Caroline was officially 3 1/2 last month. She is loving getting to say that when people ask her how old she is! She is an absolute joy and brightens our lives. Here are some special things about our sweet three-and-a-half year old.
- She prays some of the most heartfelt and Spirit-filled prayers you will ever hear. Now, her theology isn't always spot on, but her heart is definitely in the right place. For example, she often prays, "We just THANK YOU, for this HOLY SPIRIT that you MADE for us." We've explained to her that the Holy Spirit was not created, and is in fact God, but she's not buying it. She also is very persistent in her prayers for healing.
- She is often in her own little world, just absolutely enjoying life. We will all be walking somewhere together and look behind us and notice that Caroline is just dancing and bobbing her little self along. I think she's where they got the phrase, "walks to the beat of her own drum!"
- I realized the other day that she can count to forty all by herself! For the longest time she was skipping 14 and 15 and then stopping completely at 19, but the other day she just went right on and got to forty before needing help!
- She knows all of her letters and sounds and is starting to do really well putting together three-letter consonant-vowel-consonant words. She isn't really interested in sitting down for Alpha Phonics lessons quite yet though, so we still just play a lot of letter and sound games. It won't be long!
- She just loves playing pretend with Anna Kate. They can entertain each other for quite some time playing babies, or school, or doctor.
- Since she turned three in the fall, Caroline was able to join the preschool choir at church and loves it. She loves to sing and did a fantastic job at their first performance at Easter. She stood up with all the kids and stayed focused and did just what she was supposed to do (we really didn't know what to expect from that one!).
- She loves to color, do worksheets, practice writing (she writes her name very well!), and do our Five in a Row activities during school time. She is definitely going to be my hands-on learner.
- She is a big help around the house. She is great at separating clean laundry into an upstairs pile (girls clothes) and a downstairs pile (Mommy and Daddy's clothes and kitchen things). She also transfers laundry to the dryer, hangs up cloth diapers on the rack, and cleans up her toys.
- She loves reading to Eleanor. She has memorized a few of Eleanor's favorite books (e.g. There's a Wocket in my Pocket) and loves to read them to her. Ellie loves it too!
- While she's not quite old enough for organized sports, she has loved practicing soccer and t-ball alongside Anna Kate. She has some pretty impressive throwing and hitting skills for a 3 1/2 year old!
- She is still pretty slow to wake up each morning and afternoon. She will get her blankie and sometimes just make it partway down the stairs before she just sits and waits a while. Then when she is finally ready to join the world, she will make it to the couch and snuggle for a little while longer. Then she wants to know if she can have a "Good morning snack".
- Speaking of sleeping, she still has no concept of the difference between nighttime sleep and naptime sleep. She refers to them both as "this nap."
- She often uses the word "wonder" when she means to say "wish." A few weeks ago, I headed to FL for Andrew's graduation. Because I was flying, I only took Eleanor with me, since she was free. The whole week leading up to our trip, Caroline kept saying, "I wonder if I was Ellie," with the saddest little face and eyes you've ever seen!
- She is starting to become very interested in playing violin! She now knows how to hold the violin correctly under her chin, and how to play the Ant Song (plucking each of the four strings). She even performed at our recital last week! She is also starting to play the Goody Goody Stop Stop rhythm with the bow and does pretty well.
- She is constantly making us laugh with her silly antics. She has figured out how to make some amazing silly faces and uses them at the most appropriate times (e.g. family pictures). Just working to live up to the stereotypical "Little Middle" personality!
Caroline, our little Bear, we love you and you are just the greatest. Thank you for making every single day fun and exciting!
