I have posted something on this blog for each and every one of my children’s birthdays. Yes, you can even read about Ella’s very first birthday all the way back here and here. So even though it may be six months late (her half birthday was last Saturday!), I have to share these photos from Lucy’s 3rd birthday that I am just now getting around to organizing and editing. 2013 has been that kind of year. So for just a few minutes, try to forget that we are all gearing up for Christmas and imagine we’re on the brink of summer instead of winter.
Lucy’s birthday fell just a week before we moved into our new home. So even though we had painters and other workers still at the house getting it ready, I hauled cake, balloons, and presents to the back porch so we could have a little celebration in our new backyard. I was ready to start making memories there instead of at the rental house.
Lucy requested a strawberry cake, so I made this for her. I’m not sure if it was exactly what she had in mind, but I thought it was amazing and ate it for breakfast and lunch for several days afterward.
Despite the fact that Claire’s eyes were swelling at an alarming rate as we sang “Happy Birthday” due to an allergic reaction involving the pollen that had collected on our swingset, and we had to cut the festivities short so that we could run to the drugstore and get her some Benadryl, it was still a sweet – albeit rushed – celebration. (Also, this explains why there are no sibling shots.)
Lucy was absolutely thrilled with the “dollies” she got, which she subsequently named Alice (after one of our babysitters) and Lily (after her one of her cousins).
Here is an excerpt from the birthday letter I wrote to Lucy this year that gives a little snapshot of her at three years old:
“I’m not quite sure how to put your three-year-old self into words, Lucy. You have one big and bold, but equally sweet and silly personality that doesn’t quite seem to fit onto the page.
You are extremely demanding and you want what you want NOW, like “water with ice, make it cold!” before bedtime every night. You tend to blow up at the smallest things, and nothing – not even bribery – can get you to calm down (that memorable incident when you told the dentist that no, you didn’t want any prizes for sitting in the chair, and then later threw your shoe across the room in frustration comes to mind). There are certain things you absolutely won’t do, like sit on Santa’s lap or stand on the scale at the doctor’s office, and there’s nothing anybody can do to change your mind.
You are also alarmingly sneaky, like the time you pretended to be asleep on your bed facing the wall while you were really secretly and quietly unwrapping and eating the Starburst I had told you not to eat just a few minutes before. You are the only one of my children who has the nerve to go to the pantry and help yourself to a snack of goldfish and fruit snacks before I’ve even had a chance to feed you breakfast.
But your tenaciousness has its benefits as well. You are so determined to be independent, for instance, that at just over three years old you dress yourself completely on your own every morning. Who cares if your dresses are on backwards half the time? (Certainly not you, as you won’t let anybody turn them around.)
And then there are the times when you surprise us all with your sweetness, always quick to give hugs when somebody is hurt or sad. And you never deny me a kiss when I ask for one, and I ask a lot.
Thanks for always keeping us on our toes. I adore you just as intensely as you hate going to the dentist… and that sure is a lot!”
Happy “unbirthday” Lucy!
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