THREE!!!!

My baby girl turned three!!  I am so excited to see what these preschool years bring, but I am sad to see the 2's go.  Two was a good year for Caroline.  It was certainly hard at times, but oh so wonderful too.  When Caroline turned two, she was a new big sister - only a month into the gig - and at three she is a seasoned pro.  She is so wonderful to Ann Parker.  When AP cries, Caroline will say, "It's okay baby." or "Just breathe Ann Parker."  She still likes to take toys away from her or will occasionally push her down, but for the most part Caroline is a kind and protective big sister.

Some other info on C at this age:

Caroline went from going to school one day a week to three days!  She did wonderful and already cannot wait for the fall!

Caroline potty trained at 2 1/2!!  She is now fully potty trained.  No more pull ups at night either!  All panties all the time.  She hasn't had an accident in the longest time.  Yay!!

Caroline's vocabulary has grown a thousand times over.  At two she would say, "Mickey the tv" when she wanted to watch Mickey on the tv.  Now she will say, "Mom, I want to watch Doc McStuffins on the ipad." My how things have changed...and stayed the same ;)

Caroline will still watch Mickey and Little Einsteins, but her new favorite shows are Team Umizoomi, Sofia the First, and Backyardigans sometimes.

Caroline wears size 3T - 5T depending on the brand.  She is in a size 8-9 shoe.  She has about 20 teeth.  (No, I didn't count.  We just went to the dentist.)

Her favorite color is pink.  Her favorite snack is marshmallows, not that we have them often.

She loves pizza, shrimp, noodles, icing, popcorn, fruit, broccoli, beans, ribs, and steak.

She loves playing pretend.  She will often give checkups, put her babies to bed, turn into animals, becomes the grumpy old troll from Dora, etc.  I love this wild imagination!!  She also loves reading, doing puzzles, and art projects.

She has gotten so sassy lately!!  I will ask her to do something and she will respond, "Give me one minute!" or "Not right now, maybe later!"  Doesn't make me happy, but it's still pretty cute.

She can count to 20 all by herself (sometimes leaving out a number) in English and can count to 10 in French and Spanish by herself.

She has this big floor puzzle of the US and can correctly name about 40 states.

She knows her right from her left.

She knows her colors (well, not teal and lilac and colors like those - but black, brown, white, purple, pink, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red).

She can get herself dressed and undressed.  We will still have to help and now then getting things turned the right way, but she knows to look for tags!

She knows all the words to several songs including: Jesus Loves Me, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Row Row Your Boat, Twinkle Little Star, Happy Birthday, The Wheels on the Bus, ABC's and a few others.

She can recite several books from hearing them so much!  She can do this with Hands Hands Fingers Thumb, Madeline, Llama Llama Mad at Mama, and Bark George.


She is so kind hearted.  When she sees people upset or crying, she will always ask me, "What's wrong?"  When I tell her I don't know, she always wants to go help them.

She loves introducing herself to people.  Yesterday she went up to a family at the grocery store and said, "Hi.  I'm an Israel.  I am Caroline Grace Israel.  This is Emily Israel and that's Ann Parker Israel."  Not shy at all...

She loves to stay up late and sleep in, much like daddy.

She remembers EVERYTHING.   Gone are the days when we can say something and think she'll forget.  We've made lots of trips to get ice cream, we've read extra books, gone to the park extra times, and gotten extra prizes.  Seriously, she doesn't forget a thing!

She loves to dance and will dance along with So You Think You Can Dance when it's on TV.  We love it!!

She loves to perform for people.  Anything she can do for attention and a few laughs and she'll do it!


I guess it's okay that my baby is gone, because I have a pretty amazing little girl in her place.  Caroline keeps us laughing all day long.  She gives some of the best hugs around.  I am so proud of the person she has become and know that it will only get better and better.  I cannot believe that THREE years has passed, but what an amazing journey it has been!!  Happy third birthday little girl!  I love you so much!