36 Month Newsletter

Happy Birthday Gwennie Goo,

You are officially three. For weeks you would hold up two fingers and tell people that you are two. Then very slowly, and with major concentration your ring finger would pop up and you would say, “Soon I will be free.”

We are having a hard time, because your Daddy is deployed. He left at the beginning of September, and will be gone for more than a year. You miss him, and sometimes, with a broken expression, you look at me and say you wish he was home. It breaks my heart and I know it breaks his, too. Gwennie, your Daddy and I love you so much, and are amazed at the expressive little girl you are becoming.

About a month ago the mother of a friend of Rhayn’s let you ride her old horse. You were ecstatic. She helped you onto Ole Norm’s back and led you around her property. The smile on your face was so big and blissful that I had a hard time taking you down. It was perfect. Since then you have had another ride on Ole Norm, and once again it was like heaven for you. I know you will grow up loving animals. Your love for dogs has been apparent since you could say your very first word, not mama or dada, nope- it was “goggy”. And it has been puppy love ever since.

Your three year old self is so much different than Rhayn’s was. I wish I had kept a blog back then, or even kept track of the things she did. I know she talked fairly well at 3, and she was potty trained. I know she was in day care, but it was because I was working full time. Daddy hadn’t joined the military yet, and she had never been away from him for more than a few weeks. She had been on an airplane, twice I think. You have never seen snow either, and her first Christmas had had a tiny bit of non-sticky snow.

For your birthday this year (on the actual day) we ran around. At home you were given one present, a gift from your Daddy. He knew how much you wanted his bright orange flashlight, and so now it is yours (with a full battery in) to use. I also made pancakes for breakfast. This is a big deal, because I do not normally make breakfast. Our day was fairly normal for the morning. You went to your child care place, and were given a pink paper crown with a number 3 on it. I went to class. At the ordinary time I picked you up, you were seated on the floor in a pink tutu watching Cinderella (dressed in Buh-Lue!)

We picked Rhayn up early from school, and headed out for lunch. You wanted “soup and crabs”. At the restaurant they sang to you and we had a tasty warm chocolate chip cooking with molten center and a scoop of ice cream for dessert (with a candle in it for you to blow out.)

After lunch, feeling full (maybe a little too full!) we painted pottery. (Thanks for the idea Bodaat! It was a total winner for us.) There were plenty of fun forms to pick, you chose a sleeping puppy. I was sure you would choose the unicorn, but the sleeping puppy was it as soon as you saw it. (I am pretty sure your choice was influenced by Rhayn’s sleeping kitten that she painted at a pottery place.) The puppy was painted first pink, then blue, then purple. I can’t wait to see how it comes out!

We left our pieces at the store to be fired and walked over to Barnes and Noble. We spent a good hour or more in that store, looking at books. We also had a nice calming cuppa chamomile tea. You spilled yours and while I ran to get some paper towels, you proceeded to lick and slurp it from the floor. (Ewww.)

Our adventure was not over yet. I wasn’t sure what else to do, so we hopped into Old Navy and found some cute clutches for $1.97. But of course you needed some “lips” to go in your purse. We walked into the Hallmark store, and bought a webkin for you. I was going to buy one at Costco (it was a two pack of horses actually, but Rhayn became a brat and pouted about it, so we didn’t buy it.) At Hallmark they had buy one get one for $1.99. Rhayn had picked out a Persian cat that she was loving on and you found a brown Arabian.

It was four pm by this time. I was still full from lunch, and thought we should see if anything was playing at the theater. We walked up and Igor was playing at 6:50 (too late) and the only other semi-kid movie was Star Wars, the Clone Wars. It was playing at 4:20. Score. We walked in grabbed a bag of popcorn (I was full then, but knew that half way through the movie I would get hungry) and a soda to share. Our theater was empty and we sat on the very back row. Little kids, like you and sister can not see over the back of the chairs, so we had to get those booster seats.

Midway through the movie, Daddy called. (In the middle of a big fight scene.) Now normally I would ignore a call during a movie, but there were factors that said I should answer- 1. We were the only ones in there. 2. I knew he was only calling to wish you a Happy Birthday (we had spoken to him in length the day before.) 3. When he calls we take it, no matter what. I know that for the next year his calls will not be convenient to us, but they are vital and we will take them when they come.

After the movie it was a little after six. I asked you what you wanted for dinner, “French Fries! And a Hamburger!” was your enthusiastic reply. Normally this would mean In-n-Out, but today I felt like giving you that extra little bit of “fun” and we had McDonalds. (Or McCrapples as I lovingly refer to it.) You and Rhayn ate in the car, as we drove home. Singing and talking happily the whole way. I would have to say, that it was a pretty great birthday for you. I think I would be happy with the things we did today, jamming all of that into one day was exhausting and now I am totally ready for bed.

I love you,

My three year old!

~mama