Josie is THREE

Josie has grown so much this year, not just physically, seems the changes are more social and emotional. Her speech went from just a handful of words to amazing sentences and thoughtful communication. She tells jokes, can make stories, pretend plays, and can identify so many people and things. Her joy is so contagious! We love her enthusiasm over everything. She gets so excited to try out new experiences, jumps up and down, clapping her hands. Josie can count to 10 and identify her colors and some ABCs. Josie loves to dance and is starting to sing songs. A month or so ago she learned to pedal her trike, I almost gave up hope! I pulled her around the block for a year with a bungee cord trying to teach her. Yeehaw!

She is my picky eater. This girl will not touch fruits or veggies with a 10 foot pole. She mostly eats apple sauce packets, noodle soup, turkey meat, cottage cheese, and Lucky Charms. Her favorite food is candy, she will do almost anything for a piece of chocolate or pink milk.

Josie loves nursery now. She skips into class ready to do puzzles. Leaving her with other people is not as difficult, although she is still quite clingy. She is recognizing that other kids her age can be best friends. Her best friends are Adelaide and Ezra.

Sleep is still a beast. My kids and sleep seems like a nightmare, Evelyn is terrible, sleeps with us most night. In the past month Josie decided she is scared of the dark, so wakes up often at night. Wakes up screaming all of our names until I wake up. "Mom! I need You! Daddy where are you? I'm all alone! I 'cared!" A nightlight is not helping. I've spent more nights sleeping on her floor with a camping mat than I care to admit. All the bedrooms are so close together that the awake kids always wake up the others. I still dream of having a communal bedroom filled with 10 mattresses and a huge pile of a blankets and pillows. Who needs privacy? I took down her crib last night, the beast is free to roam. Problem is I'm too tired to wait outside her room for a week in a camp chair like I did with Amelia and Phillip. Everett loves his bed so he never had an issue. I stopped giving her melatonin so now she is awake until after 10 or 10:30 each night. This week I cut her afternoon nap down to 45 minutes, it's helping a little. Our bed is not big enough for two wiggly toddlers.

Josie has a passion for Paw Patrol. She can name all the characters and their strengths. It's pretty cute. She loves to play with Evelyn. Yesterday Evelyn was playing school, she had Josie hopping to all her commands. I was in tears laughing. Josie loves being read too, we read books before nap and bed. She loves Baby Gabi, I love that she gets to learn how to share with a young baby. She loves her Amelia, runs and gives huge hugs before and after school. Josie is the sweetest. Josie always has a hug and kisses on the cheek for anyone in our family who asks. Justin loves her sweet kisses and silly phone calls.

We visited the pediatrician on Friday for her well-child. Josie weighed 30.4 pounds (24.7%) and measured 36 inches (47.1%) tall. She is in good health and met all her developmental milestones!