I Survived "3"

Wow, I can't believe we've reached 4 already? Has it really been a year? Pulse... check. Breathing... check. Sanity... questionable. Looks like I actually survived "3." I think what I need most is a reality check. It's true, my baby girl is now "4." Yes, it is so.

I've spent the last year writing about all of the fun little things moms go through as we try to grow our 3-year-olds into respectable little people. I feel a great sense of accomplishment. I set out to blog for an entire year and I did just that. There are 90 blog entries total from June 2008 - August 2009. These blogs document all of the experiences over the year that I never want to forget. As we grow older, memories fade and new memories take their place. I blogged to capture these special moments forever, so we could look back and remember the innocence and beauty of childhood. This blog will be converted to a blog book (http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook). I hope that my daughter will cherish it always. Someday, when Alyssa has children of her own, I hope that she can embrace similar moments with a smile. To survive "3," you need lots of patience, compassion, a great sense of humor, consistency, and an abundance of love. If all those fail, a little Captain Morgan and Coca-Cola will do the trick.

It's been fun going back an reading all of my blogs. We've come a long way in a year, but we still have a long way to go. Everyone always told me that the 3's are worse than the 2's, so I named my blog "Surviving 3." Yes, I did it, I survived. I survived the "What's that?" and "Cuz why?" phase. I survived the potty training. I survived the tantrums. I wish I could say that I survived not listening (a/k/a selective hearing), but we're still working on that. People with teenagers have warned me that it only gets worse. I'm starting to wonder how many times I have to repeat myself to get through. Right now, my biggest frustration is slamming doors and flipping light switches. Somebody please make it stop!!!

My greatest joy is when Alyssa comes up to me and tells me she has a secret, then whispers in my ear, "I love you!" She is an amazing little girl. She's very affectionate and loves to give hugs. She is genuinely concerned when you get hurt and offers kisses to make it all better. She says "please" and "thank you" without being asked. She will even apologize on her own when she's misbehaved. If this is any insight of what's to come, I'll take the 4's over the 3's any day.

Alyssa is an amazing little girl! I'm so blessed to have her in my life. She is very bright and has an impeccable memory just like her Daddy. She's inherited our sense of humor and likes to kid around. We have lots of fun together! She loves drawing, coloring, and playing with Play-Doh. I'm hopeful that she has her Daddy's artistic talents. She loves to help out in the kitchen, so I hope she enjoys cooking and baking as much as I do. She is analytical and enjoys working on puzzles that are for 5-6 year olds. She loves playing games and doing activities on the computer. She enjoys the outdoors and is willing to try all kinds of sports. She loves swimming, riding her bike, kicking a soccer ball, playing tennis, and hitting softballs. She likes to play dress-up, sing, and dance. She's our little princess. She is and will always be my baby girl. I love her so much!

It is bittersweet that this is my final blog. I've been neglecting my handwritten journal over the past year and I'm looking forward to focusing more on my other writing. Thank you to everyone who has enjoyed reading about our experiences over the past year. Thank you to all of you who have commented on my blogs. Your comments will be included in the blog book. This is the end of one chapter, but the beginning of so much more to come. I'm proud to say it... I survived "3."

Happy 4th Birthday!

Today is Alyssa's 4th birthday!!! I can hardly believe my baby girl is "4" now. She was so excited to go to bed last night. She asked Daddy, "When I wake up, will I be 4?" I'll have to say that over and over until it finally registers... she's 4!

Alyssa wore her beautiful birthday dress to school today. Her friend from class, Erin, gave her a dress at her birthday party. Her mom bought the girls matching dresses and they agreed to wear them on Alyssa's birthday. They looked adorable together! Alyssa was so excited to take cupcakes for her class. They had the Little Mermaid cupcake toppers and were purple and blue. During snack time, all the kids will sing "Happy Birthday" to Alyssa and have cupcakes. I wish I could be there to see it!

Tonight, we're taking Alyssa to Peter Piper Pizza for dinner and games. She's really excited! She's looking forward to playing games with Daddy. After dinner, we're going to take her to Cold Stone Creamery for her favorite ice cream, pink (a/k/a strawberry) with sprinkles.

