Faith August - 3.5 years

Faith is 3 1/2 years old!  Some days she thinks she is 10 but for the most part she is content being 3 1/2 :) 

She LOVES babies.  Was so into her 8 week old cousin, Nikolaus, when we visited my sister at the end of July/August.  I am excited for her to meet our new baby and she is pretty pumped about it as well.  Prior to meeting Nikolaus when I told her this baby might be a boy she said "but I don't want a boy, I want a girl, like us [pointing to Rebekah]"  After hanging out with Nikolaus she decided a boy would be good (as long as we named him Nikolaus) but that phase lasted about a week and now she wants a girl again!  We are currently 2 weeks out from meeting this new baby and she refers to it as "he" half the time and "she" the other half but I am pretty sure she wants a girl... who doesn't :)  She loves feeling her own baby (the one in her tummy) move around and she is so sweet and caring trying to sympathize with my increasing inability to help her on the monkey bars and bend down.  She says she'll hold my tummy when it hurts and it is so adorable.
Sleeping:
Nap days seem to be about 50/50 but she really does still need the rest time.  Some days it takes her the entire hour of rest time to fall asleep and those days are much harder to wake her up but I will never let her sleep past 4:30 no matter what.  She an Rebekah moved into the same room during this quarter.  She is sleeping on the top bunk and has been doing great.  If they talk and laugh before bed it rarely lasts more than about 30 minutes but most days we don't hear a peep out of them in the evening.  Rebekah is usually up in the morning before Faith and although quiet, Faith has started waking up early as well.  That probably explains her napping slightly more regularly :)  At 0730 I will go into their room and turn on a nightlight and give them each a book and a doll or stuffed animal.  They rarely look at the book I gave them but they spend the next half hour laughing and giggling with each other.  It is cute and they are quiet for the most part.
Eating:
She enjoyed my sister's roasted broccoli so I have started making it in the same manner and it is no longer the worst thing in the world :)  As for table manners we are currently working on chewing with mouth closed.
Skills:
Loves the monkey bars, as long as there is help for her to get across.  She has such a great time at gymnastics class every week.  She worked hard this quarter at making it down the balance beam alone and finally accomplished this about 2 weeks ago, only needing help getting up at the very beginning.  Watching the Olympic gymnasts on TV got her super pumped for gymnastics and it was cute to watch her so engaged.
She continues to love cutting fabric and "making" things for Dolly & Mackenzie.  I've started giving her a few pins and a pin cushion to help in her sewing projects.  We've also started with a glue stick to she can get some pieces "sewn" together.  She has become such an awesome help in the kitchen.  She cracks eggs like a champ and she really loves helping to make food.  She also loves the sampling :)  In addition to being a helper there, she and Rebekah both have become real helpers during chore time.  Faith folds clothes (pants mostly), they move almost all the furniture when I vacuum, and we actually clean bathrooms faster with their help than just me alone.  I have visions of giving them a bathroom the next house we live in and making it their responsibility to clean the entire thing.  It is such a pain to have small children "helping" (i.e., in your way) during chore time but WOW, what a pay off in a relatively short period of time.
We continue preschool at the Theising Academy for Young Ladies.  Faith enjoys doing all the prep with the numbers and velcro numbers for me before pre-school starts.  We have recently implemented station time during each day to get the girls used to working on some things separately.  Sometimes they do the same thing during station time but just in different areas.  Handwriting is Faith's favorite pre-school activity and she can write her and Rebekah's names as well as most of her letters.
We've been working on her being self-sufficient after bath time, getting herself dried, lotioned, and dressed - it has been going great.
Play:
Still loves preschool (both real and playtime).  We got a Little People Preschool set for $4 at a consignment event and it is a HUGE hit!  Enjoying this music blocks toy that she got at her second birthday so much more now than she ever used to (she likes the singing part the best).  Her solo play times that are the best are when she is making food and using any variation of a dish set, tea set, cutting food, super sorting pie, or any of her baby doll stuff.  Incidentally, her dolls are starting to be dressed now rather than just naked all the time.  She likes changing their clothes and I imagine it will continue to increase in frequency as the new baby arrives.  She loves playing with kitchen toys either alone, with me, or with Rebekah.  I am excited to get them a kitchen for Christmas!  She continues to enjoy riding her bike outside and asks to do so all the time.  Bible "reading" is still a constant amusement and I love it.

Our Schedule:
0730 - Sister playtime in beds
0800 - Wake-up, dressed, breakfast
0900 - Pre-school
1030 - Outside
1200 - Lunch, chore, reading
1330 - Mommy and Faith time (at least 15 minutes of this is doing whatever she wants to and the rest is usually whatever I need to get done that she can help with: sewing, cooking, etc.)
1430 - Rest time
1600 - Snack, training time, solo play, free play, time with Daddy
1800 - Dinner, outside or other time with Daddy, bath, reading, Bible, bedtime o/a 2001