Miss Hadleigh Claire is 3.1

3.1, three years and one month. Hadleigh Claire is three and all its glory. There are some wonderful things about being three. She is much more verbal and is beginning to communicate funny things. Yesterday she touched me her cold hands (just like Dave does) and then proceeded to inform me that "I am funny!" It was pretty funny, especially since I had no idea what she was doing until I felt her cold hands on my side. I then realized she is picking up little jokes from her dada.

HC chatters on about a lot of things. She always wants to know what I am doing/making/going. When we go for walks we talk about the flowers, trees, clouds, cars, puppies, etc. She asks about her friends and what we will be doing/where we will be going on any certain day.

Recently HC has done a fab job of sharing. This is quite an answer to prayer because (surprise, surprise) sharing is an issue in our family. Lately I will give HC two crackers, or grapes, or whatever and ask her to keep one for herself and give one to Annelise. She has done a great job of listening and obeying and joyfully giving to Annelise. She has also begun giving her 1/2 of her macaroni noodle, or 1/2 her cheerios. I do not care what she is sharing, I am just glad that she is sharing this week. And I hope that we can continue to cultivate that desire in her...let's be honest, even adults do not like to share all the time.

I have realized more and more how much HC and I are alike...poor girl! Sometimes it makes it easier for me to understand the battle she has with her will, and sometimes it makes me more frustrated than ever. It is such a hard/humbling thing to be responsible for a child. We want her to be a good, well-rounded, adjusted child, and we hope that when she is 25 she will not act like a 3-year old (as we have met some who do), so how do you get that end result? It continually takes me to the Lord in prayer. Whenever we have a discipline issue, we pray and ask that God will give Hadleigh strength to obey Mama and that God will give Mama strength to obey God. That is a hard prayer to pray, but I want her to know that it is always hard to obey. Ultimately we are not under our own authority, but under someone elses...our parents, a boss, a teacher, the governement. We have to learn to submit and obey even when we do not want to, or do not understand...and it is the same way with God's authority. We are under it, and we must learn to love and value the authority in our life.

In HC's Sunday school class they have been using John Piper's curriculum Desiring God for toddlers. They have learned the song, "My God is so great, so strong and so mighty there is nothing my God cannot do..." I never really cared for that song, but it has been fun to use it to talk about God with Hadleigh. We have been reading the "Jesus Storybook Bible" (which is FAB and a must-have) every night with Hadleigh. In each story it seems that we are able to talk about how God is great and strong and mighty, he saved Daniel from the lions, he rescued the Israelites from Goliath, etc. I'll ask HC, "Why did God do that?" and she can respond because God is great, and so mighty.

HC is doing a great job with her chores. She is able to empty the clean silverware into the drawer without any help. While she does it, she gives a running commentary, "that is a little spoon." She also helps me put her clothes away in the dresser. She is a fab little worker. Dave and I have been talking about how we need to encourage her as she does these things. We want her to know that as she helps us she is blessing our family. We know the day will come when she doesn't WANT to do these chores, so we want to build up in her a sense of ownership.

With summer nearing I am thinking more about the pool. I would really like for Hadleigh to take some lessons this year. I would actually really like to teach her myself, but I think she might work better with someone else. We will see, we might do a little of both.