Happy Birthday Bethany Claire!
Three years ago, you came into our family and brought more joy and laughter than we ever could have imagined. I don't think I've ever met someone who loved life as much as you do! You are always going full blast. Everything you do is all or nothing.
Three years ago, your daddy and I marveled at all the little things about you - your long eyelashes and nails (Lane was born so early he didn't have these! We didn't know babies could be born already needing a manicure. I knew you were my girly girl right then!)
You are so smart. You amaze me daily. You know your letters, letter sounds, numbers to 20 and depending on your mood you can count even higher. :) You have really become interested in reading books - The Froggy series is your favorite right now. You also love reading baby Elmo books and your "Jesus loves me book" (The Jesus Storybook Bible) You are starting to try to spell/read. You can spell Bethany, Lane, zoo, and cat. The other night while we were taking a bath you decided to spell tepee for some reason. You did a great job sounding it out!! You have learned to read some words. I was writing a letter the other day and you came up and started pointing to several words - I remember you saying "that says So, right mommy?"
You are stubborn. Oh my word, are you stubborn. I both love and hate this depending on the day. haha. The past month though, I have LOVED this. Whenever you decide something will be done (or won't), you stick to your guns. Right before Easter, we were putting you down for bed on night and you said you didn't want your paci. I really didn't believe you so I tried to put your paci in your bed so you would find it if you needed it in the night. Oh that made you mad! You grabbed the pacis, threw them out of your bed and screamed "I DON'T WANT MY PACI'S!!" And you haven't touched one since.
This week, you potty trained yourself. I tried potty training you several months ago and you did great, but you did NOT want to wear panties - only diapers! Then Tuesday you woke up from nap completely naked asking to go potty. So, we went. Then, you asked for panties. You went the rest of the day without even having one accident! And you've pretty much continued on the rest of the week! I'm not sure who is more proud of you - us or you!
You want to go to school SO BADLY! Everyday when we drop Lane off you start crying and saying "but it's my turn!" We already signed you up for 3k next year. We've been telling you for months that in order to go to school you had to be 3 and you had to tee tee in the potty. Diapers don't go to school. We were hoping that would encourage you to start going potty. Well, last night we were telling you today was your birthday, then we asked how old you were going to be. You whole face lit up and you exclaimed "3!! I gonna be 3! and I tee tee in the potty! I gonna GO TO SCHOOL!!!!" Right then is where I wanted to crawl into a hole. The we had to have a long talk about summer vacation and all the fun we were going to do. It helped when I mentioned that Lane would not be at school and neither would Maggie or Miller. Then in the fall everyone will go back to school. I fear Lane's last 4 days of school are going to be long. But at least you are so excited to go to school.
You love painting, chalking, bubbles, really anything artsy or outdoors! You love gathering pricklies (sweet gumballs) and giving them to mommy and daddy!
You love dogs but rarely want to get close enough to pet one. You play doctor every single day. You sing all day every day too! Sometimes you sing classic songs like Twinkle Twinkle. Sometimes you sing songs from cartoons like Doc McStuffin's theme song. Sometime you sing church songs and sometimes you make up your own songs.
I love the way you say so many different things.
You say "I'm walkin' on myself!" translation: I'm walking on tip-toes.
You say:"a little minute" translation: a little bit + just a minute
You say: "There's a bone in there!" translation: I was choking
You like to wear your busters. aka your slippers
You call polka dots "bubbles"
You call french fries "chicken fries"
You make me laugh daily. Someone mentioned the old country song "..she's a wild one with an angel face." and it brought a smile to my face just thinking about you. You are wild but you are sweet and precious. You snuggle like no one else. You give the best hugs. You love your brother and try to do everything he does.
This could go on all day long. You are unique - a rare gem and I am so thankful God gave you to us! You have my heart baby girl. I am so honored to be your momma. I love you!
