what stella's digging these days

Three year olds are a blast! I thought having a two year old was awesome, but three is so fun, too! The world fascinates her so much and her enthusiasm is infectious. In addition to play dates with her friends and being a loving older sister (for the most part), these are some of the things that are currently catching Stella's attention:

1. Anything arts and crafts-related. She loves finger-painting, stamping, painting with brushes, coloring with chalk; colored pencils, markers, and crayons. My brother got her a box of Sticky Mosaics through Amazon. The Orb Factory makes them, and she loves matching up the sticky foam shapes to the shapes on the cardboard and seeing the bigger picture form. She also loves Color Wonder by Crayola, and I love it because it's mess free! Also a mess-free favorite is the Water Wow! from Melissa and Doug.

She doesn't have this sound one - seems a little unnecessary to have sounds. Haha.

2. Books. My mom, ever the teacher, bought Stella The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, which is helpful in introducing kids to learning how to read. My mom taught us how to read at a pretty young age, and one of my mom's favorite things to do is teach kids how to read. My mom was an English teacher back in the day! She also tutored in reading for awhile - I think it was Somali women? I'll have to ask her again. 

She is a big fan of this series of books about dinosaurs. Brett likes them more than I do, but I'm annoyed with the writing style and awkward phrasing. Maybe I'm too picky. 

She also loves this music book from Usborne. The music snippets are actually quite lovely, and there are samples of flute, glockenspiel, guitar, piano, violin, and then all the instruments combined. The illustrations are reminiscent of Wind in the Willows.

Like so many of our other friends, we are big fans of the Jesus Storybook Bible, which lays out the Gospel so beautifully and simply for both Stella and us, too! We read a story or two from it every night at bedtime.

3. Dolls. She has a renewed interest in playing with her dolls, maybe because there's a baby in our house. She was kind of into dolls when she was two, but now she is more involved in taking care of them and acting like a little mother. We asked her what her doll's name was last week, and she answered, "Stella" whereas before, she would just say, "Dolly." The other day she pulled down the blinds in her room, turned off the light, and laid next to her doll in bed just like we do at night with her. I opened the door to peek, and she said, "I'm putting my baby to bed." She has a Manhattan brand Stella doll (pictured below), that she actually got for her first birthday, which is soft and nice. She has a couple accessories for it, too. She also has a Gotz doll from PBK and a jogging stroller (second birthday gifts) to go with it. They also make an adorable baby pram if you're looking to buy a gift for a special little daughter, granddaughter, or niece in your life. (That wasn't a hint for Stella or Grace - we have enough doll strollers in this house!)

4. Role-playing. (I didn't know how to categorize this kind of play). We bought her a children's table, chairs, and a set of porcelain coffee cups and cream and sugar from IKEA. She enjoys setting the table with plates, coffee cups and saucers, and then pretending to cook in her play kitchen, and serving meals to either Brett and me or her dolls. It's so cute to watch her do this.

the KRITTER table with white chairs (you can choose blue or red chairs, too)

DUKTIG

5. The great outdoors. As for playing outside, my parents and Susie and Jesse gave her an adorable pink trike from a Minneapolis bike shop, which I believe I mentioned and posted a picture of in my last post. I plan on buying the girls a little plastic or blow-up pool that they can splash around in the backyard. Eventually, I'd like to take them to the beach or a splash pad, but it would be way less work to just play in the water in our own yard. I'm all for simple. She also loves blowing bubbles outside and going for walks and, of course, playing at the park.

6. Clothes and accessories! Stella is a girly-girl! As for clothes, it's fun to see her choose outfits and develop preferences for certain items. Okay, sometimes this is not so fun when we need to be somewhere and she wants to wear something crazy. She continues to like dresses, leggings, tunic-type outfits. Personally, I love the clothes from BabyGap (she wears a 3T in shirts and dresses and leggings, but a 2T in jeans, pants, shorts) because they're well-made for the most part; SOFT, and their designs are classic. I'm sure some of you are rolling your eyes that I care about and enjoy scoring cute outfits for the girls, but I get them on sale, and I'd rather invest in well-made stuff than materials that fall apart or pill up. (Side note: I am not a fan of "character tees" and polyester-ish clothes that don't hold up after a few washes and end up pilling and feeling gross. I don't like the kids' shirts that say annoying things on them like "Little Diva" or "Heartbreaker", etc. You know what I mean. I like Carter's for the most part, but lots of their stuff has the annoying text on the shirts. Okay, not lots, but more than I'd prefer. I love how Gap's stuff is always going on sale, and with my Gap card, I get extra deals all the time. Now if they would just improve Gap's adult clothes. Not a fan right now!)

In addition to Gap and Carter's, I like what Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack has to offer for girls' clothes. I seriously love little kids' clothes, but lately I've been realizing I need to step up my game and focus on dressing myself. It's just not fun shopping for myself lately because my body is constantly changing it seems, especially after having gone through two pregnancies. I'll be writing a post on that soon - women's fashion and shopping - that is. 

Currently waiting for this cute little Gap dress to go on sale for her. I also love their new Rainforest collection.

I also have my eye on a few Janie and Jack outfits - they are so well-made and classic, but you get what you pay for, so they're pretty expensive. I also like that the outfits are available in baby girl though toddler/preschool girl, so if I ever wanted to get the girls matchy-matchy outfits, that would be a possibility! Thank goodness for sales, am I right?

7. Diet. Her favorite foods right now include popsicles, blueberries, ice cream, grilled cheese sandwiches, apples, Greek yogurt, bacon, and Caribou's turkey bacon mini sandwiches. I've been giving her baby food pouches that are a fruit and vegetable blend (like Ella's Kitchen or Plum Organics brand). Apparently people on the paleo diet slurp those as an after-workout snack. They have lots of vitamins and minerals and no added sugar. She has been willing to try different foods lately, and is more open to eating some chicken or whatever we're eating. I'll take whatever victories I can get these days. She takes a Metagenics grape chewable probiotic for gut health everyday, but she doesn't like the Metagenics orange chewable multivitamin, so I've been using them for myself instead. I think I will buy the capsule kind from Metagenics and put it in her food or something.

8. Downtime. She is into Frozen! I don't need to explain what that is since it's so popular, right? She absolutely loves it! She also watches Clifford Puppy Days, Angelina Ballerina, Caillou (so annoying), or Daniel Tiger's Neighboorhood (all via Netflix) when I take my shower or clean up the kitchen.  She gave up her nap 7 months ago or so, so we both need some kind of down time. She has been so great about playing on her own lately. Sometimes she'll just go into her room, shut the door, and play with her dolls. During Gracie's long nap every afternoon, we read through a pile of books or color together. Eventually I'd like to bake and cook with her, or do some Pinterest-inspired crafts.

9. Music. Currently loves the Frozen soundtrack. She also loves playing a plastic recorder. Loves dancing. Loves her little music set from Land of Nod. We also enjoy Elizabeth Mitchell's music. She also likes sitting on the piano bench next to my mom while she plays and sings songs for her. Brett plays guitar for her sometimes and sings whatever she requests.

What is your preschooler into these days?