3 Years

Dear Emma,

Happy Birthday! Today you are 3! And honestly, I’ve been thinking of you as a 3-year-old for a couple months now — you just seem so much older and more kid-like than the little toddler I imagine for a 2-year-old. I’ve felt this way so strongly, in fact, that I even blurted it out unwittingly a couple months ago at the Kemah Boardwalk when we were buying amusement ride tickets and they asked how old you were. “Three,” I replied confidently — and then had to backtrack. “Actually she’s 2…um, does that makes a difference in price?” (It didn’t. Not that they would have believed me at that point anyway.)

In any case, you are truly a full-fledged little kid now. Not a baby, not a toddler, but a KID. I always look forward to picking you up from school, because I know you will tell me about your day and entertain me with the many and varied things you will notice and point out on our drive home. Earlier this week you pointed out the “dirty water” that makes up a small pond under an overpass, and then told me about the fish and frogs that live there. Sometimes you make up songs too — variations on Cookie Monster’s “C Is For Cookie” is a current favorite. (“E is for elephant, that’s good enough for elephant…”)

You make the most hilarious faces, and you love to move your body! Last weekend we went to a birthday party at the Galveston Children’s Museum, and one of their exhibits is a video game system that picks up your movements and translates them into an animated skeleton on a big TV screen. You stood there for a solid 15 minutes making that skeleton echo every single contortion you could come up with!

In addition to your improving physical skills, you surprise me on a regular basis with how much you remember! I think you get this good memory from Daddy, and it is crazy to think about how you will very likely remember some of the things we do today even when you are an adult. You still talk about the Sesame Street show we saw in February, the rodeo from March — heck, you even remember the gym with the “fuzzy blocks” where we had your birthday party LAST YEAR. And if we promise you something in the morning, you will absolutely 100% not let us forget it that afternoon.

You’ve already developing the selective hearing skills of a teenager, and though I sometimes get frustrated at your lollygagging response to being told it’s bathtime or bedtime, overall you are a pretty well-behaved girl. You are loving but feisty. Wow, do you have your own opinions, and wow, do you make them known! When you combine this trait with your growing negotiation skills, you are a formidable force.

When we arrive at most stores these days, you head off any requests from us with a self-assured “I will walk, and then if I don’t listen, I will have to sit in the cart, ok? Ok?” You love TV and the iPad and will request “just a little bit” of your current favorite (the PBS Kids app) in return for cooperating with our instructions to put your shoes on or clean up your toys. I do agonize over whether we are letting you have too much of that dreaded screen time, but you also love to look at books and draw with your crayons and do puzzles and stack blocks. All in all, I think we’re doing ok.

At nearly 39 inches according to my unofficial home measurement, you are the tallest one in your class. This still amazes me a bit, given how scrawny you were at birth! You’ve been wearing 4T and 5T clothes for a while, and have moved into size 9 shoes, but your growth has finally slowed enough that we managed to make it a whole season without having to supplement with bigger shirts or shorts. Whew!

You, Daddy and I are in for for a bit of a curveball soon, with your little sister due to arrive in a few short weeks. I will fully admit to being scared about what this change means for all of us. I worry about the impact to our now-comfortable family dynamic, and about how you might react to having to share our attention with someone who can’t even play with you or feed herself. Most of all, I worry about my own ability to navigate the newborn stage again.

But this time, there is one big difference — I’ve been through 3 years of motherhood. I have a better idea of what the future looks like. I know that your sister will eventually walk, and talk, and make me laugh. I’ll look at her and wonder how I managed to make such an awesome little person. And I know all this because it’s exactly what I’ve learned from YOU.

So Emma, while you might not clearly remember much from these past 3 years, I remember so much, and so vividly. It feels like just yesterday that I was in hospital holding your tiny body in my arms, and yet it feels like you have always been a part of my life. I can’t wait to see you continue to learn and change and grow in the years to come.

Happy 3rd birthday Emma! I love you the most.

Love,
Mama