Blake Olivia: 3 years old

**Better late than never.  Her b-day was September 8th.**

Well, we now have a "threenager."  Three is going to be a fun but tough year.  Blake is too smart for her own good.  She genetically has been gifted with a stubborn streak. She can do so much now which makes things really fun but oh man is she tough on us.  She knows what she wants and isn't afraid to let us know .

Yes I know that I will one day, when she's about 13, be wishing for these days of toddler battles and potty struggles. I truly do love every moment with these kids and can (mostly) laugh off all the drama. You have to just laugh at the logic of a 3 year old or you will go crazy.

She wanted a Tangled themed birthday party and we wanted something easy so we did it at Pump It Up. I highly recommend a bounce place for a party.  They did everything for us, including packing up my car at the end. And the kids love it and are exhausted by the end.

Rapunzel stopped by and sang all the songs from the movie.

And we bounced.

  And then ate pizza and cake.

And in two hours we were out the door with no mess to clean up :)

 Also, we all had a Rapunzel themed t-shirt. Special thanks to the best dad ever for being a good sport about that. 

Then, the morning of her actual birthday we had a special donut cake and I took the morning off of work to celebrate :)

Here's an update on what's going on with Blake:

• He eyes are now greenish and change color all the time. I love when they are kind of grayish.
• She's tall, like mom. (95th percentile)
• She's stubborn/strong willed.  I'm told this is a really good quality to have and can lead to more success in life.  Let's hope so because it's challenging right now. 
• She is still the pickiest eater. It's a daily struggle to get her to eat.
• She needs to but refuses to nap and hasn't had regular naps in over a year.
• She is testing boundaries and experimenting with some new attitude but all in all she is really very sweet natured.
• She is starting to come out of her shell but still can be really shy with new people.
• Her language skills are a little too good.  She says hilarious stuff though.
• She loves playing with older kids.  I was so worried this summer when she would just run up to the big kids at the concerts in the park. I was terrified they would be mean to her but the kids welcomed her right in and because her language is so strong, she does fine with them.  Gross motor skills, on the other hand, are still a bit slow.
• We did My Gym for most of the year but finally gave it up when she kept getting sick after her classes.  It's such a germy place and people always bring their sicks kids to class.
• We are currently deciding what activity to do next. 
• We have talked about and tried to encourage potty training but we are getting a lot of push back from her.
• She gets so much attention for her curly hair.  People can not help themselves. Some actually reach out and touch her head.  SO weird!
• She is excited about going to school soon. 
• Her current loves: gummy snacks, swimming, Disney, Fashems and Mashems toys, dressing up, pretending, anything girly, doing make up, baby dolls, Barbies.