The sweetness of three

I feel like this might be a dangerous thing to say but I am going to admit that I am loving "three." Two was really hard on me. I've heard moms say that you get one really tough year, the "terrible two" year but sometimes it's two, sometimes its three and sometimes its four. We haven't made it that far but I'm really hoping two was it and we have a bit of a break. Not that we don't have any discipline issues but about two months ago things got SO MUCH EASIER. I have to remember that in another year or so when I have to do it all over again (oh dear, I'm already tired).

And in the middle of all this "twoness" I was dealing with, I kept hearing about Charlotte Mason's idea of focusing on one habit and could not wrap my head around it. But now that things have settled down and I no longer feel like I'm dealing with a small but crazy person, I'm starting to understand that concept.

One little issue we have had lately was the "I can'ts." (And while I had this post half finished in my draft box, Karen over at Candid diversions posted this so it doesn't appear to be an issue that is isolated to my three year old which is a comforting thought). As I mentioned here, we've been working on some bible verses that address that issue. I also realized that the only chores she was doing were the voluntary ones she's had for a while now - helping me unload the dishwasher, folding cloth napkins and kitchen towels, dusting. But nothing formal. So that changed. Now she has her table chore which is taking a little hand broom and dustpan after every meal and sweeping under the table. With Jonah being a "I'm done so let's just toss that down" kinda guy, under the table clean-up is actually a pretty big job.

I think Craig thought I was nuts at first and that first time, I worried that maybe I had overestimated her. But with lots of encouragement she did it. And while she may still pout a bit after particularly messy meals (I love how concerned she gets when we eat something messy or crumble and she sees Jonah start to drop it), she's starting to really be proud of her contribution. And I'm proud of her too because it is an actually contribution to our family. I hated dealing with that area every meal and now I don't have to do much at all. Win-win!

I also stopped "helping" her do her morning tasks (brush teeth, comb hair, get dressed, make bed) and now ""check" them. Sometimes that means I really don't do much at all, other times  its more a case of semantic, like how I now scrub each tooth "to check and make sure its clean." But in the last week, she's just blossomed. I can even say "Go get your shoes and socks and put them on" and she'll come back with them on! That never fails to make me smile. She just seems so much older all of a sudden.

And here is a little tale from last week that pretty much sums up how sweet she is getting to be. She and I left Jonah and Craig at home while we went to storytime. It was a specific request of hers to have some alone time with me but once we got there, she asked to go home because she missed Jonah and wanted to play with him. I tried to convince her to stick it out but once I could see that wasn't working, I told her that I thought daddy and Jonah were going to go out and play in the rain and maybe we could join them and she got so excited about going home and "being a family." So we did. Later that day she kept talking about how she liked him and likes hanging out as a family. Yep, three is the place to be.

And yes, I know realize that this picture would be much sweeter if I cropped the toilet out but I'm too tired to do that right now.