Another March 26

Dear Harper,

Happy (late) birthday to my sweet three year old! Last week we celebrated your 3rd birthday in style, with three of our favorite families, one Minnie Mouse cake, and lots of calzone. You have been so excited about your "Minnie Party" for the last month. And having just three families (11 kids total) instead of the 50-people madhouse we usually do at for birthday parties here was a welcome change of pace.

You and your friends entertained yourselves in the backyard, enjoying the perfect weather while it's so briefly here, and the adults stayed in the kitchen and debated the merits of the meatball/mushroom/olive/cheese calzone.

Your friends know you well, and you opened gifts of baby dolls, dress up clothes, a beautiful twirly dress, and a beauty parlor chair for her dolls. And from MoMo? You were so excited to get "makeup so beautiful". My mom got you a little cosmetic bag, filled with Minnie Mouse panties, a powder compact, and Disney princess chapstick.

You marched around in your new dress up clothes with your new baby doll and your makeup bag for the rest of the evening.

Your first week of being 3 has me wishing that the next 51 weeks are nothing like this one has been.

Later that night after your party, I woke up in the middle of the night (2:30 in the morning, to be exact) needing a bottle of water, and when I stepped outside of my bedroom, guess who I saw on the playroom couch? Wide awake and applying your brand new princess chapstick to your little three-year old lips? I have no idea how long you had been on the couch playing with the makeup that night, but you proudly said "I put my makeup on, Mommy!", at 2:30 in the morning, just as happy as could be.

A few days later, Daddy picked you and Emmy up from school and learned that you had exhibited effective leadership skills on the playground. You had pulled you jeans down, and ran around the playground in your new Minnie Mouse panties, followed closely by four other pant-less preschoolers. We're going to need to work on that.

We love you so, so much, Harper girl.

Just try to go easy on us this year, okay?

Love, Mommy