Susannah's 3rd Birthday

On March 11th, my sweet, sunshiney Susannah turned 3. Three whole years have passed since the day she was born.  I never dreamed I'd be the mama of a cute, chocolate-brown eyed, curly-haired little girl, but whenever I daydreamed about what my little girl would look like if I ever had one (even back before I was ever married), she always had curly brown hair and bangs, just like Susannah. :)

On Susannah's birthday, we did not do any official celebrating since some of her grandparents were coming over the next evening for her birthday party.  Turning 3 was something Susannah was so very, very excited about because she would get to move up to the 3's Sunday School class at church.  Once we told her this a few weeks prior to her birthday, that was ALL she talked about on Sunday's and about any day in between.  The last Sunday in her 2's class, I happened to glance in the door and saw they were singing "Happy Birthday" to her.  I was so glad to catch that moment in my memory, seeing the special joy on her face.

On her birthday morning, she snuggled in bed after breakfast (a bit unusual for her) and read her very. favorite. Bible. story. EV-ER: David and Goliath.  Oh my goodness, this girl lives and breathes the David and Goliath story.  She has just recently started NOT asking me to read it to her every waking moment of every day, which is a bit of a relief for my brain. :)  We also have it on CD (from The Jesus Storybook Bible) and we listen to that at least once a day. 

The day of her birthday was a sunny, warm day and she went outside to play.  When I went to check on her a little later, I found her perched at the front door relaxed and just watching the world go by. 

I had decided at the beginning of the year to make her a lady-bug birthday cake, as we called her our little ladybug when she was a baby and toddler (and still do sometimes).  She also loves to watch, touch and yes, squish, the little fake, stinky ladybugs that invade our house on warm days. Ugh. She is fascinated with all things creepy-crawly. :)  I was not prepared well in advance for this birthday like I was last year, but the evening of her birthday she and I mixed up her birthday cake.  The next day during naptime I made the frosting and iced it.  I had to think about how to do a ladybug cake without having it "just" a ladybug since I didn't want all that horrid red icing (which tastes bad and I'm sure is full of unhealthy dye).  In the end, this is what I created (I totally cheated and bought a tube of pre-made red frosting so I wouldn't have to mix and mix and mix to get a tiny bit of red frosting!) :

For her birthday dinner menu I made a pork roast, baked macaroni and peas.  My mom and Daniel's parents came to celebrate with us.  When I bought Sylvia's birthday balloons, I looked over their selection to see what I might get for Susannah's birthday the following week. I saw they had a ladybug balloon! Perfect!!!!  On her birthday-party day, Daniel stopped at the store and couldn't find the ladybug balloon!! He asked the lady and she dug through a pile of stuff and found one.  Not the one I saw on the balloon rack, but this one was much bigger and thrilled Susannah to no end. :)  It is still floating around here, as enormous as ever, and still being enjoyed.

I wanted so badly to sew several items for Susannah for her birthday, but the only thing that I completed was a pair of long bloomers for her to wear underneath her dresses and jumpers.  I did get a new seat for her doll-baby buggy mostly put together, and it is now in use and just needs the straps sewn on.  

A few things about Susannah:

3 years old is turning out to be a whole different ride than 2 years old.  We did not have the terrible twos... but 3 is proving to be challenging on different levels as she tests rules, instructions and attempts much more independence than she is allowed.

She no longer says "stoom" for spoon.  She says it the correct way now. *sniff*  Last night, though, she couldn't say "spaghetti" and instead it was "basketti". :)  Horse and oink are still "worse" and "woink".  This morning I made waffles and she kept calling them "wapples" (like apple).

She likes to use a knife if there is any possible way she has something to "cut" for dinner.  Asking for things politely is a constant reminder, but it is paying off as probably 50% of the time asks the right way ("may I ___, please?" or "yes, please" or "no thank you").

She still naps every day, but the first part of naptime is spent sitting on her bed reading and/or singing.  For about a week she was a jack-in-the-box and constantly popping out of her room, or sneaking off her bed and quietly playing while I thought she was napping!  I may have solved that problem by graduating her to 30 minutes of quiet time before I go in and tell her it's now time to lie down and sleep. 

She has a bad habit of having something in her mouth almost all the time.  We weaned her off her paci when she was about 2 1/2.  Increasingly since then, she puts anything and everything in her mouth just to have something in her mouth, blanket, toy, stuffed animal, etc.. Most recently it is her fingers. When she wears her coat she chews on the collar and it chaps her poor chin.

She loves to cut paper with her small child-sized scissors and will spend any amount of time "cutting". I have started to save my junk paper just for this purpose.  She loves for me to cut out snowflakes, or for me to fold the paper so she can cut "snowflakes" on her own.  She also loves to draw and is getting better at drawing things instead of just scribbles.  A few weeks ago I found a picture on her easel of a hill with several crosses on it, proof that she is retaining what we are telling her about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.  In fact, a month or so ago, we were driving somewhere and passed a hill with 3 crosses on it.  I didn't notice it until I heard her gasp from her seat and say "Mama! Crosses! It's where Jesus died! For our sins!".

She has started saying things in question form, which totally makes sense since we ask her things frequently.  Instead of "I need to go potty" she'll say "Do I need to go potty?" or "Would I like a drink of water?"  It is fun. :)  Asking what does [insert any animal, bug or critter of any kind] eat is a frequent question and she has also started asking what peoples names are... which I'm never quite sure how to answer especially when it's a complete stranger to both of us and the person is right there!  Life in the eyes of a 3 year old is an adventure, for sure. :)

Late last year after months and months and months of trying to train her hair to fall to the side, I ended up cutting her bangs.  In general they still fall to the side, but no matter how much wetting and combing of her hair I did, she would always have the front section of her hair falling down over her forehead like very long bangs (and it grows that way, to the front). I don't mind it and I think she's rather cute. :)  It also doesn't drive me nuts seeing her with hair hanging in her eyes! As for her curly hair, most days it looks the same brushed or unbrushed, and some days it is just wild. She's pretty cute to see when she first wakes up and often has "big hair" as we call it.  Some days she likes to wear bows or barrettes, some days she requests to wear none, and some days she likes to wear "pulled pigtails" which I finally figured out are french braids. :)

She is growing out of her 2T pants and her 3T shirts are quickly getting too small.  I haven't weighed or measured her lately, but I know she is growing!  She eats well, but can take a very long time to eat meals. :)

I am looking forward to discovering who 3 year old Susannah is this coming year.  I love her so very, very much and can't believe she is 3 already, but can't imagine her any other way. :)