And then she was Three!

My goodness, she can't be three years old already, can she? Yes, yes she can.

Petra had a big party at home on Saturday (sandwiched between visits to Kaiser Wednesday and Monday, more on that later). She had about a dozen kids at the party (Jessica and Katie and Jenna and Eden and Erik and Landon and Bennett and Andres and Sophie and Jeremy and Julian and Jan and Tamryn) as well as assorted parents, and a couple of grandparents (hers and theirs). Quite a houseful. And mercifully un-themed. Just lots of kids playing and having fun and eating "strawberry heart cake" (Petra's pick), and beating the heck out of a giant Strawberry Shortcake pinata (a gift from Uncle Guillermo at year one, which has been waiting for Petra and gang to grow up big enough to really wail on it with a shovel handle).

It was a very busy Saturday, because her school also managed to schedule "Beautification day," when all the parents are expected to come and help do cleaning/building/painting for the school. Alison and I scrubbed the urine stains off 26 cots, stained (a different kind) wooden blocks, scrubbed bikes and generally had a wet time of it. Petra played with her friends, and left early with the grandparents (lucky they were there! They kept her (and napped) while we finished the party preparations, and brought her home just before friends began to arrive in the afternoon).

There was also a nice party for her at school Monday. She is well loved at school, and has lots of friends. Gold plated or not, she is loving her school and learning a ton (human body parts and the skeleton at the moment).

Now the doctor's visits. Remember the toe? Well, it was healing nicely, with 1/2 the nail grown back, when Petra and I went to the park (she was "sick" so stayed home, and the second Alison was gone, she was well again. I thought we had years before she figured out that trick!), where she played barefoot - up to the point I noticed blood and gore all over her toe! I cleaned and bandaged it (apparently stubbed badly, and tore the nail a bit), and she seemed fine until the evening. Then she was playing in her room when I heard a clang and a scream. She managed to drop a frying pan (toy) on her toe, and it exploded again, instantly soaking her sock in blood, and smearing Alison and I both in it as she struggled against getting bandaged up. Again, she was fine, and off she went to school the next morning, where she did movement class, and started her toe bleeding again. The teachers freaked and had us come pick her up early. Though I was pretty certain what the doctor would say, we felt we better take her in to urgent care. As expected, after a soaking and a cleaning, the doctor said "keep it bandaged. Soak it when you can." One amusing part of the trip- obviously the computer system was reporting her age as two. The nurse and doctor both took a look at that and asked cautiously "how long has she been two?" She is WAY to big to be just a two-year old anymore! Petra's been pretty much fine ever since (she actually insisted we go to Target to shop after the visit).


Today was the usual 3 year check up, and she gets all gold stars. Well, except for the "borderline obesity" warning. That was actually a glitch; when we came in for the toe, they weighed her but didn't measure her, so they had her 2 year-old height with her current weight (which happens to be 37.5 pounds, 38 inches tall). That made for an interesting BMI chart!

Now the fun stuff:

Somewhere, she picked up a southern drawl. All her vowels became vowel-Y-vowel (Hayat for hat, Miyine for mine etc.) Certainly funny to hear, especially since we don't know anyone with that speech mannerism!

When she and I were on a walk on her "sick" day, she said "I love spending the day with you Dada."

I walked into the dining room the other day, and was puzzled- where were all the chairs? She had moved them all into the kitchen to build a doctor's office where she was examining Linny, Tuck and Ming Ming too.

Did we mention that Petra is potty training herself? She decided that she wants to wear big girl underwear, and has pretty much stopped wearing a diaper. A couple of accidents in the first days, but she's pretty much dry now (even slept in underwear last night without mishap).

We've had a great month of arts and crafts at the Santa Monica farmer's market at Virginia park. Petra's made treasure chests and pirate maps, jewelry boxes, pirate hat, etc. It's nice living so close to the People's Republic!

Petra's planning on being a robot for halloween. We've got all the makings of a costume, and Petra even has picked up talking like a robot (how do you type to represent a super cute little girl saying "I-AM-GOING-TO-BE-A-ROBOT" in robot-speak?).

We had another visit to Disneyland to see Minnie. Petra had a great time (more rides this time, including flying in Dumbo with Dada). Minnie was a bit of a disappointment for her though. Last visit, she took Minnie by the hand and went for a walk with her, and had lots of hugs. This time Minnie was goofing off with Goofy (get it?!), and didn't really pay much attention to the kids, who the handlers herded through lines like cows at a slaughterhouse (OK, maybe that's not quite fair). A small stuffed Minnie to take home made up for it though, and her love is unbowed.