The House of Helrings: Ava at 3 yrs and 9 mo Old

Ava is now 3 years and 9 mo old. I know it's getting old when I keep referring to my three year old as certain months old, but it's mostly for me to keep track of her progress through the year. Ava was having a hard time following directions and sharing with her sister, esp the beginning of the summer. We do have her go to time-out and we also started a sticker chart as a reward for doing things such as: brushing her teeth, dressing herself, sharing, following directions, cleaning-up, eating her meals, and going potty by herself (at home only). After three months of working on all these she has been some noticeable progress, but still needs to do a better following instructions when she is told the first time. I am getting more strict with her with this too and hoping that with more time and practice she will be a great listener. She does like to exercise her independence and be a "big girl" and this seems to be a motivating factor in doing the right thing. She is very excited about having a new baby sister and is trying to help me out a little bit more. She tries to help me by picking things off the floor, since it's too hard for me to bend over and she also understands that I can not pick her up or give her piggy back rides at this time. Right now she is only going to gymnastics once a week for an hour and we just finished our summer play date routine that we were having every Friday. I am hoping to focus more on her ABC's and counting this fall before our new baby is born. Her Aunt Jen told us about an online pre-K tutorial called Starfall. She is able to sit at the computer by herself and complete some of the basic lessons. It's got great little songs, animation and prompts the kids using their computer mouse. One of her favorite things to do are to draw with markers. We have a ton of coloring books and crayons, but she chooses to draw her own pics and use markers all of the time. Ava also enjoys: practicing cutting with kids' safety scissors, pasting with Elmer's school glue, using colored construction paper, pipe cleaners, wiggle eyes, foam stickers, making cakes with Play-Do, reading all sorts of books, practicing writing a few letters, dressing her and pampering her Baby Kitty, sleeping on her top bunk, having tea parties with Charlotte, dressing like Fancy Nancy, watching Diego, building train tracks, going to gymnastics, Hello Kitty anything, wearing lip balm, painting her nails sparkly pink, and playing puzzle games on my smart phone.