Madelyn is 3!!!

Dear sweet Madelyn, you are three years old today! As you have approached your third birthday, you have made me laugh so much with your love of language and curious imagination. I never know what will come out of your mouth and where your imagination will take you! This year has been a mixture of challenges and laughter, and God has taught me a lot this year through you. You are a blessing from God and I am so happy to be your mommy.

- You love to cook with mommy and help me in the kitchen. My favorite kitchen quote this year, "Mommy, let me help you cook so you can do it faster!" I'm not so sure about faster, but it was certainly more fun!

- You are delighted when Joel smiles, talks and laughs at you. You are quite the entertainer too.

- You are still allergic to dairy and tell your teacher and me, "I can't eat that. I allergic."

- You are very particular about what clothes you will wear. I've learned to get your approval before I buy, otherwise you may refuse to wear it. However, dresses are always a huge hit!

- Speaking of refusing to wear certain clothes ... you are a very strong-willed little girl and so is your mommy, so many time in this past year it was a battle of wills!

- You love to collect "treasures" such as rocks, yarn, acorns, etc.

- You saw your first movie two weeks ago in the movie theatre and absolutely loved it. We had so much fun as a family!

- You are a very tough girl when it comes to physical play but very girly when it comes to imagination play.

- You love lip gloss and wearing mommy's shoes.

- You do not like to tell people you're sorry when you hurt them. You get very sad that you hurt them, but you feel too bad or embarrassed to say "sorry". I haven't quite figured it out yet.

- You are very sensitive to others when they are sad or crying and know just how to make them feel better. There have been times when you have frustrated me to tears and then put a huge smile in my heart when you bring me a tissue, pat my back and tell me, "It's hokay mommy."

- You have a huge vocabulary and repeat mommy and daddy often.

I took this video today. Jonathan and I filled Madelyn's room with 15 balloons yesterday and put streamers in her doorway. She was very excited when she woke up this morning and realized today was the big day! She went to VBS this morning and this afternoon, she tried so hard to pop the balloons. Finally, after seven balloons just deflated, the eighth one popped with the help of mommy's fingernails! She was delighted.