It's still hard for me to believe, but Paige celebrated her third birthday on October 3rd. I know I say this with every birthday but where did the time go? It really feels like we just celebrated her second birthday a few weeks ago!
We had been talking about Paige's birthday for weeks so the morning of she woke up and asked, "Is it my birthday NOW?" Yes, finally! She started the day by hanging out with me in bed while Drew attended a morning meeting at work. Once Daddy came home, they headed to Chuck E Cheese for lunch with Paige's friend Maggie and Maggie's daddy, Matt. They had a blast playing the games together.
After a Chuck E Cheese came a nice, long nap followed by pizza, cake, and ice cream with the Iten's. Jodee and Addie were sweet enough to make Paige an adorable (and delicious) cupcake birthday cake, which she loved. Paige opened a few gifts that night too. She has been absolutely obsessed with playing doctor lately so Drew and I bought her a Vet Kit just like Addie's and she was thrilled. We've been playing doctor on a daily basis since. We also gave her a Tag Jr Reading System, to encourage her love of books. She was also extremely excited to receive her first Barbie from Grandma and Grandpa. A Barbie was the only response she would give when asked what she would like for her birthday. I hope she loves them as much as I did!
Here's what Paige is up to at age three:
- Weighs 28.6lbs, which is in the 25th percentile (up just 4lbs from one year ago). Height is also in the 25th percentile (Drew can't remember the exact measurement from the doctor). I guess she's proportionately small!
- Sleeping from 8:30/9:00pm-7:00/7:30am but unfortunately, still not sleeping through the night on a regular basis. As a general rule, she wakes up and cries for us at least once during that time. Napping 1:30/2:00pm-4:30pm so this long stretch makes up for the lack of sleep at night.
- Still refuses to use the potty like a big girl. She hasn't really shown much interest and since we don't have the time to devote to it right now, that's ok. I'm hoping I can concentrate on it in the next few months.
- Remains a Daddy's girl, especially since Daddy is providing all of her care lately.
- Has a stubborn personality and often pouts or whines to get her way. This is probably the toughest battle we have to fight with her. Unfortunately, I'm limited in the amount of time outs I can dole out while laying in bed. Guess we'll deal with it on the other side of all that is going on.
- Loves to watch "shows." She would watch TV all day if we let her. Her favorites right now are Bubble Guppies and the Toy Story movies.
- Has grown quite the imagination. Computer cords become dog leashes, the couch a school bus, our closet an airplane. It's so fun to see what she comes up with!
- As I mentioned above, her absolute favorite is playing doctor right now. I guess this makes sense, given all of my doctor appointments. We take turns in the doctor, nurse, and patient roles. She says she wants to be a doctor when she grows up and all this play has really helped her fear of actually going to the doctor's office.
- Paige also enjoys playing with her toy food and grocery cart. Often, she loads up all of her food, plates and cups into bags, throws them into her grocery cart and comes clomping into the living room wearing her play shoes and ready to serve us dinner. She's become known as the bag lady. It creates quite the mess but she loves it!
While Paige can definitely test our patience, she is a sweet, loving, and well behaved little girl. We love watching her grow into such a fun person of her own!

Paige and Little Bear last year, October 2010.

Paige and Little Bear after three years together, October 2011.
The adorable cake made by Jodee and Addie.
Our family of three (and a half).
Showing three fingers. It requires the second hand to keep down that little pinky.
Cake with cherries on top!
Dr. Ham can hardly contain her excitement.
Ready to operate.

She's not sure what it is yet but she thinks she'll like it!
Barbie!!!