I am so happy that we have reached this milestone cause let's be honest...your third year has been a little rough. When asked by a friend how life was this year, I replied "I either love her so much that my heart literally feels like it could explode with love and pride...or I want to throw her out of the window" It's true. A lot happened this year. For starters, Lily was born. The first 8 weeks or so were filled with the love for a new little baby and a very sleep deprived and low-on-patience mommy. First let me say how proud I am of you for making it through that adjustment because I know it must have been so hard. You were our one and only for 3 years and it was quite an adjustment adding a new little sister to the mix. You have ALWAYS loved your sister and she has ALWAYS loved you from the moment she arrived. But truth be told, you were kindof a nightmare to mommy and daddy for the first few months. I want to recount some of our struggles not to make you feel bad, sweety, but so that we can look back and read this and giggle and maybe it will even help you keep a good perspective when you yourself are a mommy and are sleep-deprived and ready to toss your 3 year old out the window. ;-)
But let's recall 2 of the lows before I tell you about all the highs that your third year brought.
1) The Thanksgiving incident: I'm not sure why I thought hosting Thanksgiving at our house with a 6 week old was a good idea but I swear at the time I thought it was. It was the week of Thanksgiving and I still didn't have everything together. You were being awful. Throwing the biggest fits and I just couldn't handle it. I lost it. I called Daddy at work crying and said "You have to come home. I have to leave and if you don't I'm going to lose it on Brenna. Seriously, come home. I need to leave before I lose my mind" So home he came and out I went. I think I was gone for probably 5 hours. I needed it. As much as I needed a break from you, I missed you once I was gone. When I got home, I felt like I could breathe easier. Please take 2 lessons from this...1) When life gets too crazy, take a breather. Know when you need to walk away to regain composure. And 2) Marry someone who is a true partner and makes your life easier and better in almost all regards. Marry someone that would come home from work to help you.
The diving board. You passed a swim test where you swam the entire length of the pool in order to jump off the diving board. People kept coming up to me saying "how old is she?" When I said, "she's 3" they would look at me in disbelief that you could pass the swim test and were brave enough to jump over and over again!
High point/Low point. Whenever we are sitting together for dinner we go around the table and do high point/low point. You share some of the sweetest things. A typical example of what you'd say. "Today my high point was when Mommy picked me up from school and we went to the park with my friends and shared our snacks. My low point was when I didn't want to leave the park and I threw a fit" Many times, we have the same low point ;-) Or sometimes you won't have a low point and say "I don't have a low point, today was a pretty good day!" and you'll shrug your shoulders with a "what are you gonna-do-about-it?" expression on your face.
I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. I'm sorry for my lack of patience sometimes. I'm so lucky to be your momma.
2) The Corneal Abrasion: One night I was putting you to bed and you were throwing a fit saying you didn't want to go to sleep and you were so overtired that you were entering what Daddy and I refer to as your "Sleep Deprivation Psychosis" where you are not rational and just generally crazy-in-need-of-sleep. The lights were out and it was very dark and in the midst of your flailing fit you accidentally sucker punched me right in the eyeball. IT HURT. A LOT!!! I tried to go to bed but I woke up at 2am and drove my one-eyed self to the ER where I had to explain how my 3 year old had just punched me in the face. Low point for sure.
But just like any good story the lows were superseded by the highs. You shock me at how smart and sweet you can be. Your verbal communication soars. I think because you are so smart and so expressive, I sometimes forgot that you were 3 and expected you to have the rationale of someone much older. My bad.
You have the absolute cutest helium-sounding voice on the planet. Seriously, people tell me that you should be the voice of cartoon characters, it is that cute.
You have the absolute cutest helium-sounding voice on the planet. Seriously, people tell me that you should be the voice of cartoon characters, it is that cute.
Your love for Lily. You love her so much and she lights up when you are around. You always want to hold her and kiss her and give her raspberries on her belly. You make her laugh more than anyone else. You also protect her. You make sure she doesn't have something too small to play with and one time you came carrying her out of the laundry room like a dog (holding the back of her PJ's while her arms and legs were dangling above the floor) because she was trying to get shoes.
Your first dance recital. You were the cutest little Angelfish and you gave the grandest bow and blew a kiss to all of your admirers and even mouthed "I love you Daddy" while on stage. Don't think I'll ever forget that.
The diving board. You passed a swim test where you swam the entire length of the pool in order to jump off the diving board. People kept coming up to me saying "how old is she?" When I said, "she's 3" they would look at me in disbelief that you could pass the swim test and were brave enough to jump over and over again!
Role playing. You love to play any sort of role playing game where you are the grown-up. We played movie theater a lot where you would take money, give tickets, manage the snack bar, and perform all the other appropriate duties of a movie theater attendant.
Your Students: You have had a class of students that have followed you around almost all year: Chauncy ("He's the naughty one, he never listens"), Nala, Rainbow, Carley, Jalyn. You run a tight ship. You do circle time and story time and do not hesitate to put someone in time out if they step out of line.
Your Students: You have had a class of students that have followed you around almost all year: Chauncy ("He's the naughty one, he never listens"), Nala, Rainbow, Carley, Jalyn. You run a tight ship. You do circle time and story time and do not hesitate to put someone in time out if they step out of line.
High point/Low point. Whenever we are sitting together for dinner we go around the table and do high point/low point. You share some of the sweetest things. A typical example of what you'd say. "Today my high point was when Mommy picked me up from school and we went to the park with my friends and shared our snacks. My low point was when I didn't want to leave the park and I threw a fit" Many times, we have the same low point ;-) Or sometimes you won't have a low point and say "I don't have a low point, today was a pretty good day!" and you'll shrug your shoulders with a "what are you gonna-do-about-it?" expression on your face.
I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. I'm sorry for my lack of patience sometimes. I'm so lucky to be your momma.
