3 Years Old!

Cecilia Kathleen is 3 years old!

Her birthday was on a Saturday, and she woke up to find balloons at the bottom of the stairs and a picture scavenger hunt to find her presents (which she was really good at!).  We were also fortunate enough that Daddy was able to Skype in to greet her with a Happy Birthday first thing and watch her find and open her presents.  He also joined in singing Happy Birthday and watching Ceci blow out the candle from her birthday breakfast muffin!

Since it was her first birthday without her Daddy with her, and the first birthday she totally understood (she loves all things birthday and has had her birthday on the calendar and been excitedly talking about it for months!), we wanted to make it as special as we could.  So for lunch we went out to Friendly's with Nan and Cali.  She really loved her "decorating" ice cream sundae, though she mostly ate the decorations and not much ice cream.

   

We also had a lovely video chat with Nana and Gradad back in England!

Then for dinner we went to the Roma with Nan, Gramps, Cali, Uncle Joe, Catie and Auntie Maria.  Ceci was extremely excited to get dressed up in her birthday dress, have a pasta dinner with everyone, and blow out her candles on her Minnie cake.

Birthday Dress & Tiara

So excited to be the Birthday Girl!

Cake!

Post Cake Crash

Not interested in pictures anymore.

It was a great day and I was so happy we got to share it with family.

At 3 years old, it's remarkable how old Ceci seems! Right now she's

- Still sleeping really well.  She sleeps at night from 7pm until 6:30am and is still putting herself to sleep at night with minimal fuss (since arriving at Nan and Gramps and not having Daddy here, there's been a few rough bedtimes, but knock on wood that seems to be behind us now!).  She also still happily naps from 1-3pm every day.  Not sure how much longer we'll be able to count on that, but I'll take it as long as I can!

- Still addicted to her paci.  She only has it for sleeping and we've started planted the seed about the paci fairy (a couple weeks before our trip she even said she was ready to give her pacis away but after over an hour of trying to fall asleep at bedtime without them she called us back to her room and said she wasn't ready so we gave them back - especially knowing how much change was coming!).

- Completely potty trained when awake.  We had a pretty major regression (thankfully just for pee) when we got to America but thankfully that seems to have ended.  She sleeps in a pull-up for nap and night time and I'm in no rush to phase that out given how well she sleeps!  Much like the paci, we have faith she'll kick the habit when she's ready.

- So smart.  She can count to twenty on her own, recognizes them in writing, knows the whole alphabet and can recognize all the letters as well as name words associated with most of them ("K is for Auntie Kayte and keys!").  She can write her name, draw a circle, the sun, and a person.  She communicates really well and is picking up words and phrases so quickly ("I can't believe it!", "holy moly!", "that'll be a great idea?", "I'm so excited!", etc.).  It really seems like she only has to hear something once or twice and suddenly she's using it correctly in conversation.

- Shocking us with her memory.  We saw a large truck the other day and she said "that's just like the green truck.  Remember, mumma, the green moving truck, that came to our old house and the guys took all our things and brought them to our new house?".  Another time she had a tummy ache and said "remember last time when my tummy hurt when I woke up at our new house and daddy took me to the doctor?".  We hadn't talked about either of those events since they happened.  It's crazy to me how much she remembers.  She also remembers words to songs, and words to stories, for a very long time.

- So loving.  She loves her sister and for the most part is incredibly lovely with her.  She brings a toy down for her in the morning, helps her if she wants something, tries to cheer her up if she's in a bad mood or upset (especially in the car).  Very sweetly she either calls her "Calista Diane" or "my Cali".  Too cute.  She also is so affectionate to us.  It's not uncommon for her to give me a big hug and say "I love you Mummy" completely out of the blue.  I absolutely adore these moments.

Sister Hugs

Cuddles for Mumma

Ceci is growing up so fast and we are so incredibly proud of the sweet, kind, clever, confident, hilarious big girl she is!