Happy Birthday Anna!

We celebrated Anna's birthday on Saturday with lunch with the whole family.  A good time was had by all.  The grandmas brought the food, Anna and I got a balloon and cake and we spent the day enjoying good company.

Anna at three...Talks more than ever, she comments on everything.  We talk a lot about school days, home days (Saturdays) and church days (Sundays).  She loves to color, frequently takes her swimming suit to school in her purple back pack (she also takes a random horror movie DVD that we have at our house) and refuses to let me comb her hair in the morning.  I leave a big bag of barrettes and rubber bands at school for her teacher to do it.  Still, I was feeling badly that I don't get her hair combed and I said something to the daycare director.  You know, the way you say things...joking and being funny, but the underlying meaning was apologizing for my parenting fail.  Liz said: "Oh, yeah, she won't let you comb her hair."  Me: "How did you know that?"  Liz: "Anna tells us that she doesn't let you comb her hair."  She loves the cat, her sister and her baby dolls.  She's been putting her babies in time out quite a bit lately.  That worried me because we don't do a lot of time outs at home.  Her teacher assured me that she's doing fine in school--other kids are getting put in time out.

Anna's favorite fashion item is a dress.   There is almost nothing that will get her in a pair of pants.  She likes sparkly shoes, but will wear a fancy pair of tennis shoes.  Like her sister, she has a great sense of direction--she knows the route to school, where the swimming pool is, how to get to church.  As one who gets lost in a paper bag, it's amazing to me.  Anna got a big girl bed a few months ago.  She likes it a lot, but has yet to go to sleep in it alone.  I cuddle up with her every night....and remind myself that some day she'll be big and she won't want to cuddle up with me.  We talk about her day and every sentence from Anna starts with "I had fun..."  I had fun going shopping with you, Mom.  I had fun at school, Mom.  I had fun taking a bath, Mom.  Every morning she gets up and says, "I slept all by myself last night."  Yes, honey, you ddi.  Except for the first three or four hours when I was there.

Dearest Anna, we love you so much.  May the next year be as good as this one.