What I’ve Learnt In Three Years As A First Time Parent…

Hi all!

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may know I do these parenting review posts at every milestone age. You can check them out here. At the publication of this post, Abigail has just turned 3 years old. It is extremely hard to believe how fast time has gone. I remember when she was born, she was gifted a size-three coat for the future. I couldn’t comprehend ever getting to that stage and yet, here we are. This Thursday, I will post a little photo diary of her third birthday party. I still keep her face off of social media as much as possible and stand by that decision. If you want further clarification as to why, you can read this post. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

This year saw our family go through quite a big change. I finally went back to work part-time and Abigail started daycare. We were told from the beginning to expect a lot of tears and distress. I can honestly say, that since her first day in January, to now in July, she hasn’t been miserable being left for the day. The truth of the matter is, Abigail was ready for daycare. She craved being around other children. We are not having anymore kids, so we wanted her to be socialised as much as possible. She absolutely loves it there. It is a fantastic boutique daycare down the road from where we live. We get sent little newsletters with her photos during the day and they even accommodate to her plant-based diet. It’s so nice seeing her play, interact and get creative with other toddlers. They’ve also begun toilet training her! We’ve noticed a massive difference in maturity, language and confidence in just 6 months. I couldn’t be happier with her progress.

We have officially passed the ‘terrible twos’ as they are so aptly named and now entered the so-called ‘thrashing threes.’ Some people claim that the ‘threes’ are harder than the ‘twos.’ I’ll let you know if this was accurate on her fourth birthday post in 2022. Were they terrible? No. Were they challenging? At times, yes. I was prepared for tantrums and meltdowns. What I wasn’t prepared for was how Abigail communicated when she was frustrated. She went through a period of hitting, biting and scratching. It was quite painful! I tried to be understanding and to teach her to work through her big emotions in healthier ways but it didn’t always take. If your child is doing the same thing, just know it will pass. All phases do. Abi went through a phase of spitting water everywhere. Thank the stars above she doesn’t do that anymore. You just have to ride the waves as they come. As she’s gotten older and her language has developed, she’s able to express more clearly what she wants. She sings when she’s bored, she tells me when she’s scared and she frequently seeks out cuddles for comfort, which I love!

In my last post, I expressed how fussy an eater Abigail was. Has this improved? Slightly. She is open to trying more things and no longer throws food on the floor. There are days when she’s ravenous and days when she barely eats. I’m not as terrified as I used to be when her appetite is lower. This is normal toddler behaviour. If it continues, seek out medical advice but overall, they will be up and down with eating. Things started to get better once she began entirely feeding herself. Abigail likes to be independent, which is wonderful. It’s certainly creates more mess but you have to pick your battles!

2021 has certainly been less restrictive than 2020 but we still underwent a couple of brief lockdowns in Melbourne that prohibited extracurricular activities. We still swim on Tuesdays and occasionally go to playgroup on Wednesdays but with me working Monday, Thursday and Fridays, it doesn’t leave much time for errands and grocery shopping. Abigail adores her wooden kitchen (which was a birthday gift from her grandmother) and her cleaning caddy. I’ll do a Part 2 of her favourite wooden toys soon. You can check out Part 1 here. She’s a big fan of watching Peppa Pig (the theme of her third birthday) and Mickey’s Clubhouse on Disney+. When we aren’t indoors, she likes to play at parks, play-centres and with her aunt and uncle’s puppy: Millie. By this Christmas (it will be summer in Australia), my mum plans to buy her, her first scooter. I’m hoping we can do lots more outdoor activities and go to the beach.

Last but not least, I will touch on sleeping. Abigail is a great sleeper. She still goes to bed between 7-7:30pm and wakes up at around 6:30-7am the next day. We have kept her routine pretty consistent, so she always knows what to expect. At this point in time, Abigail is still napping once throughout the day but not as regularly as before. She goes down a bit before 1pm and sleeps till almost 3pm. At daycare however, she rarely naps. She is too worked up by all the toys and kids. Over time, she’s learned to just lie in the bed provided and rest. If she doesn’t sleep during the day, it’s very obvious. She’s a lot more weepy and upset. Who knows when she will drop the final nap but for now, I’m not complaining! It helps that she still sleeps in a cot, where she can’t just get out whenever she feels like it. I’m stretching that out for as long as possible.

I am a huge fan of this age. It can be challenging at times but actually being able to talk to one another now has been really fun. We love watching her grow and change every single day. I hope you enjoyed this post. Please let me know any of your thoughts/comments down below. I always like to be transparent when it comes to raising children. It can be tough and we need to support one another as much as we possibly can.

Thank you for reading! Peace & Love xoxo