Kathryn Grace Turns 3

My beautiful girl has turned three.  I have been thinking about what I want to write for a couple of weeks now and can not find the words.  I want to be able to adequately describe her at this age so that when we look back we can remember.  I am worried in all of the chaos that is life that I won't remember all of the little things that I want to cherish forever.  So I decided to write a letter that is long.  Feel free to skip and just look at pictures :).

 

Baby girl,

You are such a kind-hearted kid. If someone is sad or hurt, you have such empathy that you hurt with them. You are so generous. I have never met a three year-old that is willing to share anything; even your favorite treats. We have so much fun with you. You love to laugh and loudly. You also are really good and joking and even being sarcastic. You want people to laugh. I suspect that you feel every emotion very strongly like your parents.

Jack is so important to you and even though he is too rough sometimes, you take such good care of him. You talk and play with him, you are teaching him to say “please” and “thank you”, and in the car you do everything in your power to make him happy.

 

You are starting to become much braver. I was very worried about how shy you were but now you go to your class at church and the gym now with only a little hesitation. You are still more of an observer in these situations. You are respectful but you would rather sit back and watch until you are VERY comfortable. I have noticed in the last few months that you are becoming much more vocal around the kids you see a lot like your cousins and Cooper/Abby. It warms my heart to hear you talking to other kids when you don't think we are listening.

I think your favorite things to do right now is to pick out your clothes. You want to go through every outfit and lay each one out and make sure it matches. Sometimes we just don't have time but it is so cute seeing you process through all the decisions. You also have some sensory issues just like mamma. Daddy calls it your OCD'ness but I know they are just quirks. If your socks are not on exactly straight (over the toes) you will become upset and say that they do not feel good. You use these words because you used to cry and say that the socks hurt and we taught you this instead. You also can't have things zipped up all the way to your neck, or your sleeves hanging down over your wrists. At night we have to follow an exact routine. If there is something extra left in your room then you will bang it against the door asking us to come and get it out. Although these things are annoying at times, they make me smile thinking about them. They are part of your unique personality!

Dinner time is almost always a challenge. I think you would be happier if you just didn't have to eat a thing. You are more interested in playing, talking, and generally anything other than eating. At times I wonder how you eat enough to stay alive (you are small!).

Each night before bed, daddy braids your hair. You want him to do it instead of mamma and I know this is very special for him. You are so lucky to have such a great daddy.

Everyone always thinks her child is sooo smart but you are! You remember things from a year ago or more that amaze me. The other day you were telling me about all of the stuff that Grammy and Gramps have at the lake. You tell me if I read a word wrong in a story because you have the entire thing memorized. You also know all of your uppercase letters and most of the sounds. You can count and are interested in learning number concepts like addition. I can tell when your mind is really working because you will ask me to “talk about it again”. Basically there are times when you want the same concept repeated over and over again. I know it will never again be forgotten.  Sometimes I will ask you how you know something (trying to figure out who taught you) and you will reply with "because I'm so smart".  Although so cute, maybe I should quit telling you that so much.

When I think about you right now, I think about how your imagination is taking off. You are always coming up with “pretend” stories. These frequently involve your baby dolls. Every weekend you ask Daddy to play with you every second that we are at home.  You are learning Bible verses every month. I love hearing you pray every night and no matter what is going on in my life, your prayer warms my heart.

I am in awe that God gave me you as my first-born, as my precious little girl. I pray that you will continue to grow in your love for him and for others and that your daddy and I will be great teachers and examples.  I can't wait to see how much you change in the coming year(s).