All About Ellen, June & Frances: Happy 3rd Birthday, Junie!

I still can't seem to wrap my head around it, but our little June Bug is in fact 3 years old! It just doesn't seem possible ... While I'm in denial, June is ecstatic to be a big 3-year-old! She had a great birthday and party, and was showered with so many special gifts from her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Our big 3-year-old has been up to some big-girl things lately, too:

Hallelujah, June is ALMOST fully potty trained! A few weeks ago, I would have sworn the day would never come, but lo and behold, some sort of switch flipped inside June's head and one day she simply seemed to have somehow figured it out. Mind you, she does still have an occasional accident, but for the most part, she remains dry (often even overnight!) and tells us when she needs to use the bathroom! I never knew something like this could make me SO freakin' happy (and proud)! Now, I just need to muster up the courage to leave the house with her wearing undies instead of a "just-in-case" Pull-up. :)
Not napping. Unlike the bathroom business, this one does NOT bring me joy. We can usually manage to get June to nap every couple of days or so, but she's pretty adamant that she anti-nap. As she says, "I don't like a naps." The silver lining to the no-nap thing is that June does seem to go to sleep a little better (aka crash) at night if she hasn't napped that day. This is a plus since she/we have been struggling with the bedtime routine lately ...
Playing with neighborhood kids. Under the watchful (?) eye of her big sister, June recently ventured out to play with the older neighborhood kids and run from yard to yard like Ellen does ... We'll see how this shakes out this spring/summer, since she's still pretty little to be out of mom and dad's sight.
Remastering playground equipment. With the nice weather we've been experiencing lately, June has reacquainted herself with rock walls, balance beams, slides and various climbing apparatuses. She's recalled all she learned at the end of last summer and appears to be adding to her list of skills rather quickly.
Starting to write her name. June recently wrote her first letter "J" so we'll have to work on u-n-e next!
Continuing to flourish at her new ECFE class. June loves going to "school" each Monday and she is enamored of her teacher, Miss Jodi. She has so much fun exploring activities in the classroom, going to the gym and eating snack with her little friends.
Using big-girl utensils to go along with the breakable cups she's been using for awhile.
One area where June is not so big ... her height/weight. At roughly 28 pounds and 36 inches, she in the approximately 25th percentile. Our little peanut!