Abbey Turns 3!

Yes, I realize that Abbey turned 3 about 6 weeks ago now, but I was unable to get her a doctor's appointment with our doctor in a time that did not directly coincide with nap time until today (although this is mostly my fault for waiting until the week before her birthday to call and schedule an appointment). Anyway, since I wasn't able to get an appointment until now, I made it a double appointment so Juliette could get her 2 year appointment at the same time (more on that later). Abbey has historically been extremely scared of the doctor, but she did great. I think it helped to have her go to so many of her siblings' appointments and also to read books about going and of course playing doctor at home always helps too. And I am sure part of it is her age and growing out of the fear too. She did great though! She was very nice to the doctor, although she did request that Juliette go first. She asked me about a million times to tell the doctor that Juliette would go first, but once he came in, I didn't even have a chance before she quickly told him that Juliette would be going first! She said she needed to hold Juliette's hand during her part of the appointment so she wouldn't be scared. Juliette was not scared, but Abbey did hold her hand anyway and it was sweet. After she watched the doctor examine Juliette (and noticed that nothing seemed to hurt or bother Juliette during the exam), she was brave and fine during her exam. She weighed in at 30.5 pounds and was 37.5 inches. This put her in the 50% for weight and 70% for height. She has historically been in the 50% all around, so she really grew in height this time (taking after Daddy I guess).

Developmentally, Abbey is 3 going on 5 (to keep up with her brother and cousin). She does whatever they do, and usually does it almost as well as they do too. She is our very good eater (they all are pretty good, but Abbey is the one who will try anything). Whenever Paul has something new or different to eat, she wants to try it. There aren't many foods she doesn't like, but the big thing is that she is always willing to try it. She is pretty adventuresome in other ways too. Basically, she just wants to keep up. Ben is more cautious and I would not be surprised if we teach them both to ride their bikes without training wheels at the same time (Ben wanted no part of that this summer, but I bet if Abbey shows an interest next summer he will do it pretty quickly).

Abbey starts preschool next Tuesday and she could not be more excited. She loves her backpack and just the other day I saw her showing it to Juliette. These were some of her comments, "See Juliette, it has my name on it...not your name, my name! And see here are the zippers...so you can zip stuff." Every day Ben has gone to school this week, Abbey has brought her backpack in the car like she is ready to go. We had orientation yesterday for her class (she has the same teacher Ben had last year so that is good) and she did great. Of course she had no problem talking to the teachers as she is pretty outgoing (compared to Ben anyway). I do not anticipate any problems come Tuesday when I go to drop her off...of course it will probably be harder on me!

She is learning all her letters and probably knows most of them by now. She can read her name and that helped her find her cubby at school. She is very empathetic and will often try to comfort her brother or sister when they are upset. She is sensitive and sometimes she is quite the crier/whiner. I would say that is her main behavior issue at this point, which we never really had with Ben. But she is a pleaser and wants to make you happy. She loves to be around people and loves sharing her room with Juliette. Just yesterday I suggested that we go shopping just her and me to get some one on one time and she didn't understand why we wouldn't bring Juliette too ("But Mom, she's my sister!"). She is a real sweetheart and we are having a great time with her and can't wait to see what the next year brings, especially as she enters preschool and is able to finally participate in some older activities (she is beyond excited for her first dance class that is about to start - she talks about it almost every day). We love you Abigail Marie!!!