July

On the 4th (Great-Grandma's Birthday) we headed to Dee and Pop's house to celebrate for Jill's birthday too. We had a fabulous time.

opening the birdhouse she painted for Pop's Father's Day gift

playing in the sunshine

she got a tee ball set

cake time!

sitting with Pop

Then we did some hanging out at home.

all dressed up as Snow White with the accessories Dee and Pop gave her

new Tiana dress

painting in the driveway

"baseball time!"



This is the game Steve and I must endure each time we go out to the swingset. Her it is for posterity.

blowing out the candles on MY birthday cake (9 days after Jill's)--she said I should have 2 candles for my 32nd birthday

We spent a LOT of time at the zoo.

Jill rode a new horse--Dancing Queen

a Mama/Jill shot on my birthday picnic lunch at the zoo

Jill fed Bamboo, the elephant--we waited in line for 35 minutes to do this, and she was an ANGEL. I am thrilled for Disney World now, more than ever.

in the African village house

riding Smoky this time

riding Dancing Queen 2 days later at the Firefighter Family Picnic

with Lucy and Alice, her two favorite friends in the WORLD

face painting...she really did like it, I promise

butterflies on both cheeks

We went to Lucy and Alice's house afterward to open Jill's birthday present...this lovely princess dress.

At a concert at the library.

The next day we made some homemade ice cream and headed to the Family Pet Expo.

yummy ice cream

riding Star the pony

petting a llama

petting a pot bellied pig

petting a baby deer

riding Twinkie the pony

face painting again...a unicorn and rainbow

Finally we got back into the swing of things. Though I didn't get a picture, we went to our first story time without Miss Sandra, and Jill had a blast. Thank goodness! A funny story about her first dance class...all the way there she was nervous about not having me in the room. We talked about what would happen, and when we got there I showed her the exact chair I'd be sitting in just outside the classroom door. All went well: she took her shoes off, ran to the circle and started to warm up with the class. I went to my chair and before I even had time to open my book, the teacher came out clutching Jill by the hand saying, "This one has to go potty!" Jilly confessed that she didn't really have to go, she just wanted to see what would happen when she did have to do it. When I went in to pick her up she was crying because they hadn't been able to go under the parachute. Too many kids were being crazy and unsafe, the teacher said. In her true drama queen fashion Jill was wailing, "Some boys and girls were not following directions and they RUINED it. This day is WRECKED. I need to go to sleep and get a NEW day!" Poor baby.

clutching her "Mad Bird" in the crazy getup she wore to her first solo dance class...notice the purple socks?

dancing with an elephant at the museum

At Three Years Old...

Jill weighs 33lbs. 4oz. (75th percentile) and is 36.77 inches tall (36th percentile). She had her 3 year old doctor visit on the 29th. On the way up to the office she announced, "I don't need a vaccination today," and sure enough she was right! It was our quickest, easiest appointment yet, and she was pronounced a "solid, healthy kid." Hooray!

We spend at least 3 afternoons a week doing "school," and she really loves it. She even wears her backpack and calls me "Teacher Mommy." She's not too fond of writing, but LOVES anything to do with reading, sounding out words, and math. We're starting to work on connecting the dots and simple mazes too, which she really loves. Jill is SO close to reading...she can tell you all of the sounds in a word either by looking at it or hearing it, but she just can't yet put them together to make the word. She'll be reading on her own very soon!

She also likes to do art projects and science experiments. We do Science Fridays, and she really looks forward to them. She likes to pretend she's Gabriella from Sid the Science Kid and that we're going to the Super Fab Lab. So silly.

Speaking of pretending, that's what nearly all of her play involves now. She doesn't even need us to play with her anymore. In fact, she usually prefers to do her games by herself while we sit by watching. She LOVES an audience. We also do a lot of dressing up and she likes to go out on the swing set and act out the princess stories and other fairy tales with us. She claims the choice roles for herself. For example, when we play "The Three Little Pigs," she's Magnolia, the just right sister pig, and Steve and I have to be Mudder Mudder Gubber (the mama), the brother pigs (their names change daily), and the big bad wolf. It's lots of fun. When we do "The Little Mermaid," she really gets into it, and will stay silent throughout the entire time that Ariel has lost her voice. It's really amazing.

We just finished up her Mommy and Me Dance class, and she's starting Wiggles and Giggles next week, which is the same thing, just without me. She's a little nervous about being by herself. In fact she told me, "Mama, I can't go by myself. I can't know how to drive the car!" In the fall she'll begin a ballet/tap combo class at the dance studio instead of the community center. She's getting so grown up!

We still go to the library every week for story time, and we spend at least 30 minutes each day reading, sometimes more. Some of Jill's favorite books right now are:

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa, Mr. Putter & Tabby, Henry & Mudge, Annie & Snowball, The Jellybeans, any princess story or fairy tale, and her Your Big Backyard magazines.

On June 1st, Jill gave her chupo (pacifier) to the Chupo Fairy. Really, I'd convinced her to go to sleep without it for 2 nights and had put it on her pillow after she was asleep. On the 3rd night, Steve just took it without telling her, and it worked really well. Here's her morning discovery:


Some funny things she's said lately:
"Mama, that's amazing news! Thank you for telling me that!"
"Daddy, you're BOTHERING me. I'm calling the police!"
"Mama, I love you, but sometimes I don't LIKE what you say."
"Daddy, how's your nibbenide feeling?"

She also asks for things using "May I," and she always says "Thank you."

Here are some photos/video from June that we haven't posted yet.

first Supercuts haircut...the kids salon was too expensive

all dressed up at the zoo

petting the corn snake

riding Smoky

first time getting her face painted

hot pink flowers!

playing with her Mobigo

with Sally the butterfly, which she made at the museum

Happy Father's Day

the lone photo of our Father's Day bike ride to the park

all decked out on a sunny day

my stylish Bean

Candyland in the clubhouse

getting her toes done

it's called "Forever Fancy"

wearing her "bride dress" and carrying a tissue paper bouquet

running at the zoo

the best photo we could get: Jill, Connor, Caleb

free birthday cone from Baskin-Robbins

wearing her backpack and "galoshes" to our upstairs school session

scratching her back on a tree

at the splash park

right outside the library

resting

looking sad on Miss Sandra's last day of Story Time
**She went to 3 year old story time yesterday and liked Miss Karen a lot. I was so glad, because I was nervous that it wouldn't ever be fun for her again. I'm so happy I was wrong! She missed Miss Sandra, and kept asking about her, but she had a good time.

Here is Jill's goodbye gift to Miss Sandra...a movie!