Siena is 3!

My marvelous kid just turned three years old!!!

With her chubby cheeks and round tummy, she still looks quite babyish.  I love that!  But don't let that fool you.  She is a full-fledged toddler, with opinions, profound reflections, a sense of humor, and enough language skills to express it all pretty well.

Three years with this girl, and you think we'd be used to her adorableness! But sometimes Joe and I still sneak into her room at night to stare at her and say, "Wow, I can't believe how cute our child is. Ridiculously cute!"

This year for her birthday, thanks to our newfound minimalism, we only got Sisi one simple gift.  I made her wait patiently for about 15 minutes while Joe got his camera ready before she could open it.  She has enormous self-control.  I'm pretty sure she would have been one of those kids who waited to eat the marshmallow!  

 Her very first tea set!  She uses it in the bath to make "cappatinos" (cappuccinos) with bubble bath foam.

Almost tall enough!

 Three years old, and this kid has still never climbed out of her crib.  She is so uber-cautious,we could probably keep her in her crib until 4 or 5!   Her cautiousness definitely makes my job a lot easier :)  I swear, our next child will be an adrenaline junkie or something.

Testing boundaries. A major theme in any toddler's life.

Her birthday was her last day sleeping in the crib.  She now has a platform bed in her brand new yellow and teal room which I will be blogging in the next week.  It's the perfect room for Sisi- colorful, happy and not too girly.  I can't wait to share it with you.

I wasn't super emotional when she turned three. The only time I lost it was when I tucked her into her "big girl bed", and she busted out and ran to her old crib and tried to climb into it.  She sobbed and pleaded, "I don't want big girl bed!  I want my crib! I don't like new room!"  

Eventually after I cuddled with her in her bed and sang her Jason Mraz songs for a few minutes, she calmed down and slept soundly in her new bed.

But I learned an important lesson:  Don't label things "big girl_______" because it adds unnecessary pressure to times of transition (which are alreaady stressful to begin with).  Big girl potty, big girl bed, big girl room, big girl underwear, etc.  I think the idea of being a "big girl" comes with mixed emotions and anxiety for both parent and child.  I will let her be who she is.  Not a baby, not yet a big girl. Just my silly, sensitive, creative, cautious, curious toddler.  

And now I have "I'm not a girl" by Britney Spears stuck in my head! All I need is time, a moment that is mine, while I'm in between......

Sisi at a glance: 

• Wearing 3T and 4T clothing
• Potty trained for pee since 2 1/2, but still not poop (below, her sticker encrusted potty!) 
• Favorite songs:  Katy Perry "Roar", Lorde "Royals", and anything by the Okee Dokee Brothers.
• Current obsessions:  band-aids, tails (she has been wearing tails every day for the past 5 months), ducks, cutting things with scissors
• She is left handed for most tasks
• Favorite foods:  berries, sweet potatoes, parsnip fries, pats of butter, sardines, fatty fat fat (the fatty portion from steak, lamb, etc.), brocolli with mayo, dark chocolate, and any paleo treats I whip up.  
• She loves being a dog.  She will ask to wear our dogs' collars, does tricks for treats, and even scratches her head with her feet sometimes.  
• She and Joe often go on sunrise hikes.  During those hikes, they refer to each other as "daddy tiger" and "baby tiger".  So cute!  
• We took her to the aquarium for the first time, and her favorites were the seals, garden eels, and homo sapiens (the divers).  She refused to touch any of the sharks/sting rays/anenomes in the touch tanks.  Like I said, very very cautious child.  
• While we're still pretty strict about limiting her screen time (she's still never seen a whole movie) we do let her watch bits of videos we rent from the library.  Thomas the Tank Engine, Charlie Brown, Pocoyo, and Bob the Builder are some of her favs.  
• She has now travelled by plane to Boston, New York, Costa Rica, Mexico, Oregon, and Florida.  That's a lot of trips in 3 years! 

 I was about to put my camera away when she said, "Wait!  How about like this?" and did this silly pose. 

I love this girl so much it hurts.  Here's to another amazing year!  Happy Birthday, my sweet cherry blossom!