Brinley Toddler Summary: 36 Months Old {3 Years Old}

This is a summary for Brinley from 35 months old to 36 months old. At the end of this period, she turned 3 years old!

SLEEPING

During this period, Brinley stopped napping every day. She would skip about 2-3 days a week. This is very normal for this age, but there are a couple of things to take note of when this starts happening. One is that your child will likely be cranky on non-nap days initially. Just think back to when you dropped to one nap a day–cranky mornings for a while.

Another thing is that you will have to be more careful about you initiating skipping naps now. A short while ago, you could have your child skip a nap and she did great. Now, she is skipping on her own and if you add to it, cranky city! So I have to be aware of when she has skipped and when she has slept so I know how to expect her to behave if she needs to skip her nap.

EATING

Eating is good.

VACATION

During this period, we went to Wyoming for a vacation. She was great. She slept well and was good. While in Wyoming, we went on a hike that was about 3/4 of a mile up. This is the first hike we had Brinley walk the whole way up by herself. She had to be encouraged to keep going a couple of times, but she made it! And she was very excited to have some time on Daddy’s shoulders for the walk back.

SWIMMING LESSONS

Per my own advice, I had been handing Brinley off to her swim teacher, “going potty,” and then I would go sit up in the mezzanine until her lesson was over. I never once saw her see me. I did this with McKenna for months and she never knew I was there. After two lessons, Brinley told me, “Don’t go up there, okay. Just stay down by me.” I told her I would stay as long as she was good and didn’t cry for her teacher (which she hadn’t, but I didn’t want her to start). She agreed and she followed through. I still “went potty” so she could get going, but she would always watch for me to come back.

SUMMER DIVA

Yes. So Brinley is a little princess around here. Her three older siblings just adore the ground she walks on. They think she is the funniest and most amazing “baby” ever. If she squawks, they give her what she wants.

I have explained many times that this is not okay and why, but they still had a hard time letting her cry about anything. As the summer continued on, she started to become a real diva. I explained to the three older children that she indeed was this way because of them giving in to her. They have made a commitment to get better about that. I told them she would likely have no friends if they continued to let her get her way all the time. Luckily she is not the only fourth child little girl in my neighborhood her age who is getting that treatment from her three older siblings. That mom and I have talked, commiserated, and made plans to get those two together during the school year to help them learn how to play withe peers.

FAVORITES

Brinley loves to play with little princesses. She loves the magic clip princess. She loves to play with dress up clothes. She also really enjoys Barbies and the toy kitchen. Her favorite outside activity is the sandbox.

SCHEDULE

This is her typical daily schedule for summer–not a lot of structure.

8:45 AM–Wake up/Breakfast/Get ready

Sometime between breakfast and lunch, have Independent play for 60-90 minutes

12:00 PM–Lunch

1:30/2:00 PM–Nap

4:30/5:00 PM–Wake up and Free Playtime

5:30 PM–Dinner

6:00 PM–Family Time

8:00 PM–Get Ready for Bed

8:30 PM–Bedtime

During the day, we will do learning activities, play outside, go for walks, go to the park, go do other fun stuff…what we do each day varies a lot.