Sophia's 3rd Birthday

Friday, April 20th was Sophia's 3rd birthday.

It was such a great day.  One of the best ever with our girl.

I had been praying so hard for sunny weather for this day.  Well, really I only needed the morning to be nice because we had indoor plans after nap time.  ;-)  But her birthday and party have been rainy in previous years and I was really hoping for at least a pretty day, if not warm.  My prayers were answered.   

As usual, I took the day off from work.  And this time, Craig did too.  I had muffin batter ready to bake for breakfast and her banana cake already baked and iced the night before.  I had our lunch packed for the park and the camera battery fully charged.  Haha.  I also put up our birthday banner and scattered a few balloons on her floor while she slept.  Oh my goodness - she was so cute when she noticed this surprise.  I was upstairs getting ready when I heard her wake up and come out to tell Will:  "Come to my room, Will!  There are balloons in there!"  Her voice was confused and excited.  It was so cute. 

We sang to her before we ate breakfast and, just like last year, Sophie blew out her birthday candles with ease.

I'm just gonna' go on record right now and say there are way too many pictures in this post.  I can't believe I wasn't given a message that I had reached the max allowed.  We took over 300 this day and I think I put a little over a hundred on here.  Many are similar, but I LOVE them all, and it really was such a great day.  We had a little set back in the morning when Will seemed like he didn't feel well and wasn't sure he should go to school.  But he layed down for a bit and after a short rest, he perked up and decided to go.  His class was taking a field trip to a nearby restaurant for lunch and I'm pretty sure he didn't want to miss that.  We all rode together to drop him off late to school and then went on about the rest of our birthday morning.

Nana brought over the birthday yard signs for our traditional pictures.  But first, a couple with mommy.

THREE years old!!!

Holding up three fingers.

After dropping Will at school, we made our way out to Maumee Bay for a walk on the boardwalk.  I was hoping to check out the Nature Center there but it was closed.  No biggie.  The walk was perfect.

We spotted some turtles under the bridge right away.

The boardwalk is really very nice.  It's a few feet off the ground and winds through the woods quite a long way.  There are bird observations decks and benches in many places.  This part of Ohio was a swamp land at one time and there are so many nice parks in the area that work to preserve some natural habitats for native animals and trees/plants.

Sophie just loved the novelty of a walk with mom and dad and being "the leader" on this long, interesting bridge.  :)

We saw a couple deer on our way!

Love these.

Racing daddy.

Looking over the edge for critters, etc.

Probably my favorite of the day.

After awhile, I gave her a little break with a piggy back ride.

Just as we were coming back around to the boardwalk entrance, we spotted a little garden snake on the path that climbed over and dropped to the ground to slither away.  Sophie was so curious.  She's been all about worms and bugs lately.

We said our farewells to the turtles and headed to a store because daddy wanted to let Sophie pick out a small, "special gift" of her choice (she selected a Tinkerbelle doll) and get her some flowers.  We also picked up some bubbles while we were there.

From there, we went to Pearson Park for our picnic lunch.

There were many moments of sweet silliness between Sophie and her daddy this morning.  It really was so nice to have several hours of time exclusive to our birthday girl.

Bubbles!

Love her expression in these next two.

Chasing bubbles.

Sophie and I got to ride in the back of the truck just to drive a little further down the parking lot to the playground.  She loved it!

After some play time, we stopped for ice cream at a nearby ice cream shop.  Sophie got strawberry cheesecake ice cream.

Sophie finished hers quickly and then wanted to "share" daddy's cup.  He kept teasing her with taking turns and occasionally stealing her bite.

Who's gonna' get this bite?

Sophie's balloon from Nana and flowers from daddy.

Will had a great time with his class and then both kids took a nap before our afternoon "adventure".

It rained in the afternoon and that was totally fine!  We went to Sylvania Playground for an hour of hard-core play time with bounce houses/slides and lots of swing set/play yards.

This area cracked me up.  It was some smaller toys for the three and under crowd and Sophie just barely makes the cut now.  She loved this "roller coaster" car slide but it was so funny to see our "toddler" in the toddler area hefting up the car like it were a matchbox car and lugging it around to get it back up to the starting position. 

On the way home, we picked up pizza, which the kids loved.  And then we had banana cake for dessert.  Sophie so sweetly said "thank you for my cake, mommy!" and went on and on about how much she loved it.  She requested it every night until it was gone and continued to say it was her "favorite".  I made the banana bread cake with brown butter icing from Pinterest and it was pretty tasty!

More singing and blowing out candles.

Yummmm!!!

It was a long but wonderful day for our girl and our family.  After a bath and prayers, both kids crashed hard.  Followed by their parents. 

I loved this day.  And I'm so glad Craig shared it with us.  It was a perfect amount of special alone time for Sophie and family time for all of us.  She kept singing "Mommy... Daddy... and Sophie!"  At random.  She clearly enjoyed her special day.  :)

Happy Birthday, big girl!!

Sophia Grace at 3 Years Old

Oh, my sweet girl.

You're THREE!!!

You are becoming SUPER independent (and darn stubborn about it!) lately.  You want to do everything for yourself and even go so far as to reverse whatever I've started just so you can begin again ALL on your own.  :-)  Bedtime has gotten better again but you have so many little rituals that you insist on and everything has to be "just so".

You are loving and tender and you offer up kisses to everyone and everything.

You're also silly and funny.  You have a hilarious fake laugh and an even better real one.  I love that you have a sense of humor and you're learning to tell silly jokes and stories.  You're using much bigger words and expressions lately and that is always entertaining to hear.

You are protective of your family and I love that.  You defend us when you think someone is (even jokingly) being mistreated (i.e. teasing) and you stick up for us.  Family is the most important thing.  Don't lose that value. 

Girlfriend, you are one stubborn, brave and physically strong little lady.  Sometimes a little too big and sassy "spirited" for your britches, I think, but I love that about you and I hope you always keep it.

Potty training is going pretty well.  I know you are proud of yourself when you go and when you wear underwear, so I think you are motivated.  But, for the love of God, will you please start telling me before you have to poo instead of after?  Thank you.

At your doctors appointment last week you were 34#12oz and 38" tall.  Approximately 80th and 75th percentiles respectively.  (Actually, they measured you at 39" but I could tell just by watching that they were measuring accurately.  We re-measured a little more carefully at home.)  And at the dentist appointment that followed, we were all so amazed at how well you sat in the chair and cooperated for your cleaning and exam.  The dentist and his hygenist said you were their favorite patient that day - better behaved than some adults.  ;-)

This summer, I can't wait to see how you progress on a bigger bike.  I think we're ready to retire that tricycle, don't you?  I know you're looking forward to sidewalk chalk and bubbles, swimming and swinging, picnics and parks, and wearing those beloved new "crocs" when it's finally shorts weather... consistently.  You ask every day.  It's going to be fun to expand our garden and I know you'll want to help.  Hopefully, we can get outside with our new umbrellas and boots one warm, rainy day and dance around in the puddles. 

You're doing so much better with letter and shape recognition.  This summer, I want to keep working on number recognition and begin practicing the blending of letter sounds with you to start some early reading skills.  And in the fall, you'll start preschool!  Whoa!  You've got some big adventures ahead of you.

Sophie rocking on the balance board.

I am your biggest cheerleader, Sophia!  I love you to the moon and back and I am so proud of who you are becoming.  I know you're still a mommy's girl and that's fine by me, but don't sell yourself short!  You are gonna' do big things on your own one day.  And, in everything, I've got your back.  ;) I'll always be behind you no matter how big you get.

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

Love, Mommy