My baby turns 3

Teagan's 3-year well child statistics: 3 ft, 2 in. (75%), 35 lb 9 oz (85%).  She didn't even cry when she got her flu shot, mostly because Claudia did hers first and told Teagan it didn't hurt.  I was so proud of Claudia for being brave with her shot, and a little surprised that both kids did so well.  For her birthday, we had a small celebration at home with a handful of friends from our neighborhood.  The theme was "kitties and doggies" so we painted kitty and doggie masks and also played a hide & seek game where Claudia hid little plastic kitties and doggies around the house for the little kids.  Just simple stuff, but we had fun.  I think Teagan's favorite part was the cake.

We started a new daycare this fall, the Cheshire YMCA.  Even though we really liked Bright Horizons, they were super expensive and the enrollment was so low that there were only 2-4 kids in her classroom on a given day and all the kids were younger so she wasn't being given any social "push" to learn new things.  We couldn't be happier with her new situation.  Her potty training is much more solid now.  She still has some accidents because she's busy playing and doesn't want to pull herself away, but now she actually cares.  When she has an accident she gets really upset and cries, "but, I'm a big girl" whereas before she would just go and pretend it didn't happen or even hide.  At home, her favorite activity is to color.  She can sit for an hour coloring pages that I print off the internet.  She has started identifying letters, especially "T for Teagan".  She can write a T and loves to trace her whole name.

Claudia is such a great eater, I just love it.  She is occasionally picky at dinner, but that's just because she's tired and grumpy.  I've been experimenting with some random things in her lunch like feta cheese and spinach leaves and she asks for more!  Today she declared, "I love carrot sticks, please give me more" and later asked if we could have salmon for Thanksgiving dinner.  Now Teagan on the other hand, is more of a sugar kid, so all she wants is fruit, yogurt, and white rice, and rarely eats meat.  It's been hard with all the Halloween candy in the house, but at least for lunch, I try to pack her the same thing as Claudia.  We all had so much fun on Halloween this year.  It was our first year having a house, so we did Jack-O-Lanterns, Glen passed out candy, and the girls & I went Trick-or-Treating with some neighbors.  Also, since it was on a Saturday this year, our friends threw a great party so we could keep the sugar-high going late this year.

As far as us adults, here's what we have to report.  We've now transitioned to fall, so Glen got a couple new tools, a leaf blower and a water-powered gutter cleaner.  New England is famous for how beautiful it is in the fall, so just driving to work is pretty amazing to see all the deciduous trees and their changing colors.  We had one fun weekend in October when our friends from Washington DC (originally from Seattle and Eugene, Oregon) came to visit us.  They have two girls a similar age to our girls, so we have a lot in common, and it was just nice seeing old friends.  They live in Annapolis, MD which I hear is beautiful, so hopefully we can visit them next year.  Right now Teagan is still a totally handful in the car, always instigating a fight with Claudia, so I'm really hoping she outgrows that by next year so we can branch out a bit and go on some longer adventures.  We still have so much to explore out here on the East Coast.

Teagan's birthday party.  Yes, her hair is on fire.  But Glen put it out in like a second, so no harm, she didn't even know what happened.  She was really focused on the cake.

Kitty mask.

Hide & seek cats and dogs.  Claudia was so proud to organize this game herself.

Reading a birthday card from Grandma.

My friend's daughters visiting from Washington DC.  Such sweet girls.

Fall fun.

The $20 kiddie swimming pool has many uses.

Fall means illness.  Teagan got hit with an ear infection, then we all got hit with a cold the next week, and then I got pink eye (but everyone else got spared thankfully).  We're all healthy now.  Let's hope it continues that way.

My lame attempt at capturing the fall leaves.  This is out my car window stopped at a light.  New England is this times 100 surrounding you at all times.

Ah, Halloween fun.  Claudia & I carved pumpkins.

A fairy and Doc McStuffins.  The elementary school had a great carnival the week before, and then of course we had Halloween night with Trick-or-Treating.  Lots of fun.