Happy Birthday, my darling little girl!

Alyssa's 4th Birthday

Princes and princesses from across the land joined us on Saturday to celebrate Princess Alyssa's 4th birthday. The royal festivities began with the crowning of our little princes and princesses with crowns and tiaras, royal jewels, and some sparkles from their Fairy Godmother.

We started off with Aladdin's Magic Carpets (a/k/a musical chairs) where each prince and princess had to hop on a magic carpet when the music stopped. Then, it was off to Royal Bingo where they had to mark their cards with Skittles while resisting the temptation to eat their game pieces. We finished up the games with "Pin the Fin on Ariel," a Princess version of Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey.

A royal feast was provided for the guests. Then, it was time to open gifts. The princes and princesses were so well-behaved. They all sat around as Alyssa opened her gifts, each one anxiously awaiting for her to pick theirs. She was thrilled to see that someone got her the Ariel head that she really, really wanted. She loves this toy! She even took a nap with it after her party. She was also excited to get her Ariel bath set. It's a play set for in the tub that is lots of fun. She was so happy to get her favorite movie "Enchanted." She watched it after her birthday nap. She was walking around the house singing, "That's how you know... you love her..." It's so sweet listening to her sing!



The big birthday surprise was a new bike from Mommy & Daddy. She was so excited! She's been playing outside a lot with the neighborhood kids and wanted her own "big girl" bike with a basket and bell. All of the princes and princesses wanted to try out the new bell. It was adorable!

We all sang "Happy Birthday" and then it was Princess cupcakes and ice cream for all. It was a royal celebration to remember.

Our little Princess is turning 4!

Disney Pin Trading

We're newbies to Disney pin trading. Alyssa picked the Disney Princess starter set and I picked the Fantasyland starter set because it came with a purple lanyard. We had lots of fun looking at pins and trading pins with Disney Cast Members. You can trade up to two pins with any Disney Cast Member wearing a lanyard and they have to trade you. Sometimes, they are even wearing limited edition pins, so you have to know what you're looking for. We had a lot of fun looking for pins together and trading for pins we liked better. It's something we can wear every time we return to Disneyland and a memento that Alyssa will have of all her Disney vacations.

Alyssa wasn't willing to trade away any of her original Princesses, but ended up with a few more anyway. Daddy bought her a Snow White pin because she's her favorite Princess right now. Mommy gave her a Tinkerbell pin and a Jessie pin from Toy Story. Alyssa met a lady from Montana named Yoly. We ran into Yoly at Disneyland and Alyssa liked her Sleeping Beauty/Cinderella pin. Yoly offered to trade Alyssa for her Jessie pin and they made the trade. Then, Alyssa wanted Jessie back. Yoly was so nice and told her to go ahead and keep the Princess pin. Then, we saw a Disney Cast Member wearing the little critter from Toy Story that's Alyssa's travel buddy. She named the critter "Annie" and we take pictures of her everywhere we travel. So, we were surprised when we saw a pin with Annie. Alyssa was more than willing to trade Jessie away to get Annie. I think as she gets older we'll need two lanyards, one she can trade from and one that has the special ones.



I traded away all of my starter pins. I was on a search for the Little Green Men from Toy Story and ended up with one pin. They came in a box that was a Toy Story grab bag. You get two pins, but you don't know which two. I gambled and bought two boxes and ended up with only one pin that I wanted to keep. I traded away the others. All in all, I ended up with some of my favorite Disney and Pixar characters like Dopey, Thumper, LGM, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and Lightning McQueen. I also got a special "love" pin from my hubby with Mickey's hands forming a heart since we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary during our trip.

Alyssa and I both got the 2009 commemorative pins to remember the year of Alyssa's first trip to Disneyland and the year we started pin trading. I am hopeful that this is something Alyssa will enjoy for years to come. It sure was fun!

Disneyland!!!

Alyssa has spent much of the past year getting to know the various Disney and Pixar characters. The first movie she really liked was Finding Nemo. Then, she started watching Cars and Monsters, Inc. After that, she fell in love with the Disney Princesses... all of them! In fact, she likes them so much that her "favorite" one changes almost daily. So, what better way to celebrate the end of her 3rd year than a trip to Disneyland!!!

