The third birthday is quite a milestone when it comes to presents. Suddenly children are allowed all the 3 year plus toys (although Little is still a terror for putting things in her mouth) which means a good proportion of Little’s presents were things Big Sister would have loved too. In fact many were the same toys that Big Sister already owns and it was lovely that Little now has her own so she doesn’t need to “borrow” her sister’s.

I might be slightly late with this update, but I wanted to make sure I recorded a snapshot of what my youngest daughter is like because, as we all know, our children change far too quickly and it’s so easy to forget what they were like.

Little is still my smiley child and people frequently comment on how she always seems to be happy. While I can assure them she has her share of tantrums and tears she is still the person in my house most likely to be smiling and to make others smile.

While her positive outlook isn’t inherited from me, Little has a good share of stubbornness and independence too so I know she is definitely my child. There have been numerous days she has refused to get dressed and even a couple of occasions I have taken her on the school run without clothes thanks to her determination. The word "No" is being used more and more and I frequently hear her use phrases copied from her sister when she is being challenging. 

Over the last month or so Little has frequently declared that items are in “my favourite colour”, every time it will be a different colour. I think this shows her personality pretty well, she seems to enjoy lots of things and I have to agree that life is too short to just have one favourite. 

Little plays well with her Big Sister when they are both in the mood and generally shares pretty well with her (better than her sister reciprocates anyway). I think copying her Sister has helped to develop her play and imagination skills well because she love role play and to make toys interact with each other. Fortunately, given that it's just been the two of us at home most of the time, she also plays well on her own.

Little loves her Big Sister and clearly misses her when she isn't around, but she has started to be less obvious with her affection. M is often grumpy, wants her own space and she finds the adjustment from being in the calm of her Dad's house to the madness of ours difficult. When Little and I pick M up from school after not seeing her for a while Little used to run up to her sister to give her a hug, but on too many occasions her sister ignored her or pushed her off so now Little approaches with caution.  It makes me sad to see this change.

Little’s adoration of her Baby Brother is clear and unfortunately this time it's me telling her to leave him alone. Her near constant Nursery cold means that I have spent most of the first few weeks asking her not to touch him, or to hold his foot (he can't get them in his mouth yet). It will be interesting to see how the relationship develops and she is currently impatiently waiting for him to be able to play with her.

Little's language has exploded in the past year and I love to have conversations with her. It’s great to see her imagination and to find out about the penguins, monsters and dragons who live in our house and garden. Fortunately they all seem fairly friendly.

I love the words she gets wrong like Gamma and Gampa (Grandma and Grandpa), geen (green) and chop chop (ketchup). So many of her words are correct now I treasure these last few inaccuracies and feel sad when people correct her. 

Little isn’t potty trained yet. We have tried a few times, but she doesn’t really get it. I'm not in any rush, although it would be nice to spend a bit less of my time changing nappies.

She currently goes to nursery for 2 3 hour sessions a week and likes the idea of "playing with my friends" but doesn’t seem to have formed actual friendships yet. She loves the boy next door though and despite being a year older he seems to tolerate her holding his hand and following him around. 

Little loves music and dancing, painting, drawing, reading and play doh as well as getting little characters to interact and role play. Let's not forget watching TV and playing on the iPad (which often ends up with her watching random things on YouTube). I'm not going to complain, the iPad was my only chance to nap in pregnancy.

Little eats well, but we never know what she is going to eat. I could feed her a roast dinner two days in a row and one day she will eat all the potatoes and the next only the vegetables. She hasn’t been so keen on meat since she had a bad cold about 4 months ago, but she is slowly starting to eat more of it again.

Favourite foods include: (dairy free) milk chocolate, ice cream, yum yums, Pepperami and strawberries.

Little stopped breastfeeding around 4 months ago while I was pregnant because she could see how much pain I was in every time she latched on. I thought she might want to start again when she saw me feeding the baby all the time and although she asked for "mummy milk" a couple of times and I let her try, she had forgotten how to latch by then. Since the few days post birth of her brother she hasn't asked for milk again, but she still has an annoying habit of wanting to hold my boobs for comfort.

Little’s hair is still so short and fine and the comparison with her sister at the same age is crazy. They are a similar height, but M was slimmer (I could never, and still struggle, to get trousers to fit her unless they have adjustable waistbands). I can now see that they do look alike in some ways, particularly the lower half of their faces which given they only have my genes in common and I don't think they look like me, is confusing. Ultimately the personality of Little shines through her face and it's the behaviour that seems to shape her appearance most.

Happy 3rd Birthday Baby Girl.