This is SO very late but I haven't had a working computer to blog on.
This was the first year Elliott anticipated her birthday. She was able to see us celebrate Easton's birthday in September and from them on it was all she could talk about. Every store we went to she'd pick out all the cool stuff she wanted for her birthday. But she has a crazy memory and we were terrified she'd actually remember all the crap she'd been picking out. In September she picked out her birthday card. Then the list compiled like wildfire!
When the big day came I bought her special donuts, a balloon, the birthday card she picked out, and a small gift. I had it waiting in the garage to give her. When we told her "Happy Birthday" she said "No! It's not my birthday because no one is here for the party." She could not get excited about it because it was just our little family... not the whole gang like she'd seen for Easton.
So I called up the family and Brandi, Emme, Grandma, and Grandpa were able to come over. As soon as there was a crowd she was SO excited. It was adorable to watch her open each gift and express genuine appreciation. She made a comment about each present about how much she loved it. I encouraged people to skip presents or to go very simple. She got a couple special things she asked for and some little stuff she'd "Always wanted!" It's amazing how thankful she was to getting dollar store stickers. I hope she never loses that spirit. It's easy to let birthdays be about gifts and greed... the trick will be preventing that.
We had originally planned to have a her actual birthday "party" in Sunriver and I'd make her a cake (a tradition I've been trying to keep up on). She decided on a cake with a big yellow school bus, with lots of kids on it, and Emme, and Emme's school in the background, and then Emme would be SO proud of her. We were saving her most wanted present for her to open in Sunriver. But that sneaky little girl found the hiding spot. So we decided to cancel her "party" since there was no gift... and to be honest her cake sounded pretty complicated. Two out of three years isn't too bad for my new tradition ;)
So far this is one of my favorite stages. She has a wild imagination and says the most off the wall things. Once playing with a box she told me she was going to cut off my arms and legs, put me in the box, put me in the mail, ship me to Daddy's work, and when I arrive he can glue me back together. She also loves her brother so much! It melts my heart to watch them play together. It brings back memories from my childhood.
Her temper tantrums are slowly decreasing and bedtime isn't an hour long battle anymore. Don't get me wrong, we still have our moments... she's stubborn as a mule. Here's an example of a memorable battle we had recently. We were headed to Emme's soccer game and it was pretty cold and raining. She's in a phase where she will only wear dresses. We told her she had to wear pants because it was too cold for a dress. Of course she refused to wear pants. So I attempted to compromise by letter her wear a dress with thick leggings underneath. Oh no... "Pants don't go with dresses" she said. I tried to explain that people wear pants with dresses all the time. She would not budge and it was beginning to look like we were going to miss the game. (You'd think it'd be easy to make a 3 year old wear what you tell them). Luckily Jesse's quick thinking saved the day. He brought the ipad in and did a google image search for "dresses with leggings". Once she saw that pants actually DO go with dresses we were good to go.
Our girl is something else and we wouldn't trade her for anything!
This was the first year Elliott anticipated her birthday. She was able to see us celebrate Easton's birthday in September and from them on it was all she could talk about. Every store we went to she'd pick out all the cool stuff she wanted for her birthday. But she has a crazy memory and we were terrified she'd actually remember all the crap she'd been picking out. In September she picked out her birthday card. Then the list compiled like wildfire!
When the big day came I bought her special donuts, a balloon, the birthday card she picked out, and a small gift. I had it waiting in the garage to give her. When we told her "Happy Birthday" she said "No! It's not my birthday because no one is here for the party." She could not get excited about it because it was just our little family... not the whole gang like she'd seen for Easton.
So I called up the family and Brandi, Emme, Grandma, and Grandpa were able to come over. As soon as there was a crowd she was SO excited. It was adorable to watch her open each gift and express genuine appreciation. She made a comment about each present about how much she loved it. I encouraged people to skip presents or to go very simple. She got a couple special things she asked for and some little stuff she'd "Always wanted!" It's amazing how thankful she was to getting dollar store stickers. I hope she never loses that spirit. It's easy to let birthdays be about gifts and greed... the trick will be preventing that.
We had originally planned to have a her actual birthday "party" in Sunriver and I'd make her a cake (a tradition I've been trying to keep up on). She decided on a cake with a big yellow school bus, with lots of kids on it, and Emme, and Emme's school in the background, and then Emme would be SO proud of her. We were saving her most wanted present for her to open in Sunriver. But that sneaky little girl found the hiding spot. So we decided to cancel her "party" since there was no gift... and to be honest her cake sounded pretty complicated. Two out of three years isn't too bad for my new tradition ;)
So far this is one of my favorite stages. She has a wild imagination and says the most off the wall things. Once playing with a box she told me she was going to cut off my arms and legs, put me in the box, put me in the mail, ship me to Daddy's work, and when I arrive he can glue me back together. She also loves her brother so much! It melts my heart to watch them play together. It brings back memories from my childhood.
Her temper tantrums are slowly decreasing and bedtime isn't an hour long battle anymore. Don't get me wrong, we still have our moments... she's stubborn as a mule. Here's an example of a memorable battle we had recently. We were headed to Emme's soccer game and it was pretty cold and raining. She's in a phase where she will only wear dresses. We told her she had to wear pants because it was too cold for a dress. Of course she refused to wear pants. So I attempted to compromise by letter her wear a dress with thick leggings underneath. Oh no... "Pants don't go with dresses" she said. I tried to explain that people wear pants with dresses all the time. She would not budge and it was beginning to look like we were going to miss the game. (You'd think it'd be easy to make a 3 year old wear what you tell them). Luckily Jesse's quick thinking saved the day. He brought the ipad in and did a google image search for "dresses with leggings". Once she saw that pants actually DO go with dresses we were good to go.
Our girl is something else and we wouldn't trade her for anything!
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