Rose Turns 3!

Happy 3rd birthday, Rose! It's hard to believe you are already 3 years old. On your big day, you woke up bright and early...just before 9:00 am. You have always loved sleeping in and I'm so glad you still enjoy your morning snoozes. After all, a girl needs her beauty rest!

Wake up birthday girl!

Your two must have items for sleeping are still your little elephant blanket that you call "Two-Two" and your pink afghan that Nana Bev made just for you when you were a wee one. If they aren't in your room, we must search the house high and low in order to locate them before you'll even consider going to sleep. Once you settle into bed with your blankie and "Two-Two", your middle and ring fingers instantly go in your mouth.  You've always sucked on these 2 fingers at once, even during your time at FANA.  It's adorable watching you comfort yourself to sleep as you unknowingly flash the "I Love You" sign.

For your special day, I mentioned picking out something nice to wear and you immediately headed for your selection of tutus.  You love wearing dresses and tutus! 

All ready for your birthday

Before grabbing breakfast, you ran over to see what your brothers were watching on TV. I can't recall what was playing, but chances are good that it was Clifford. You love watching the cartoon all about that big red dog. We are lucky that Netflix has a long list of Clifford episodes so that you can watch it any time of the day. Although the "Clifford's Puppy Days" spin-off cartoon will not suffice. If you see the puppy version, you are quick to say, "No - BIG Clifford!" It must be the regular old "Big" Clifford cartoon for you!

Zoning out in front of the TV

For your birthday, you got to choose whatever you wanted to do to celebrate. And all you wanted was to play on your play ground in the backyard. So that's what we did (along with a few more outdoor activities.) You LOVE being outside! You would spend every day/all day outside, rain or shine. This year you mastered pedaling your 3-wheeler and scooting on your scooter. It's pretty adorable when you say, "Me wanna scoot." You're so fast now that I have to run to keep up with you.

When you head outside, there's a high probability that you'll be returning soaked from head to toe.  You are always in search of water activities - from your water table to water balloons - you are sure to get wet.

After a quick water balloon fight with Owen, the two of you were off to the play set to hose it down and make your very own water slide.  But instead of playing, you much rather preferred to "clean" your play set and happily filled your cup with water and dumped it out on your play set over and over again.

Being drenched in the cold water eventually got to you and you eagerly went inside to get a change of clothes and warm up.  You even got to wear your new Paw Patrol shirt.  You LOVE Paw Patrol.  Well, you pretty much love any and all dogs.  Dogs are you favorite animal.  And to top it off, your new shirt was pink - your favorite color.

For you birthday dinner, you got to choose any restaurant you wanted.  When I asked you, you shouted out "96!! 96!!" so we were off to Shore96, a local restaurant in our area.  You love their chicken strips and fries and especially love running around in the strip mall halls that the restaurant is in while we wait for our food to arrive.  You are one fast runner.

After dinner, we headed home for a special birthday treat.  You ate off all the frosting on your cupcake and left the cake part for someone else to enjoy.  You sure have a sweet tooth and a love for candy (your favorites are Lindt Milk Chocolate Truffles!)

Your vocabulary is exploding as you learn new words each day.  No longer do you pronounce your name "Ro", you are now "Rose".  And no more calling Owen "Ho-ee", he is now back to his original "Owen".  Although you still manage to say the cutest things.  Like when you're excited to tell Pa something and you exclaim, "He will be SO SO happy!"  Or when you are happy about something I've done for you, you proclaim, "You're my best Mama ever!" Or when you're using your potty chair and declare, "Mom, I need privacy!" Speaking of potty training, you tend to think you don't need the practice, but all of our stuffed animals definitely do!  Like when you made poor Panda use your potty chair...he didn't seem impressed with the situation, although you thought it was great fun.

You love to talk and interrupt your brother Owen (which drives him crazy!)  You always start out your story with, "So..." and a long pause as you try to figure out something to say.  Whenever we ask you not to do something, you always respond, "K. Me will." It goes something like this...

Mom: "Don't fall down."
Rose: "K. Me will."

Mom: "Don't spill your juice."
Rose: "K. Me will."

Mom: "Don't make a mess."
Rose: "K. Me will."

You and your cute response make us smile every single time!

You are a sponge soaking up all around you, both the good and the need-to-improve-upon behaviors of your brothers.  You recently saw big brother Cole come up with a ingenious way to reach the top shelf of the fridge by standing on a giant pack of paper towels. You quickly put his idea to use. While you couldn't reach the top shelf, you were able to reach exactly what you wanted - the cheese drawer.

Caught in the act!

You are still a Mama's girl.  Mama's got to carry you.  Mama's got to put you in your car seat.  Mama's got to put you to bed.  You sure love your Mama and your Mama sure loves you too!

You are all girl.  You insist on picking out your clothes (something your brothers could care less about even to this day) and especially love wearing tutus. As soon as it goes on, you spin and spin as your tutu spins around with you! But your all time favorite thing to wear is your Colombian jersey.  Every time you see it in your drawer, you exclaim, "Colombia!" and select it as your shirt for the day. You are one proud Colombiana!

You have been obsessed with chapstick for quite some time.  But that interest has now grown into a love of lip gloss.  And of course, only you can apply it.  You know exactly where Mom keeps all her makeup and help yourself to whatever you want (despite my attempts to keep you out!)

Who's been digging in Mom's makeup??

You are such a nurturing little girl, always taking care of your dolls and stuffed animals.  Often times they need to be given a shot when they are sick or tucked into bed for a nap - and sometimes you crawl right into bed with them.

You are a social butterfly.  You love riding up and down our neighborhood street, picking wild flowers for the neighbors and rushing to greet them when you see them outside.  You are very interested in learning all their names and will often ask, "Who house that?" and "What's he name?"  Any dog walking down our street will be greeted by you sprinting towards it.  You are a magnet when it comes to dogs and will eagerly ask each time we see one, "Me pet!?!"

You are Miss Independent.  Everything is "ME DO IT!"  Not only do you have to do it, but you have to do it a certain way or watch out!  You are one determined (and stubborn) toddler.

You have the sweetest singing voice, but whenever I pull out the video camera, you immediately stop.  You have a bit of stage fright when it comes to singing. After a song, I always ask you, "Can I record your singing?" and you always respond with a very definite, "NO!" Maybe someday I'll capture your adorable songs on video.

You are our silly, smart, curious, amazing little girl.  We are so blessed to be able to celebrate your 3rd birthday with you.  You have filled our hearts with joy and put smiles on our faces.  We love you, Rose.  Happy birthday!