Saturday, January 22, 2011

She's Three With No Mimi


Three-year-olds don't use mimis. At least that was the information that we had been feeding to our three-year-old for the week leading up to her birthday party. She seemed to be pretty good with that theory. Repeating it after us and appearing to be excited about turning three and getting rid of the pacifier. The three-year-old pacifier, mind you. Gross. 

Of course, the actual execution wasn't nearly as simple as all that, nor did we expect it to be. The first night there were a great deal of tears, hugs and a good amount of bribery as well. It probably didn't help that she didn't get a nap that day. The second day, nap-time was difficult, but not impossible and bed-time, while not a speedy process, held fewer sobs. Tonight, she got out of bed approximately a hundred times, but at least there was no crying. We went with the cold turkey, bribery tactic; trading a new toy for the old binky. It wasn't pretty, but it worked for us. And while it has really taken about a week to be finally ok with going to bed without arguing and fussing and cajoling, we finally got rid of the pacifier. 


But this is about celebration. And although we are trying to celebrate the end of a beautiful relationship (that first night sounded like her first heartbreak) we had more fun with the party. Papa picked up the beautiful flowers for our princess and we decked the place out with pretty birthday banners. 


I can hardly believe I really have a three-year old. Everyone always says how quickly the time flies, and it is so stinking true. While there are always plenty of times that she drives me crazy, I love this adorable little sprite so much. She has a lot of passion and energy and brings so much joy to our days. 



Like a normal preschooler, she can be excessively shy or silly and outgoing. She gives the very best hugs ever, wrapping her tiny arms tight around your neck like she never wants to let go. Her vocabulary is getting larger by the day even though we can't always understand what she is actually saying. She loves books and usually "reads" a couple after she goes to bed and when I go in to give her one last covering up before I go to bed, she is often still holding a book.  When I ask her what she is thankful for at night she always says, "Mama, Daddy, Baby Emmett, Ana, Papa, kitty, books, Mama, Daddy, Randi." A few get repeated several times.


She loves purple right now and had to have the purple frosting on her cupcake. Every day we put her hair up in ponys  and the little perfect curls make me smile every time. Her favorite game is "see-see." Yeah, that's also one of her words for many things. It could mean cookie, candy cane, or in the instance of her favorite game, Chase. It is too bad we don't have a house with a circular run like many floor plans because we get dizzy going around the dining room table too many times. We'll add in running around the baby, the coffee table, or some other object lying on the floor. She could go for an hour.


She can play quite well by herself, but she also has times when she absolutely needs someone to play with her. Right. Now. Her Great-Poppy gave her the old play kitchen that has been in the family for forever and it is safely tucked into her closet with all the china dishes and tea sets. Some of her favorite toys are the tiniest ones. We have to remember to keep them up and off the floor so baby brother doesn't eat them, but she is enamored with tiny-ness. Her special prize for going to bed the first night without the pacifier was a little Strawberry Shortcake market set. The smallest bottles of strawberry juice, (literally 1/2 inch) a single slice of tiny cake on a plate and she carefully puts each of them on the little market shelves.  


Her favorite mac and cheese--even though it looked a little different than the last time she had some and she had to actually be talked into eating the first bite--with lots of hidden veggies. We have recently had a break-through with getting her to eat more balanced meals. I picked up a couple separated tray-like plates in the Target and if I put something different into each section, she will at least eat a bite from all of them. 

Happy three, my little lady. I love you more than I ever thought I could.

2 comments:

Luanne said...

AWWW! I cant believe she is three either! Sorry we missed her party. We were trying to fit it in and do a surprise drop in. Family got in the way :( I will be back at the end of July. Hopefully we can carve out some time then to hang out and catch up. Miss you!

Jean said...

Happy birthday sweet Randi!!!