She, Her, He, Him

Stephanie talks very well. You can understand almost all of what she says. I took her to the doctor last week and after the listening to the heart and looking at the ears and all that, the doctor remarked, "Well, I don't have to ask if she's talking proficiently yet?" (Because the child never shuts up. Really - there isn't even enough duct tape in the world to silence her for more than 1.32 seconds at a time. Even if you yell, scream, beg, or plead. Even if you bribe her with a cookie.)

Anyway, she does still get her pronouns mixed up. I know, she'll get them in time and I'm not worried about it anyway. For now, it's just so cute...

"My baby is sleeping in she's bed."
"Him are silly." - talking about Daddy

My Birthday!

I had my birthday. Now I'm 3!

I spent the first part of the evening eating frosting while topless. (This should be a part of everybody's birthday, no matter how old you are.)
I wanted a ladybug cake again. Because I had one last year so Mommy made some ladybug cupcakes.
And she also made a rainbow cake. It was a poke cake - isn't that a funny name? It had Jell-O stripes inside.
See, the sign says "Happy Birthday to Stephanie". And we had balloons!
This is me in my birthday crown. It lit up and was so pretty. Mommy broke one of the sides but she fixed it.
I got a dolly. Mommy didn't even know I like dollies but I do.
This is at Grandma's house. I had my birthday there too. Camden was my personal stylist. He's helping me to put on my earrings.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

This is my baby girl. (I don't know who that other girl is but she must have been fascinating.) She needs her bangs cut again. This picture was taken last night but I swear she looked different this morning. All grown up. She's 3 now, you know. We've been practicing holding up 3 fingers to show our age. She was quite upset to learn that she had to go to daycare on her birthday. She wants a ladybug cake again this year. I kept telling her that Mommy would make her a new cake - a 3-year-old cake - but, apparently, the lady bug cake from last year was a hit. I don't know if she really remembers it or she just saw a picture of it. Hayden asked her what she wanted for her birthday - she said, "blue." Yeah, that's helpful.

3 is a milestone birthday to me. That is when they stop being toddlers and graduate to being big kids. Maybe I only think that because that's when the older 2 were housebroken? But Stephanie has been housebroke for over half a year already. She's smart, she is. And she's clever too. Good traits to have but when they're displayed in a 2-year-old, it makes for some anxious moments for Mom. She's also head-strong, opinionated, adventurous, fearless, and determined. The others were fairly easy to distract at this age, but not Stephanie. She remembers. You might be able to distract her for a minute, like, say if you bribe her with M&Ms, but then she'll want to go right back to what she was doing. But she can't keep track of her sippy cup - she's always losing that thing - obviously, not high on her list of priorities.

Candles & Gardens

Hayden got a birthday invite already. Stephanie was half lying on the table looking at the picture of a cake with candles and blowing on it. I noticed her doing this as I walked by and it took me another 2 steps when I realized what she was doing. She was trying to blow out the candles on the card. I almost fell on the ground trying not to laugh out loud at her.

At supper, we were discussing the upcoming bath and I remarked that I would like one of those kneepads that gardeners use when working in the garden for when I have to kneel down and shampoo kids and stuff. Stephanie replied that she did NOT want a garden in her bathtub.

Fred & Linda's

We went to Uncle Fred & Aunt Linda's on Saturday. We had a lot of fun. Isabelle was there so we got to play. We had watermelon! I LOVE watermelon! We played hard. I was really tired on the way home.

Mommy Time

I got to be with my Mommy and just me today. We took Philip to daycare but I got to go to the doctor. Then we went to WalMart to get my medicine. And we looked at sunglasses. And we looked at cards that play music. Then I had to go to daycare and I was sad.

Nighttime Conversation

"I love Mommy and Daddy and HaydenMeredithPhilip. And my Paula Grandma and Grandpa & Grandma. And Peggi and Camden and Hunter. And hamburgers."