What Astrid's saying & doing at 3 years, 11 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days old

Jotting down some of the latest things Astrid has been saying, and things I've been noticing about her that make this age (she's turning 4 later this month) unique.

1) Astrid refers to her father and I as "Guys".
"Guys! Guys! You know what?" "Whatcha doin' guys?" "Am I going with you guys?" "What are you guys talkin' about?"

2) Evidently she now knows what "cool" is.
I was talking about something today and Astrid perked up and said, "Oh yeah that's cool."

3) Questions, questions, and more questions.
"Whatcha doin' Mommy?" "Why are you doing that?" "How come?" "Why? Why? Why?"
I guess it's time to invest in that book - everything you always wanted to know about everything in the world.

4) Astrid constantly repeats herself.
It used to be the whining that used to drive her dad and I batty -but now it's the repeating. How many times can you ask the same question? All I can say is my daughter never tires of asking or saying the same thing again and again. It must be an age thing that reinforces something or other in that brilliant child brain of hers that never ceases to amaze me.

5) Astrid's incredible memory.
She'll bring up things that we did a long time ago that I even forgot about. It's one of those, "How do you even remember that?" kind of thing. She's like a sponge - absorbing everything - and we keep trying to fill that little brain with lots of learning. (We just enrolled her in a musical theatre class, and she's learning German with her German nanny. I love when she sings in German.)

6) She has quite an imagination.
She makes up stories, or puts two and two together with such creative imagery. For instance we were watering our vegetable garden one morning and I saw a shoe foot print (obviously of an adult) and a little footprint which I thought might have been from a bunny rabbit. Astrid was so intrigued and had a million questions about who was stomping around in our garden. Later that day when I picked her up from school she was telling me a story about how the Easter Bunny Man was in our garden yesterday getting ready for Easter, and he was eating our seeds.

7) Making up stories that are the opposite of the truth
Like tonight I saw her move her hand under the table, that was clearly holding a piece of pizza her Papa had cooked for her dinner. She looked at me and said, "I don't have pizza in my hand." So now whenever she tells me out of the blue she "didn't" do something, or "doesn't" have something - I know the opposite is true.
I read about this developmental stage in children and recommendations include not accusing the child of lying. So we've been trying to reinforce the importance of "telling the truth", rather than "don't lie to me".

8) Astrid has no concept that there was a time before her.
She saw a photograph taken in Hawaii of me and U., noticing it for the first time at my parent's place. "Hey that's you and Papa" she said. "Where am I?" she asked. "You weren't born yet," I tried to explain. She looked quite puzzled and asked, "Why not?"
And tonight she asked me if I had installed the sprinkler in the yard and I told her no, that the people who lived in the house before us did. Somehow the conversation turned to Astrid as it has a way of doing when talking to a 3 year old, and she asked where she lived before this house. I told her that she's lived in our house her whole life, since she was born. Mama and Papa lived in other houses, but she has only lived in this house. She doesn't understand that there was ever a time when U. and I lived without her. Quite frankly it's hard to imagine it myself - a world without Astrid. I know it existed but it seems like eons ago, something that happened in the distant past.

9) Tantrums when she doesn't get what we want
There was a period there after the terrible twos (or whenever that period lasted) where tantrums were few and far between. I'm not talking being fussy - but the tantrums where whining turns into crying, and acting like a complete maniac. But now we've seen more of those tantrums appearing when Astrid doesn't get something that she wants. Sometimes she'll run into her room, slam her door and throw herself on her bed crying. Yeah I'm talking a 3 year old (not 13). It's hard not to laugh at her diva-ness. Her feelings are easily hurt. So U. tried this new technique that he read about - when your kid keeps asking you for something they can't have - write it down.
For example, the other night Astrid wanted candy and no matter how many times U. said no and tried to distract her, nothing was working. So he tried the technique and told Astrid, "Let's write it down okay? And come back to it later if we forget." He literally wrote the word "Candy" down on the white board that's up on our fridge. Astrid was fine with this and then completely forgot about wanting candy. I have yet to try this - but I'm open to it if it works.

10) Becoming more and more independent
"I wanna do it myself." "No, no...lemme do it." "I want to do it all by myself okay mom?" All things I hear more of more of each day.
Pretty frequently whenever I bathe her, she will want to towel dry herself (even if I'm still in the bath washing my hair) and put on her pajamas. That and putting on her shoes are two things I allow her to do all on her own without any help.
But when it comes to other things like brushing teeth etc. she can do it by herself and then I finish. (Just want to make sure she's brushing all corners and not missing a spot. Or in other instances just making sure she's taken care of properly).

They grow up so fast...