Three!!!

Man, I love this kid.  I just can't believe she is already three years old.  She has really come out of her shell in the last year and I love that the rest of the world gets to see her fun, energetic and quirky personality just as much as we do at home.

(Notice the bandaid, I didn't realize it was there when taking her big three year old pictures.  It is such a common thing for Laurel to have a bump or bruise that it seems so very fitting.)

Some of my favorite Laurel traits:

- She ADORES her big sister.  They are such great buddies and play together all the time.  Maya is a bit on the bossy side and tends to dictate the play but Laurel plays right along with her.  They bonked each other in the hall this morning and Laurel got a little hurt and was crying.  Maya in turn shed a few tears because she felt bad that she had run into her.  Laurel was quick to say, "don't worry Maya, I am still your best friend". I can only hope they share this love for each other always.

- She is quite the chatterbox and is losing all of her cute toddler phrases.  The latest one to be dropped was my favorite, instead of saying "I not know" she has corrected herself to say "I don't know".  There are a few words I still can't quite understand, the other morning it took me a very long time to figure out that she wanted a breakfast burrito to eat (for some reason I couldn't quite figure out what "rito" meant).  And when she asked me when were going to "Ninnyland" it took some time to figure out that she meant Disneyland.  It is usually Maya who figures out what she is saying before I do.

- She has developed some pretty strong fears lately - the dark and bugs.  I haven't quite figured out how to handle them yet.  We have been trying to pick the perfect night light - too bright and it makes scary shadows, not bright enough and there is too much dark in the room.  The best trick at this point seems to get her completely exhausted by bed time so she doesn't lay there worrying about what is around her.  And if you hear a truly terrified scream/cry from her out of nowhere and can't figure out why, she has most likely seen a bug.  Probably a teeny tiny ant that only she has noticed.  I have no idea how we are going to handle this one as the outside activities become more frequent with the changing weather.

- She is full of adventure and was not very happy when she realized that only Maya was taking real ski lessons this year.  She would have to settle for mommy.  And there were quite a few fits about the fact that I did not take her on the chairlift.  She started swimming lessons yesterday and she could not have been prouder.  She jumped right in and would wave at us throughout the lesson to make sure we were watching!