And Then She Was Three

I feel like we've been celebrating Norah's birthday for weeks. Ever since her party a week and a half ago we've been in serious birthday mode. Since she doesn't go to school on Tuesdays, on Monday her class celebrated her birthday and I got to bring in a special snack. She wanted to wear her party dress, but I made her wear a long sleeved shirt because it was freezing. That's awesome.


I dropped her off and then returned about an hour later with snack....oatmeal cookies with m&m's. The weeks before I was asking her teacher what I could bring and suggested cupcakes. Her teacher shook her head and I said, 'oh, too much sugar?' and she laughed and said, 'no, too messy.' So, cookies it was.

I arrived to Norah sitting around the table with her class and a pink crown on her head. She was stoked about that crown.


Our big present to Norah this year was a dollhouse. Now, in my usual fashion I researched dollhouses for months and my biggest issue with most of them is that they all come pre-decorated and things like clocks, lamps, appliances, etc are part of the wallpaper. Also, most of them have a back panel to go against a wall and so you can only get at the house from the front and sides. I would have loved a Plan Toys one, but they are a little out of our price range. Thankfully, I found a great alternative from Ryan's Room. It isn't as tall as my ideal house would be, but we might end up putting it on a table or something to give it some height. She's taller than the roof right now and I hope she plays with it for years, so I think height will give it some sustainability.

Unfortunately, all of the furniture is sold separately by room. We bought 2 rooms and then I scored the rest of the furniture used from a local mom. The Tuckers provided the dolls-both a Caucasian and Asian family (so 10 dolls total). Norah's very favorite is the 'lady in the kimono.'

She was thrilled and immediately launched into rearranging all of the furniture I had so carefully set up the night before.

She got a very special present from dad....light up glass slippers.

I especially like how well they go with her Woody pajamas.

She opened some more presents including several awesome pre-school games from Bubby and a Tinkerbell movie, book, and tote bag from the Sheehys.

She decided to change into her Belle dress (yes, I know it is an Alice in Wonderland dress, don't judge) and crown from one of her cards. I told her she could have whatever she wanted for breakfast and she asked for 'pancakes with whipped cream and NO berries and milk.'


After breakfast we played a rousing game of Cooties.

Later that morning Ruby (and Pamma and Megan) and Baby Lucas (and Aileen) came over to play. It POURED cold rain all day so we offered to let the girls watch a movie (the aforementioned Tinkerbell movie). Norah was so stoked that she ran and put her pajamas on so it could be a 'kajama movie party.'

The plan to walk up and get ice cream was made impossible by the rain, so I ran up and got an ice cream cake instead.

After her friends left she actually took a short nap and then we took Lou's 4 month pictures. Of course, Norah had to be in some (ie, most) of them as well.


We figured since it was a special occasion we should at least attempt to be civilized and eat together at the table.




After dinner the birthday girl got the last piece of ice cream cake and we went on a walk to splash in puddles. She woke up this morning and the first things she asked was 'am I still 3???'


There are so many things I could say about our girl at 3. About how smart and funny and kind she is. About how she is an incredible big sister and (mostly) a really good friend. About how she asks such inquisitive questions and shares her profound (okay, profound for a 3 year old) thoughts. About how she is super emotional and gets frustrated that her brain moves faster than her mouth and body these days. About how she sometimes feels misunderstood. About how she loves fairies and princesses and dinosaurs and garbage trucks. About how she can't get enough of movies and books and stories and songs and hugs and kisses. About how she dances for us and dances with us and tells us how much she loves us every single day. About how she declared out of the blue the other day, 'I LOVE BEING A GVZ.' About how she tells jokes and laughs at ours.

But, I won't. Instead I will just say that we are the luckiest family in the world.