Some notes on Livia

Sometimes I worry that I'll forget the little details about Livia at this stage. And I'm sure I will. So I'm going to record a few.

Livia's nearly three and a half now. I love this age because she acts like a big kid in so many ways, but is still in the tiniest, cutest little body.

• She saw me once lift up a toilet seat using toilet paper so I wouldn't have to touch it, and now often does that too...especially at home. 
• Always has to "beat" Jane into the car. If Jane gets buckled in first I can anticipate some major tears. The good part is I no longer have to deal with her dawdling when getting into her car seat. 
• Is still amazingly good in the grocery store. I actually rather enjoy going with her, as she helps me pick things out and never gets upset when I tell her something is too expensive, or we can't buy it that week. 
• She used to only let me listen to children's cds in the car, but now she loves the radio and has a few favorite songs: "Keep your head up" by Andy Grammar and "Tonight Tonight" by Hot Chelle Ray. Every time they come on she asks me to turn it up and starts bobbing her head and singing along. 
• HATES to have Chase bathe her. I'm afraid our neighbors must think we torture our child in the bathtub.
• Loves to read. Loves to dance. Loves the computer. I am continually amazed at how adept she is on the computer. She has a website she goes to--starfall.com--that has little educational stories and games. She can open up the browser, find the bookmark, adjust the volume, and navigate that website almost as fast as I can. And of course, she knows all the ins and outs of my ipod touch, and can call Chase all on her own. 
• Livia is very social. She's always happier when she has friends around (even amidst meltdowns about sharing).
• Has a great memory. She quotes books all the time, and can sing songs after hearing them only once or twice. Of course, that's probably just the nature of the three year old brain. But it'll still surprise me when she talks about things that happened almost a year ago. 
• Is not at all sentimental about crafts and projects. She does a project, I ooh and ahh over it, and then we throw it away together. I have saved a couple, but for the most part we throw them away the same day she makes them. It's the same with puzzles. She completes a jigsaw puzzle, shows me, and then immediately breaks it up. I hope she stays this way forever.
• Likes to open the fridge and get food for herself. This is good and bad. Like when she turned the temperature all the way down (or up?) in the fridge last week, and we had to throw away a bunch of food because we didn't notice until the next morning--yeah, that was bad. But I do like self-sufficiency.

I just love my little Liva. She can be so defiant and difficult sometimes. Or pretty much anytime we're at home. But when we're out and about she's an angel (it shouldn't come as a surprise that I try to get out of the house as often as I can), and I wouldn't trade her for any other kid.