are in a good routine and groove and she will only get easier as she gets older. Of course we still have our daily struggles and tantrums, but overall we have fun together. She cracks me up with the things she says and does and I love watching her personality, imagination, and independence continue to grow and develop.

Biggest Challenges/Biggest Rewards: Quinn has a very strong personality and girlfriend knows what she wants! Her sassiness can be cute, but also exhausting. I would say getting her dressed in the morning continues to be a challenge and stressor for me, but it’s getting easier.

Watching her become more and more independent is exciting. She is so proud of herself when she can do things that she once needed help with. I try and give her as much independence that is safe for her age because it really does help her gain confidence and she will need to be able to do those things for herself at school. I love being able to run errands with her now and we no longer need a stroller or all the things… it’s so nice!!

Nutrition/Eating: This continues to constantly be changing and I know it’s normal. Thank god she loves dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream) because some days I think that’s all she eats (hello constipation)! We also went through a phase a few months ago where she was blowing my mind with how much volume and variety she was eating. I know it’s normal for kid’s appetites and preferences to change all.the.time. and I try not to get frustrated or “force” her to eat, but I do find myself doing that at times. I also notice that if I cut down on snacking (especially between lunch and dinner) she eats more. That’s kind of obvious but, sometimes I think we offer a snack at that time because we are just bored and it’s something to do. I limit snacking if possible (which it’s always not based on where you are and what you’re doing and obviously if she says she’s hungry I’ll give her a snack).

I continue to offer her a variety of foods with each meal and sit down and eat most meals with her as much as possible. She no longer needs a high chair or booster seat for meals which is nice, but hard to get her to stay seated and focus on her meal.

For breakfast she typically has some variation of yogurt, avocado toast, cereal, eggs, and fruit. For lunch I offer her some variation of PB&J, turkey and avocado wrap, fresh fruit, carrot sticks, hummus, edamame, cheese, and crackers. Dinners can vary a little more depending on what I’m making for dinner. She typically has pasta with turkey meat sauce, mac & cheese, bean and cheese burrito, quesadillas, chicken tenders, or pizza. I’ll offer sides like veggies, fruit, and avocado. She has been loving our garden this summer and will eat snap peas and tomatoes right out of the garden which has been awesome! She also eats plenty of “treats” like bribe lolly pops, gummies, cake pops, donuts, etc.

Sleep: Woof. If I was writing this 2-3 months ago I might be in tears talking about her sleep. She went through a solid 3-4 months I’d say where it felt like I had a newborn again. She was SCREAMING every time she went down at night and was waking up several times in the middle of the night and even earlier than normal wake times. It was all over the place and I was having so much anxiety about her sleep. Like everything, it was a phase. We did some re-sleep training and my husband and I really had to get on the same page about how we were putting her down at night and how to respond to her wake ups so there was consistency. Happy to say her sleep has normalized. She does wake up 1-2 x week in the middle of the night saying her knees hurt (I think growing pains?) so I plan to ask the doctor about this at her 3 year check-up.

She has basically dropped her afternoon nap. She totally still needs it and is tired about 1-2pm most days but usually just ends up playing in her crib for an hour then I get her out. Either way it is good quiet time. If she doesn’t nap she is going to bed EARLY between 6:30-6:45pm so she isn’t overtired and up all night!

She is still in her crib…thank god she LOVES her crib and has never tried to crawl out. She will ask to play in her crib with her “friends”. I was thinking about transitioning her to a big girl bed this summer (more because I wanted to redo her room and sheets lol!) but read to keep them in crib until 3.5-4 years old if she is not trying to climb out. I’ve also heard the struggles of the toddler bed transition from mom friends and I’m terrified to disrupt all of our sleep again. So I plan to ride out the crib as long as possible!

Socialization/School: Last school year she was in a little preschool 2 days a week from 9:00am-1:00pm and it was so good for her! This year she will be at a different preschool 3 days a week for the same hours. I’m slowly working on getting her used to more days at school. She also started a new ballet class (it’s a drop off class AMEN!) and having so much fun. I’m working on finding a balance with having her in activities (ballet, dance, swim, science, etc.) but also do not want over schedule her, so we have down time and less routine some days.

Favorite Toys: This is different for every kid based on their hobbies and interests, but Quinn has been obsessed with her magnet tiles for a while now and we just ordered her another set for her birthday. They keep her very entertained. We also ordered her a nail spa kit that my girlfriend said her daughter loved. She is in a huge stuffed animal phase and takes like 20 of them where ever she goes. We just got her this play house for the backyard and she also love jumping in her trampoline (it’s less than $120!!) when she has her friends over.

We are throwing Quinn a “crabby” birthday party this weekend…the theme is per her hilarious request. Pictures to come 😉

xx,
Alix