Friday, April 29, 2011

Grace is Three!

Have you heard? My baby is three! I can't believe how grown up she is.

Oh Gracie, my buddy, I have so much fun with you. Most mornings, I wake up to you climbing into my bed. Then you talk to our baby, maybe sing her a song and rub my tummy. It's a nice way to wake up, but I can't help but wonder how it's going to change in the next few weeks. I hope you like your sister as much as you like your brother.

You and your brother get along so well most days. You're willing to play Star Wars (over and over) with him. You follow his rules, but you won't pretend to be a boy. Your favorite is Leia, but Asoka and Padame are pretty great too. In fact, they rate right up there with the other Disney princesses. You guys play almost silently for a good chunk of each day and I hope you are friends like this forever.

I do have to say that Jack is starting to manipulate you a little bit, but he is still so great in your eyes that you don't mind cleaning up his toys for him (sometimes). You take care of him too, just today you brought him a napkin because he needed to wipe his face. Which reminds me, you are quite the little mommy. You love to take care of your dollies, but real babies are much better. You love to make them smile and laugh. And every morning (and possibly multiple times during the day) you talk to your baby sister.

You're even good at playing all by yourself. You play with anything... I mean anything and you turn them into families or girlfriends. Whenever I'm getting ready, you play with my makeup brushes. There's a mommy and daddy one, I think there's even a grandpa. You love your little people and their doll house and I love to listen to the conversations that your toys have. Usually someone is named Lissa and they're not always nice to each other, but it's good to hear you working it out.

The other thing you love to do is color and draw. At least once a day you draw me a picture or ask to color in the dry erase alphabet book. You're getting better and better every day.

You love to play in your kitchen, you're always cooking something up and you love to play doctor. You've been to quite a few of my doctors appointments and you love to measure my tummy. One day, you even put lotion on and used one of your toys like a Doppler, pretending to hear the baby's heart. Last time I went to the doctor, you had the choice to stay home with daddy, but you wanted to come with me. I asked you wanted to be a doctor when you grow up, but you made a grouchy face and said that you would of course be a princess. After the appointment, we had a nice afternoon, you're always so well behaved when you're by yourself.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays when Jack's at school, we have lots of fun together. We run all the errands, go to your class at the library and/ or go for walks. You aren't a big fan of sitting in the stroller, so we somehow developed a bribe that involves marshmallows. You have such a sweet tooth. No matter where we go, you are fun to hang out with, you're almost always well behaved, you get tons of compliments and I mostly forget that I'm your mom.

Of course you're not always perfect. You can throw a mean tantrum and you've really figured out how to be the "damsel in distress."  There are so many things that you can do (buckle yourself, clean up, go potty, get dressed, put on your socks and shoes, count and get things out) but you ask for help every time. Even though we all know that you can do it, you insist on having help. I'm just not sure what to do about this, it really does drive me crazy. I want to you to be confident, strong and self-sufficient and I think you are, but maybe you're also a little bit lazy? Hmmm...

Oh, you're still a crazy sleeper. You fall asleep in the funniest places and yet never ask to lay down. Here are a few pictures, mostly all I do about this is take your picture.
In the rocker?
 At the kitchen table?
And the best one yet... mid hug:
You are always available for a hug and lots of times a day, you come over just to tell me or daddy or Jack that you love us and give us a kiss. 

You're really into your friends, you get excited to see them at the park or at Joy School. They used to just be Jack's friends, but now they're yours too.

You're aren't that picky about what you wear (most of the time) and you mostly like to wear your hair down. You love to wear lip gloss and have daddy paint your nails. 

I'm so glad that I have you, I never thought that I would have a daughter, but I sure am glad you're here! Happy Birthday Baby! And here's to many more!
~love mama

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