Celebrating 3: Part 2

Kalina is firmly three years old, and has just about recovered from all the activity surrounding her achievement of the age. Happy birthday, Sweetie!

On the girl's actual birthday, she awoke a bit pensive, perhaps reflecting on her achievements in the past year. During Elise's morning nap, I volunteered to do whatever she wanted, and she chose fingerpainting. After a mere 10 minutes shmearing blue, green, orange and purple gook around (it all makes brown!) until the paper became quite soggy, she was finished and we cleaned up in the sink. This led to 45 minutes of intense suds play, during which my arms and hands got thoroughly washed several times, but I also got the floors swept because she was so engrossed that she didn't really seem to care if I stuck around.

We then attended our usual Tuesday playdate with Kalina's bestie, Edward and treated ourselves to frozen yogurt. The afternoon was spent playing comfortably with Grandpa, and Kalina gorged herself on bacon and pancakes for supper. We did sing Happy Birthday one more time, and we opened presents throughout the day. It was nice for all!

The next day was happily spent playing with various presents and making real lemonade just like Maisy does in the book Kalina received. Sometimes I think the day after the birthday is more fun than the actual birthday.

Yay, Kalina's three!

And because this post doesn't really have much to it, I thought we'd take a look back at the past year. It all began with a cat party.

Two in Review:

-Kalina discovered her love for chocolate. I didn't realize how important it was to me that she enjoy chocolate until it was confirmed by her unbiased preference for "brown" ice cream, etc. Whew!
-She was exposed to adventures from tricycling to canoeing to having Mommy leave for several nights on a business trip and giving birth. We learned that Kalina's not much for adventures, but can handle them if she absolutely has to.

-She discovered that being a "big girl" means anything from getting to watch cat videos on YouTube to helping with household chores.

-Kalina overcame her fear of babies (for the most part), ants, driving over train tracks, and lint, among other things.

-She declared her first non-animal, non-relative best friend.

-She started to "talk to the animals" on her own rather than demanding we create endless scenarios for them (Mommy TV). And they're hilariously creative, by the way!
In addition, Kalina began to:
-Color in the lines
-Ask poignant questions
-Make up her own songs and sing them all the time. (Side note: What will I do when life isn't narrated by song anymore?)
-Lighten my load by climbing in and out of her carseat just as I was almost too pregnant to help her, getting her own milk cup from the fridge and putting on her own shoes and take them off immediately upon entering the house after tiptoeing to her spot on the stairs so she doesn't get my floors dirty.
-Skip naps
-Watch TV
-Hop
-Reach light switches
-Play with a doll, a little bit

But some things haven't changed:
-Kalina's still firmly a Mommy's girl!
-She's still fascinated by balloons, trucks (fascinated, yet afraid) and cows
-She still likes to dance, even when there's no music
-Her favorite hobbies are still baking and crafts
-And perhaps most striking, Kalina still loves cats and all things furry, provided they're pretend or at least on a leash

And that's my big girl! Despite all the fun we had at Two, I know Three will be just as wonderful.