Raising a Threenager

I heard the expression “threenager” the other day for a 3-year-old going on 13 and have to say it’s my new favorite. First of all, let me just put it out there that I LOVE my daughter Faith. So much. She is bright, funny, cute and just a fun kid to be around in general. Exhibits A-F:

But she is also 3. This means she is realizing that decisions are made for her (what’s for dinner, where we’re going and when, quiet time when Gabby’s napping or sleeping, etc.) and she’s realizing that it sucks. Sing it with me now: You Can’t Always Get What You Wa-a-ant. To compensate for this, we have times when she gets to “be the boss.” She loves telling people where to sit and how long to be quiet and so on and so forth. She even gives us a script. “How bout you say…” is a line we’ve heard over and over again. I get it. Being told what to do (brush your teeth) and when (NOW!) all the time can be hard. I sympathize. I wish I could wear sweatpants to work and have nap time in the afternoon, but alas, the real world.

Anyway, learning that you can’t always control your environment and others takes its toll. Case in point the other day when I was singing a One Direction song to the girls while preparing lunch. (Story of My Life for those wondering). At the conclusion of my singing, Faith asked “Who do you pick?”

We’ve been watching “The Voice” here and there and she loves for everyone to point to themselves the way Blake does while she hems and haws over who to choose like the contestants do. She even hums the background music they play while the contestants decide who to pick. It’s great.

In response to her question, I got a wild hair and decided to pick Howie the dog. Whoops. Wrong answer apparently. Her next move was to throw herself on the floor and cry. So yeah, threenager. Thankfully, I got it all on video.

Things you need to know
-In case you couldn’t understand “cry talk” it was “Dogs don’t belong on The Boice! Only people!”
-Two minutes later, she asked if she could see “my sad picture.” Didn’t realize it was a video.
-She’s since replayed the video 10 plus times and smiled each time.
-Someday I will learn to sew and fix the hemline on that damn Jessie nightgown.
-Raising a threenager is hard work.