The anticipation and excitement leading up to the trip was almost as exciting as the trip itself. She knew she was going to Disneyland. She knew she was going to see the castle. Most of all, she knew that she was going to meet the Princesses. She would tell me that she had a secret and whisper in my ear, "We're going to Disneyland..."

It was all that we anticipated and more. We enjoyed three full days at Disneyland and California Adventure. Our first morning, we ran straight to the Matterhorn Bobsleds to introduce Alyssa to roller coasters only to find that the ride was down. So, her first ride was the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. The expressions on her face as she saw Nemo, Dory, and the other characters was priceless! We hit the teacups and the Dumbo ride immediately following. Then, headed off to Toon Town where we met Minnie and Mickey Mouse. The Gadget's Go Coaster in Toon Town was Alyssa's first real roller coaster experience. It was fast! I thought she would be scared to death, but she had a blast and wanted to ride again. We wanted to take her to meet the Princesses, but the line was two hours long (and we knew we'd see them later on). In the evening, we introduced her to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. With eyes wide open and face expressionless, she held on tight. When we finished the ride, she said, "That was fun!" While the rest of the park was watching fireworks, we zipped onto the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. She found both of them to be a bit scary, the pirates more so than the ghosts.

The next day, we were up bright and early for our Magic Morning admission. At 7:00 a.m., we were off and running. First, it was the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Alyssa didn't really care much for the snow monster, but the ride was an absolute blast! Then, we headed over to the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. What an amazing interactive experience!!! We all did it twice, then Alyssa and Daddy did it about four more times while I was looking around the store. Then, we decided to go straight to Space Mountain. It's always been my favorite ride, but it's very fast and in the dark. I was hesitant about taking Alyssa on the ride, but she said she wanted to go. So, off we went! She was asking to get off about half way through the ride, then asked if we could do it again when it was over. We rushed over to Splash Mountain and got right on. Alyssa almost flew out of her seat on the five story plunge, Daddy had to hold her in. We only got a little wet, so we rushed around and rode again. This time, we weren't so lucky. The big plunge drenched us all and Alyssa was completely soaked! She was not happy. Off to buy new clothes...

We made reservations for a Princess luncheon at Ariel's Grotto at California Adventure. As you walk down the spiral staircase, you see Ariel sitting there. She spent a moment with Alyssa while we took video and pictures. We were seated and served a three course meal. As we were eating, each Princess was announced one-by-one... Snow White, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. Filled with emotion, we watched as she met each Princess. The Princesses came to our table and talked to her, then posed for a picture. It was a magical experience, one that I will never forget.

In the evening, it was back to Disneyland for fireworks. We waited and waited for Tinker Bell to fly from the top of Matterhorn to the castle, but we were distracted by the fireworks and missed her. Alyssa was so disappointed. We promised that we'd take her to meet Tinker Bell the next day (fingers crossed).


On our last day, we went to Disneyland in the morning and California Adventure for the rest of the afternoon. We went on a few rides again in the morning. Alyssa's expectations for rides have gone up since we first arrived. She now expects them all to go really fast and is quite disappointed when they don't. We visited Pixie Land to meet Tinker Bell and got very lucky that she was there! She was so sweet to Alyssa. We met one of the other fairies first, then saw Tinker Bell. Alyssa asked her, "Why did you fly so fast?" remembering that we missed her the night before. She said, "You just have to watch for me, I'm there."

We headed over to California Adventure because Friday is the only day they were doing the Pixar Play Parade. We went on the Monsters, Inc. ride and it was amazing. Then, we waited in line to meet Sully. Alyssa ran up to him earlier in the day and he almost stepped on her, so she was scared to give him a hug. One of the attendants said, "Never step in front of a walking Sully!" LOL! We also met Goofy, Woody, and Sorcerer Mickey Mouse. We were disappointed that the Toy Story interactive ride had a 2-hour wait time, so we had to skip it. We decided to see Disney's Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular instead. It was a wonderful production of the animated feature and a nice way to stay cool for an hour while we were waiting for the parade. The Pixar Play Parade was magical. All of the characters we love so much dancing, singing, and riding in the most colorful floats you've ever seen. What a great way to end our trip to the happiest place on Earth!

