Monday, December 7, 2015

Pippa at 3

Here's our sweet Pippa on her third birthday. Well, actually two days after her birthday. We were at Lake Tahoe on her actual birthday and since she doesn't know the exact date of her birthday yet, we just told her it happened on the day we got back and celebrated then. It was a win-win.


Here's what Pippa has been up to in the months around her 3rd birthday:

  • Likes to point to the photos of other books on the back of book jacket and ask if we have each one.
  • Likes to pretend that blankets on the floor are swimming pools and plays in them.
  • Calls us "MomMom" and "DadDad" - I think it's based on "LaLa" - the name she uses most for Roxy.
  • T and I read the book "1-2-3 Magic" and use the principles so sometimes we count her and if we get to three she has to have a time out (that's the very basic gist of it). Anyway, sometimes Pippa counts Roxy when Roxy is doing something Pippa doesn't like - just like how T and I count Pippa.
  • Gets distracted by mirrors. All the time. Still. When she's supposed to be getting dressed (her closet doors are giant mirrors), when she's supposed to be washing her hands, when she's supposed to be eating dinner and she can kind of see her reflection in the patio door, when she's supposed to be going to the bathroom, and so on.
  • Loves playing with cars. Often names the same three Dory, Marlin, and Nemo (from the movie "Finding Nemo") but if those three aren't around she'll give those names to other cars.
  • Her summer jammies have a purple top and every time she takes them off in the morning she purposely gets the purple top stuck at the crown of her head and says "I got purple hair!" then wants to go look at her purple hair in the mirror.
  • Sometimes sings "Happy Birthday to Geronimo" ("Say Geronimo" is a pop song she likes.)
  • Does a long Aaaaaa-men at the end of prayers.
  • Gives unprompted prayers that are sometimes just the opening and closing and sometimes they are really great and detailed.
  • Has really fluent, long sentences.
  • When we sing "I love Daddy, he loves me..." for some reason she always does the ending the same different way. It's written as "we are a happy family" and Pippa always sings "we are a happy family all together."
  • Sings to Roxy when Roxy is upset to help her feel better.
  • Favorite phrase is "I do it!"
  • Figured out she can shock people after going down a slide.
  • Calls palm trees "pom-pom" trees.
  • Hardly ever holds hands with us when snuggling at bed time / nap time. (That has been her thing since she started sleeping unswaddled as a baby - sometimes it would drive T nuts because it would take so long for her to fall asleep and sometimes Pippa had clammy hands and she wouldn't just hold your hand she would hold it and twist it all around)
  • Says "One at a time!!!" when we're going down / up the stairs in the house. Often that is paired with "It's the red hand! Stop!!!"
  • Wants tape (scotch tape or painter's tape) on her owies, not band-aids.
  • Requests first baby whenever it is just me and her (so basically when Roxy is sleeping). I carry her lying down in my arms (usually while going down the stairs) and tell her "You were my first baby. The first baby I held and kissed and rocked and nursed. The first baby I dressed and changed diapers for and took to the doctor, and giggled with (and so on and so on) ... and no matter how big you get you will always be my first baby."
  • Runs around chasing Roxy screaming what sounds like "Jew-rah! Jew-rah! Jew-rah!" I have no idea where that came from but they both laugh hysterically.
  • Very conscious of her owies. She will say when we're helping her get dressed or helping play "And DON'T touch my owie!" Even if the owie is pretty much healed. 


  • Likes to dress the same as Roxy.
  • Loves Family Home Evening and asks for it (mostly for the treats? I'm not sure.) 
  • Her idea of matching is the same color on top as on bottom (a pink top requires a pink pants, even if the shades clash terribly).
  • Pippa was popping out of bed all the time, so now the routine is we sing / story then say "stay in bed for 5 minutes then I'll come snuggle you" then we go in at 5 and do another story then say stay in bed for 10 then rinse repeat stay in bed until the bunny wakes up (her tot clock has a sleeping bunny when she needs to stay in bed and an awake bunny when she can get out of bed in the morning)
  • Tries to pick up Roxy then freaks out when she can't.
  • Has a hard time waking up from naps. It takes a good 30 minutes, sometimes up to an hour for her to be happy to be awake. Often when I gently wake her and say "It's wake time" she will scream back "Don't SAY that!"
  • Is very concerned about where Roxy is and where Roxy is going.
  • Picks up new songs and stories like nobody's business.
  • Likes to point to where she had past hurts and tell us "Owies all healed!"
  • Pronounces ice as "eye-sk"
  • When we're tucking her in bed at night (not nap) Pippa will say "Talk to me." She is her mother's child with nighttime talks :)
  • Started singing with me instead of taking turns - Grandma E introduced that to her.
  • Nicknames of Z-Z and ZZ Top and still Z-Bear.
  • Makes up words all the time and tells me she wants it (the made up word, that is. Like the made up word is an actual object.)
  • Makes up songs all the time to everything. She is her father's daughter :)
  • Can do her own curlies and will spray and scrunch her hair to make it curly.
  • Is so cranky waking up from a nap but is so happy when she wakes in the morning.
  • Calls Roxy "sweetheart" sometimes and sometimes "sister." So adorable.
  • LOVES reading (she has since literally 6 months old, but it still makes me SO happy that she loves to read!). When we get new books from the library she wants to read them all in a row and multiple times. We will literally read to her for an hour straight.
  • When I need to put Roxy down for a nap (so much easier since we sleep trained her in April!) I'll tell Pippa to sit on my bed for two minutes then we will watch a movie. And Pippa will do it and sit and wait patiently. We don't watch a whole movie. We watch one or two songs from a Disney movie. Sometimes I feel guilty that she's kind of conditioned to watch TV when Roxy naps, but it's only about 15 minutes a day total so I try not to feel too bad. 
  • We love the way she blows kisses. I'll have to take a video. She kisses her hand then blows then kind of throws her hand in your direction. And if you blow her a kiss she will grab it and put it on her cheek (got that from Grandpa E) and it's super cute. She and T blow double kisses - it's their thing. 

We crazy love this girl. It feels like she's been with us for much longer than three years - in a fantastic  kind of way. 

2 comments: