When your birthday began to shine on the horizon this year, we had many conversations about your turning four and having a birthday party. At first, you wanted to have the same party that we had for your 3rd birthday...a fun morning playing with all your cousins and Grammie at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Unfortunately, it was not an option for this year. Then, a couple weeks ago, I asked you what you would like to do for your birthday? You hedged and said you'd have to think about it. "Sometimes kids have to think about these things for a long time," you explained. You often take it upon yourself to explain to Daddy and I how "kids" think. Very helpful. When the next couple days garnered the same response, Daddy started giving suggestions one morning, "Well, we could go to the park, but we go to the park all the time..." "No, we don't!" you interjected. But before you could go on to explain that we do not go to the park nearly enough, Daddy continued. "Or we could go to the mall..." "Oh! I like to go to the mall...." "Or we could go to the zoo. But I don't know if you would really like to go to the zoo." Here, Daddy stopped long enough to give you a chance to think about your response. After an appropriate pause, as though trying to make the idea your own, you said, "I think I would like to...go to the zoo. Yep." And then you announced, "I'm all done thinking about it now. I know what we should do for my birthday!"
By the way, we're pretty excited about taking you to the zoo. :)
The next day, you came downstairs after playing in your playroom for a while to tell me, "I just wrapped a present up for myself for my birthday." Are you worried we won't get you a present? Do you still remember us not getting you a present for your first birthday? Heehee! Ahem, sorry. ;)
Oh, it's been so fun to have 3-year-old Serena in our home!
It's been quite the year! It started off with your becoming a big sister again. How you've loved that role! Having a little baby of your very own has brought you so much joy!
I can't help but think of all the baby things you yourself have left behind this year. When you turned 3, you were still using your paci to fall asleep at night and naptime. Then, one morning a few weeks after your birthday, you decided you were done with it. You told me that after your nap you were going to throw it in the trash (a monumental moment Daddy & I had been describing to you for a few months by then, in hopes that you would indeed decide to take the initiative to do it yourself). I half-doubted you, but tried to sound confident in your decision. Sure enough, a few hours later, you woke up from your nap, and the first thing you did was run to the trashcan and chuck your paci into it! We wondered how the next few sleep-times would go, but there was no looking back. You were sure of your decision and never asked for your paci, cried for it, or anything. Hopefully your brothers will do as well! ;)
A couple months later, we moved to Appleton, WI, and you completely embraced the experience. When Daddy headed up to Appleton before us to start his new job and look for a house, you were certain that he was going to find you one with Christmas lights on it. You've loved going to all the new places...new library, new Aldi, new Walmart, new parks, new churches...and of course, making new friends.
You're so outgoing and confident. Every chance you get, you ask other kids what their names are and how old they are. You make a new friend nearly every time we go to the park or to the library. You have no trouble going into new situations alone. As we've visited different churches here, you've walked into each nursery class eagerly and happily, ready to make new friends and learn new songs and stories. When we told you we weren't going to church one Sunday morning because of sickness in our family, you said you weren't sick and that we could just drop you off. Drop you off. Something we've never ever done before, but you apparently have no problem with the idea! ;) You don't know it yet, but in a couple of weeks, we'll be doing that whole "dropping you off" thing for real for the first time as I take you to Arts Camp at our church. I already know that you'll be so eager and excited. And I'll be jealous of the people there who get to teach you new things and watch you soak up every new experience like such a big girl.
Right around the age of 3 1/2, you suddenly stopped falling asleep at naptime. I think every young mom dreads the day her babies stop napping, haha! After a few weeks of hoping it was just a phase you were going through, I instituted "quiet time" which is followed by "special nap." During quiet time, you read books in your bed. During special nap, you play by yourself in your playroom while listening to music or a book on CD. It's amazing how you can keep yourself independently occupied for so long!
Your love of books has only grown in the last year! There doesn't seem to be a limit to how much time you can sit and listen to someone read to you!
I love how you'll just sit and read books to yourself. And that you're so expressive! You memorize books so quickly. When our 7-yr-old neighbor boy, Tyler (who you intend to marry), wanted to read a couple of favorites to you, you happily stood at the top of the ladder spanning the fence between our yards, listening to his laborious reading, and helping him whenever he got stuck on a word. Absolutely precious.
Lately, you've entered a stage of talking to yourself as you play and it is positively adorable. Sometimes, you're narrating yourself, other times you're having a conversation with an imaginary friend (usually a character from a book).
Earlier this year, you went through a phase of pretty intense pretending. You had a husband named "Sink" for quite a while, who was Olie's daddy (Olie being your baby, of course). Interestingly, he worked at a mattress store and sold beds, though he rarely actually went to work. He kept your little mind very busy for quite a few weeks, and your Daddy had a lot of fun at Sink's expense. Then you suddenly became Mrs. Mallard, complete with flapping, quacking, and nesting. One day, you brought me your pillow and said that we might as well get rid of it, since you were a duck now and ducks sleep in nests. I convinced you that we should keep it around in case you ever stopped being a duck. You assured me that such a day would never come, and indeed you were Mrs. Mallard for several weeks. There was no end to the cute things you said and the things you pretended. It truly was an adventure for us all. Then one day, you became Kanga from Winnie-the-Pooh. You got really into Winnie-the-Pooh for a while, immersing yourself in the stories, and listening to them on CD when I wasn't reading them to you. At first, I was a little puzzled by your choosing Kanga, since Kanga is not a very prominent character; but after I thought for a bit, it made sense. Kanga is a mother, and you identified with that.
You have an intense love for and trust in mothers. This is ever so sweet, but I want you to know that mommies are just regular people, too. I'm going to make mistakes, and get frustrated and upset; but I will always, always love you. I do love how if you hear of anyone having any trouble or sadness (from book characters to real-life people), you want reassurance that their mother (or "muh-yer" as you say it) is going to take care of them. Oh sweet precious girl, I wish there was a way to hold onto that sweet, trusting innocence forever! I can already see it slipping away as you are becoming more aware of people making bad choices and doing wrong things. Shielding you from the sin and sorrow of our world would be wrong, yet I wish I could somehow preserve these fleeting moments of blissful ignorance and trust!
I love the way you and Bret play together. I love listening to all your talk, your plans, your hurried feet, your laughter. You two are lucky to have each other.
I love the way you love on Cody. You are an awesome big sister, and he loves you for it! You are good at making sure he has something to play with, trading toys with him if he has something he shouldn't, and doling out O's one at a time in the car. You love carrying him around and will find any excuse to do so. It's one of my favorite sights!
You are very thoughtful and ask such interesting questions. You have a great desire to learn about God, and it's daunting for me to assume the co-responsibility (with Daddy, of course!) of teaching you about Him. I hope you'll be enjoying a relationship with Him very soon!
Daddy and I are constantly amazed by how smart you are and how quickly you catch onto things. True, you are our first kid, so maybe this is just how kids are. Nevertheless, we think you're amazing! ;)
You have an insatiable desire to be a "big kid." You talk all the time about getting bigger, and when I ask you why you want to get bigger so badly, you'll always say that it's because you want to drive and have babies. And then you quickly add, "But you can still come visit me a lot!" I love that part! When asked how big you'd like to be, you always answer, "As big as Grandma."
What a precious gift you are, Serena! Part of me feels a little sad to be leaving the Three-Year-Old-Serena behind...she was so fun, so sweet, so curious, so chatty, so imaginative, so energetic, so quaint, so capable...and still such a baby! Yet, I thrill at the thought of you another year older and all the wonderful things this year will bring!
I love you, my sweet baby girl!
Love, Mommy
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