loving the mommy thing: Happy 3rd Birthday, My Little Girl

Dear Aubrey,

Today you turned 3. What a big girl you are getting to be! You have been so excited for your birthday, asking daily "when my Spider-man birthday cake come?". We really don't know where your obsession for Spiderman came from, but you have been set for months on having a Spiderman birthday. Which your non-girly mother loves very much!

You are still so independent and head strong, yet cautious in trying new things. You WILL NOT do anything you don't want to do, and often engage in a battle of wills with mommy and daddy. When you are in trouble, you will tell mommy (or daddy) that you are going to tell on us for scolding you (then will come tell the other one of us what we have done). The other day you tattled on Austin for not letting you hit him, thinking he was being mean for dodging your swing! You also have learned that by crying and saying "but mommy (daddy), I wuv you!" when in trouble, the 'punishment' is lessened. You have definitely learned the art of manipulation. At three. It took me years to perfect it, and you have already mastered it!

You are not really a people person; it takes you a while to warm up to anyone outside of family and are often down right rude to others. You do have your best little little girlfriend who you like to play with even though there is often fighting when you do. You still love your brother more than anything, and still call him Nahnie. You are sad and will tattle on him when he doesn't want to play with you. You love to play baseball with him the most. You, like your brother, are a pretty good little ball player. You are still a mommy's girl, and I cherish our snugly times together, and love more than anything when we listen to each others' heart 'talking'. You do love your daddy though, even though you cry when he picks you up from daycare screaming "I want mommy!". You and daddy like to watch Rocky and will act out the last scene together. You two also like to watch Good Eats as well as Jaws. When we ask you what a shark says, you do the theme from the movie.

Your favorite things to eat include mac and cheese, "p-butter samich" (not peanut butter and jelly, because "jelly is just for toast"), and sausage. You still like Sesame Street, and ask to watch the Max the Magician episode that we recorded for you so much that you have memorized every segment. You also like to watch Dora the Explorer. Your favorite songs are "Do That To Me One More Time" and "Sarah", and your little voice singing them makes my heart smile. You love books and going to the library, and love your ABC, 123, and first word cards. You know almost all of your letters, and can count to 29 (often missing 14 and 15, but are those numbers really that important?). You are getting really good at playing UNO and Crazy 8's, and the Memory Matching game. You still love puzzles, and can do a 25 piece puzzle all by yourself. You have been infatuated with violins since watching Sesame Street episode where Elmo's World was all about them, and love to play the guitar ("mctar"). I found a little toy violin for your birthday, and have been excited to give it to you for months. And you were pretty excited to play it!

You have brought such joy (and noise!) into our lives, and I am so very thankful that you are a part of our family. Oh how I adore and love you. My little big girl.