Three and One Half

This weekend out on a walk.

Today you are 3 1/2 years old. My mind can barely grasp that you were once so small--yet it was not that long ago that you were not even here yet.

Three and one half years ago I was awaiting your arrival and was happy to see an end to a journey that took us six years to fulfill. An ending that was happily filled with you entering this world.

And now the world has you to contend with. You are still a whirlwind. Stubborn as only you can be...yet sweet as syrup when you want to be. You surprise me with your tenderness and caring that springs up out of nowhere.

To count your accomplishments now is innumerable.

You go to the bathroom on your own (night time is still pull ups, but I have a feeling that will change soon). You are so accomplished with this task that you have no problem whatsoever in going up to complete strangers while we are out and asking them were the bathroom is. Being your type of stubborn, you will NOT go into the boy's bathroom unless mom is not around to escort you to the ladies. Lately you have taken to singing while doing your bathroom duty. Loudly. While swinging your legs. And washing your hands--an art form with lots and lots of water.

You have recently found out how to turn doorknobs--I tremble in fear. Already my privacy has been invaded three times and you are not one to take no for an answer (we will work on this, young one).

You can count to ten, sometimes to twenty. You know most of your colors, your favorite being purple. You know your A,B,Cs, although you can't quite sing the whole song (you get lost after "P"). You know that "W" is a special letter because it is the letter that begins your name.

You like to help me cook, and just the other day you helped breading fish. Your hands were so crusted with flour and egg that I barely could see your fingers. And the mess you made "helping" me was more than I would have wanted normally--but I did not mind.

You pretend play that you are a teacher in preschool and ask us to answer you when you take attendance. Or you pretend that you are a mommy with lots of "babies" to cuddle and put to bed. You have put a cat leash on a stuffed reindeer and called it your dog.

You love and are loved by Kif, your oft partner in crime.

And every day I notice that take something new from this world, and that you bring a little bit more into this world.

Thank you for being you.