Sweet Kate - Happy 3rd birthday! Oh, how quickly you have grown this year. At the start, you were barely maneuvering up and down the stairs and hardly saying a word. Now you are non-stop climbing onto anything and everything and have become quite the chatter box! You love to tell stories and must say "Mom" at least 100 times a day while you wrack your brain for the other words you are trying to share. I cherish your stories knowing that soon your adorable Kate-isms will be a thing of the past.
You say the cutest things. You refer to yourself as "Tae-Tae", as we call you Kay-Kay and your Ks sound like Ts. You wrap your sweet little arms tightly around my neck and say, "I loves you, Mom." You ask to go to the "poo" when you want to splash around in our little kiddy pool in the backyard. Or when you have a glass of juice, you always ask for a "sh-raw" (aka straw) or for some "shell-ry" (aka jelly) on your peanut butter sandwich. Or when you declare, "I hungry. I want cottage cheese. That's what I need." You love your cuddles and will ask with your sweet puppy dog eyes, "Cuddle me?" Whenever you want to be picked up, you eagerly say, "I carry you?"
You can fall asleep ANYWHERE! While you try hard to avoid your afternoon nap, it still sneaks up on you and you are out like a light. You fall asleep in the cutest and sometime very uncomfortable looking positions.
You have really grown up and taken on your new role as a big sister with much pride. You are always eager to help out with your baby sis and you love asking "I hold Aria?!?" Of course with you, it's more of a demand than a question. You definitely know what you want and if we don't comply quick enough, you shout it just a little louder. At least your demand is usually followed up with a heartfelt, "Peeeeeeeez!!" (aka please).
You have such a nurturing soul. You love playing with your dolls - feeding them, cuddling with them and putting them to bed. And yet you are quite feisty, swiping your older siblings belongings or giving them a swat when you don't get your way.
You are forever curious and love getting into anything you can get your hands on. The game cabinet is one of your favorites to destroy. You love it, not for the games, but for the game pieces. You'll dump out all the Go Fish cards and carry them with you, scattering them all over the house. Or you'll take out all the pegs from Trouble, put one on each finger and walk around singing the Finger Family Song usually starting with, "Mommy finger, mommy finger, where are you?" And of course, I must respond or you keep repeating the same verse over and over while getting louder and louder. Once you get a response, you are onto the next member of the family that you see..."Owen finger, Owen finger, where are you?"
You try so hard to keep up with your big siblings. Everywhere they go, you go. Everything they say, you repeat. If Rose needs a bandaid, you need a bandaid. If Cole wants to play downstairs, you want to play downstairs. If Rose is helping make cookies, you most definitely need to help too. If you over hear any plans to do something, you'll quickly come running while shouting out, "Me too! Me too!" You are everyone's little sidekick and hate being left out.
You'll often request to look at photos of "Baby Tae-Tae" on Papa's phone. You'll sit on Papa's lap as you scroll through his many, MANY cell phone pictures. If you're not in one, you'll quickly say, "Where's Tae-Tae?" until he finds a photos with you. You especially enjoy the photos of you in Colombia when you had "bandaids" on your checks when you were on oxygen. You love to say, "I was a baby." followed by, "Mama was a baby. Papa was a baby. Owen was a baby..." and all the way down the family tree.
You are such a girly girl. You love putting on a pretty dress and hair bow and saying, "I boo-tee-full!". Sometimes you will wear the same dress all week long and only take it off for bed, as long as I promise that you can wear it yet again the next day. You just love being dolled up in your "pretty pretties".
You have quite the imagination. You are often crawling around on the floor with your tongue hanging out pretending to be a puppy. Or strapping on your baby shark mask and running all over the house while singing the Baby Shark song. Or pretending to be a baby with your big sister while sucking on Aria's pacifiers. You are always bringing a smile to our faces with your sweet and silly antics.
On your birthday, you woke up with a badly swollen eye. You had spent much of the prior day outside and must have gotten a bug bite near your eye. While it looked awful, you didn't seem to mind, except for when I tried to help by giving you medicine and putting a cold pack on it. You definitely did not want the help! So instead we moved on with our day of celebrations.
We spent the day doing all your favorite things. It was chocolate chip muffins (with candles of course!) for breakfast, followed by playing outside at "the park" (which is what you call our play set) and swimming in the "poo" all afternoon.
You got to enjoy all your favorite treats too - a "My Colombian Box" filled with yummy goodies from Colombia, mac and cheese from Noodles and Company, and of course, cupcakes!
The day after your birthday was your party. You had been looking forward to your 3rd birthday party for weeks and had requested a Baby Shark theme. When asked what you wanted for your birthday, you would shriek "BOONS!" (aka balloons).
Your Baby Shark birthday party wouldn't be complete without a Baby Shark dress and bracelet. You loved dressing up in your new festive outfit and looked adorable despite your poor swollen eye.
While the guest list was small due to the COVID pandemic, you were so excited that your Nanas, Popi and Uncle Jason could be there to celebrate with you. After the guests arrived, you quickly got very serious about opening your gifts. You wouldn't even crack a smile. You were so focused on tearing open each gift and examining all your new goodies.
Next on the agenda was pizza followed by a yummy Baby Shark birthday cake from The Buttercream Bakehouse.
Instead of taking your typical after-lunch nap, you requested to go to "the poo". And since it was your special day, that's exactly what you did. You had a blast splashing, floating and belly flopping.
We wrapped up the festivities with a Baby Shark pull-string piñata. Everyone took turns pulling the thing and on the 3rd round, you were the lucky one to find the magic string that opened the trap door releasing the candy inside.
Katie-Kat - you are our sweet, silly, curious little girl! You say and do the cutest things. You bring joy to our souls and smiles to our faces. I must comment at least a dozen times a day on just how cute you are. We love you! Happy 3rd birthday, Kate!
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