My baby turned three a few weeks ago and I realized I’d want to have this post to look back on. To know her is to love her – I really can’t believe we’ve had three years with our girl! She’s kind, funny, sweet, loving, empathetic, inquisitive, smart, silly, grateful and very strong-willed. She is a bit opinionated (ha) and honest, just like her mom. It comes with its challenges, but I love that about her. The girl knows what she wants. She has been through so much, and it’s the most incredible honor to get to be her mom. See how we celebrated her birthday here.

Three Years of Being a Mom

She has come so far this year and can now jump, walk up and down the stairs without holding on (that is HUGE!), and she climbs all over her new swing set. This weekend, she wanted to try sitting on a pony like her two older friends but said she was too scared, so we didn’t do it. When they wanted to go on again, she excitedly said “I want to do it! I’m not scared anymore!” and she did. Always amazed by her.

For a child that was more isolated than most, she is extremely outgoing.

I shared this in stories last weekend, but she walked out our back door for our pod ballet class and excitedly yelled “it’s Meeeeee!” She’s the first to volunteer to try something new and will talk to pretty much anyone. She now walks up to every doctor and nurse at clinic and will just start talking about anything and everything. Our girl dances her way through life and is pure joy. She is also one of the most grateful little people I know. “You washed my pajamas? Thanks mom!” She says thank you with such excitement over everything.

“Mom, why does rain fall from the sky?”

Her brain is something.

She has been very verbal from a young age, and she now asks questions I did not expect so early on. Sleep isn’t exactly her thing and since age 2, she would wake up at night, need us to come in, and ask us random questions. One of her favorites when she was younger was “what Maui turn to” (translation: What did Maui turn into?) and we’d list out all the animals he turns into. A few weeks ago, we were listening to Mirrors by JT. I told her that Branch (from Trolls) was singing and she asked if it was Justin Timberlake. The girl loves Christmas as much as I do and will sometimes request Underneath the Tree by Kelly Clarkson. She regularly asks if it’s almost Christmas.

Do elephants have mouths?

I want to share some favorite words from the last year. She now says almost all of them correctly. 😭

empty: emteem
unicorn: weecorn
tutu: tutube
reflection: tiny flection
pineapple: pinepapple
pinecone: plinecone
chopstick: chompstick
group hug: gru hug – she still requests “gru hugs” daily
bluey: gluey – still says this one
brought: brout (did you brout that for me?) – still says this one

No one is perfect so of course she’s had her toddler moments, but I’ve made the decision to keep anything that might not be positive private. I’m here to help fundraise, so I’ll talk about what we’re going through while keeping her medical information private, and will do my best to share struggles while being mindful of my girls. But really, she’s the most amazing three year old ever and I am amazed by her every single day.

And a Q&A with my big girl.

How old are you? 
Three

What is your favorite thing to do? 
Play with you

What’s your favorite toy? 
Biggie Boo (her slumberkins)

Who is your best friend? 
Mom and Jessica

What is your favorite thing to drink?
Ice water

What is something you are really good at? 
Jumping

What is your favorite movie? 
Zootopia

What is your favorite color? 
Pink!

What do you want to be when you grow up? 
A Pastry chef! (I can’t make this stuff up, guys)

In case this helps anyone else, I want to talk about what I decided for preschool this year.

I was going to send her this fall but the new covid strains feel too scary and even without covid, she’d be at risk with cold and flu season. Any time she gets a fever, we’re in the ER for 5 hours to make sure she doesn’t have an infection, and I can’t go through that. I spoke to a mom in our support group who is ahead of us in treatment, and she’s a PA, so she has a medical background. Her advice was to keep her home. It was a very difficult decision to make because I know she’d love preschool, but since we have a nanny and my schedule can be flexible, I’m going to come up with a preschool schedule, sign up for big city readers, and keep her safe.