Anna's 3rd Birthday post

Today is Anna's 3rd birthday. The house is all atwitter with excitement and her sister, Sadie, has already made brownies - all by herself - for her. Anna must have helped lick the spoon and bowl though because the spots you see on her in this picture are all chocolate. And she held up that knee to make sure I got it in the picture.
Three years ago at this moment, Jon, Mom, Aaron and I were sitting around playing cards, I think having some lunch just waiting for "that" moment when I knew we would need to go to the birthing center.

Conrad might have been playing cards with us, my memory is a little fuzzy but I know he was here.

Then eventually we went over to the birthing center and "God Bless America" the rest is history.

And now we have this lovely child who brightens our day, every day. She will now wrap her arms around you, spontaneously, and say "Mommy, I love you". If that doesn't make you want to forgive the impishness that dominates her life, I don't know what will.

Just a bit ago, I walked into the kitchen, where Sadie was making the brownies and I hear a spraying sound and Sadie tells Anna not to spray that. Anna says to me, "Mommy, Sadie is spraying this". So far, the truth and untruths are not real clear to her. It will come. Although sometimes she'll tell me someone is "wying" (her "l"s aren't too good yet, either).

She repeats everything you say and is very instructional. She'll tell you all the steps for something or tell you just how she wants things.

Ketchup is her favorite food and she'll eat most meats if it has ketchup on it. If I would allow it, she'd have ketchup on her sandwiches, but I cannot, will not allow that. It's an abomination to sandwiches everywhere.

She doesn't always warm up to people right away. Poor Elsa, she's been loving on Anna for a year now and Anna still won't give her the time of day. But, she will talk about her and remembers that she gave her a really cute pair of pants everytime she puts them on.

She's very independent, as we try to raise all our children to be - if for no other reason than the fact we like not having to get up on Saturday morning to pour a bowl of cereal - and I have no doubt that she would not starve to death if for some reason we were the only two in the house and I was medically or otherwise unresponsive for 24 hours. She'd find some food. Better yet, she'd probably find a way out of the house and go across the street and, if a car didn't run her over, get my neighbor Lisa to wake me up.

She prefers no clothes to any clothes and only wears underwear because we insist. But, she knows when she looks good and says "how do I look?" when she is dressed. And she loves sunglasses. Especially ones that actually fit her.

And as I am typing this she is recounting something she has just seen. I don't know what it is but I can tell because she said "the kids do this" and she's rolling around on the floor. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure I want to know.

I am really having fun watching her grow and hear her voice and see her personality. I think we're in trouble with this one. She'll get away with alot more than her sisters, probably, and I don't think that will be in her good interest but it's probably going to happen. We will try to be vigiliant to the contrary but if 3 years of history bears out, woe be unto us.

Happy Birthday, my precious Anna. I'm so glad you're here.