1. Today is my daughter's third birthday. Can you believe it? Three years ago I was still feeling a little stunned: I had an actual daughter, and she had arrived before Christmas. On the afternoon of the 22nd I was scrubbing blind slats with a toothbrush, expecting to be pregnant until the 28th. Or, you know, the end of time. And then -- kaboom! -- at 1am I had a real live baby in my arms.
2. This morning I told her she could pick any kind of cake she wanted. "Would you like a chocolate cake? or a yellow cake? or maybe a carrot cake?" "Red," she answered. Red velvet cake it was. I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe, mostly, except I subbed in a half-cup of cocoa for a half-cup of flour (because what good is a teaspoon and a half of cocoa?) and I used less food coloring because (a) that's all I had and (b) I was a La Leche League Leader for ten years and I didn't want the ghost of Edwina Froelich to visit me tonight, intoning, "...as close to their natural state as possible." Stella couldn't quite get the candles blown out but she had four willing helpers who pitched in to get the job done.
3. Something I want to remember about my daughter at exactly three: she loves to sing. She sings to herself every day and she carries a tune pretty well. None of the boys have been especially interested in music and so it warms my cockles to hear her singing while she goes about her business.
4. Another little quirk of hers: she says "dinder" and "doughndits" for "dinner" and "doughnuts." Are there other words with the structure /dVnV.../? She's been saying "doughndits" for a while but I just noticed "dinder" tonight. I'm curious about whether it's a phonological rule for her or just a fluke.
5. Remember the sweater saga, where I made her a sweater with the yarn she loved and she declined to wear it? I decided I would knit the same sweater for the dolly I made her last year. She thought this was cool enough that she agreed to put on the sweater briefly. I was going to post the pattern for the dolly sweater, but I am out of minutes to write it up. (It's really easy. I can probably get it done tomorrow. I should do it soon before I forget it.) I was looking for a dolly sweater pattern and found a simple little doll-sized raglan on Ravelry -- selling for $10. Ten dollars? For a doll's sweater? Nope. You can have my pattern for free.
6. My parents sent a dollhouse especially for her birthday. I am so glad they did -- a December 23 birthday gets short shrift. She's too little to care, but I'm happy that she had something special to open tonight. And she could not have been more excited to play with it. Still smiling about that one.
7. She gave me two gifts today: she slept through the night in her own bed for the first time, and she went to sleep peacefully at a reasonable hour. There are many many things I love about my daughter, but she is unquestionably the worst sleeper of the five kids. And none of them would have won any sleep prizes. When the boy who used to be the worst sleeper was a toddler I would tell myself, "Of all the things a kid could be bad at, sleeping is a pretty good choice." I am less philosophical about it these days and OH it was lovely to have an uninterrupted night. I'm not going to count on two in a row, so I'll bid you good night.
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