Beth

Everyone we see lately has been commenting about how old and grown-up my children look. It's true- just look at this picture of Beth from last August. Some days it's hard to see how much she's changed physically, but what I really notice is her mental and emotional development. She reminds me of a "real" preschooler now, mostly in the way she says the funniest things to me out of the blue. It's like I can see the wheels turning in her brain as she contemplates the world, and now she's noticing new things and picking out different parts of the world to grasp onto.

Ryan and I have tried our hardest to keep her innocent of mean and bad things in the world, so she doesn't watch television (only Dora the Explorer and DVDs we've selected for her like The Wiggles and animated movies on saints). She doesn't watch Disney movies (yet) because even the most innocent of movies somehow turn something that's generally nice into something that causes her stress. Like in Finding Nemo. It was on in the doctor's office waiting room one day and she was totally into it, until the sharks smelled the blood and changed to looking mean. That really bothered her. We also have a coloring book that someone gave to us of Toy Story, the pictures of Sid's demented toys bothered her too. She was flipping through the book and she brought it to me, and said, "Mommy, they're bad. I don't like them," pointing to the page of the toys.

Her interpretation of the world is still expanding, and I truly believe she understands most everything people are saying around her. If she doesn't understand the words, she definitely understands the tone! She's quick to correct me if I sound upset or angry, and if I'm frowning she'll ask me why. Or if I'm using a chipper happy-sounding voice, she'll comment on that too!

She's very into schedules- oh my goodness, what have I done to this child! All day long she asks me "What are we going to do next?" and every night she asks what we're doing the following day. It's to the point of obnoxious, because I know I make very high demands of myself to keep us on a fairly regular meal and snack schedule, and of having my days planned out. I've tried to relax myself on that a little since I do cause myself unnecessary stress, but here comes this little girl asking me what's coming up next!

Once we got pretty busy preparing the house to move, I stopped doing our Alphabet Path home school lessons. I know we need to start again soon, as her little mind is just begging for more knowledge! I think I'll take some time this weekend to prepare Letter D, as that's where we left off!

While this little girl offers me many new challenges that probably come along with most 3-year-old children, her genuine sweetness and loving heart always melt me. Out of the blue she'll tell me how much she loves me, more than anything else ever. Or she'll get excited about feeling Frisbee's kicks, and she'll tell me how much she loves her new brother and give my tummy a kiss. Her interactions with Luke are, for the most part, where our challenges lie (since he's a little headstrong too!), but I have no doubt that growing up with close-in-age siblings will provide her a selflessness that I could have never taught her. John Paul II said, "The greatest gift you can give your child is a sibling," and I wholeheartedly believe that! (Well, clearly, right? ;-)

Here are a few pictures of Beth doing a puzzle handed down to her by her uncles. I only helped her with a few of the pieces, otherwise she did the entire thing herself! I was so proud and so amazed as I didn't think she'd be capable of figuring it out. I give her loads of credit, that's for sure, but she still manages to blow me out of the water sometimes!