I Didn't Do It!

Who did this? I didn't do it! Oh really? You didn't do it? Then, who did? Monkey did it! Oh, I see, Monkey did it. Well, why did Monkey do it? I don't know, but he did it. You don't know? Okay, did you see Monkey do it? Uh huh. Well, I don't think Monkey did it. Yes he did do it! In fact, I know Monkey didn't do it. I think you did it. No, I didn't do it! You didn't do it? You can tell Mommy, it's okay. Did YOU do it? (head nod)

Poor Monkey! He's so innocent and gets blamed for everything. It's so easy to play detective when you have only one child. There's no need to wonder who did it. If a drink is spilled or something is broken or missing, we know who did it... it was Miss Alyssa. It just cracks me up that she thinks if we didn't see it happen, then she can (1) blame Monkey, (2) just say "I didn't do it!", or (3) simply act like it's a mystery how it happened. I certainly enjoy the creativity and struggle to keep a straight face when listening to Alyssa describe what happened. I do not hesitate to put Monkey in Time Out for something he did not do, just to see the look on her face.

I recently got an e-mail from Parent Center about preschoolers and lying. It's pretty common for preschoolers to start lying because they don't understand that it's wrong yet. Sometimes, they might really forget that something happened. Or, they are really sorry that they did something so they try to believe that they didn't have anything to do with it. Children have really vast imaginations. It's hard for them to distinguish between what's real and what's fantasy at this age. They don't fully understand what it means to be untruthful until age 5-6. I guess that's the more appropriate time to start teaching truth and consequences.

Meanwhile, I will continue to work on explaining the difference between truth and lying. I know it's important for her to know that I'm happy when she does nod her head in admission. I really want her to feel comfortable telling the truth and knowing that she's not going to get into trouble for accidentally spilling her drink or knocking something over as long as she tells me about it. Since Monkey is just an innocent bystander, there are certain things that are immediately dealt with and certain things that I'd just like to hear from her what happened. I don't know why Monkey keeps doing all these things he's doing, but the stories sure make me smile.

The Tooth Fairy

We didn't anticipate a visit from the Tooth Fairy for at least a year or two. Alyssa had been complaining over the weekend that her tooth hurt and we found out on Tuesday that she had an abscessed tooth which had to be removed. She is such a little trooper. The abscess caused an infection which swelled up the left side of her face. She started feeling better last night and is on the road to recovery. We're lucky we caught it when we did.

The dentist sent home her tooth in a tiny green treasure box. We explained that the Tooth Fairy comes at night while you are sleeping, takes the tooth, and leaves money under your pillow. She was quite intrigued! So, we placed the little green box on her dresser so it wouldn't get lost in her bed. I finished reading her nightly book and she said to me, "Mommy, please go now. I don't want the Tooth Fairy to see you!" That was the quickest I've ever gotten her to bed. She was overwhelmed with excitement and wanted to be sure she went to sleep right away.

She woke up at 4:00 a.m. to use the restroom. She called for me from her room. I asked what was the matter and she told me she had to go potty. She was afraid to get up, fearful she'd miss the Tooth Fairy. She returned to her room and asked about the Tooth Fairy. I told her to check the little green box. Since she saw the box still sitting on her dresser, she assumed that the Tooth Fairy didn't come. She got a sad look on her face. I suggested that she check under her pillow. She flipped over the small pillow in her bed and looked and me with the saddest face you've ever seen and said, "Look! She didn't come!" So, I suggested that she look under her big pillow. To her surprise, the Tooth Fairy had left a $5.00 bill under her pillow. She got the biggest smile on her face and took off out of the room to shouting to Daddy, "Daddy look! The Tooth Fairy came! She took my tooth and left me money!" Keeping in mind it was 4 o'clock in the morning, Daddy shared her excitement. There were even traces of fairy dust (glitter) on the $5.00 bill as proof that it was from the Tooth Fairy.

This all happened so quickly that I didn't have time to make the Tooth Fairy a special pillow. Hopefully, we won't be seeing the Tooth Fairy for two more years or so.