Three

Abby turned 3 a few weeks ago and it's like the floodgates of 3 opened up on us. We have entered the stage of "Why?". That is probably the most-said word that comes up in our house these days. And not just by Abby. :) In an effort to maintain a good mother-daughter relationship where Abby feels like she can ask me questions, I dutifully answered each WHY. The conversations began to spiral out of control. Now I limit myself to only answering a few WHYs for each subject and then try to turn it back on her by saying, "Why do you think..." Sometimes that works better than others.

"Can I use this?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you asked."

"Why?"

"Because you wanted to use it."

"Oh. Why?"

"I have no idea. You tell me."

"No, you tell me why. I asked you."

"Who gave this to me?"

(Insert appropriate name)

"Why?"

"Because they love you so much."

"Why do they say I love you?"

"Because you're so nice, and cute, and great."

"Why?"

"Because you're my daughter."

"Oh. Why did you say because you're my daughter?"

"Because you are."

"Okay." (pause) "Why?"

Now Abby wants to be incredibly independent with going to the bathroom. Unfortunately, Sam wants to accompany her too and they both end up in tears because Sam's plans of playing in the toilet bowl were foiled and Abby is blocking him from both the toilet paper AND the flusher and Abby is so distracted she hasn't even gone potty yet and she wants Sam out but she doesn't want me to come in to get him. I have been assigned hallway duty and "don't come in, Mom!" rings out after each "Samuel David! Stop it!" On the plus side of this bathroom independence is the fact that Abby has decided she will no longer wear a diaper to bed. So in the last two weeks, she's done great and has only had a few accidents at night which overall is pretty impressive.

We have also entered the world of having opinions about clothing and hairstyle. Dresses and skirts are the optimal choice of clothing and hair choice changes each day. I don't know where she got the idea of being fancy since I'm in jeans and a sweater with a ponytail every day, but Abby "needs" a skirt/dress and a specific hairstyle. She cracks me up. We need to go shopping for this new wardrobe because we are quickly running out of skirts and warm tights!

Welcome to 3, Abby and family. It's a whole different world from 2.