Abigail Turns 3!

Yesterday was Abigail's 3rd birthday.  She's been asking me for months if she is three yet and even though we had a big family/friends birthday party for her on the 17th she somehow knew that she still wasn't three yet and continued to ask me the following week.  She has been so excited to be three because all of her cousins and friends are already three and she said she needs to be "bigger" like them. Even though we had a big party for her I still wanted her actual birthday to be a special day.  So I hung up the happy birthday sign I made for the party in her room when she was sleeping so she'd see it when she woke up.  Charlotte had had a rough night and I had spent a lot of it on the couch with her.  But around five I was finally able to put her back in bed.  By that time I was wide awake and knew it wouldn't be long before Abby was up so I just stayed up and read my scriptures.  About 6:00 am she came out of her room and we snuggled on the couch together for a while.  She asked for cereal for breakfast and then I asked her if she wanted to go on a little hike with me since Dad and Charlotte were still sleeping.  So we quietly got ready and hit one of the local trails near our home together.  I knew her little legs wouldn't last long but it was still fun to let her walk instead of being in the stroller like she normally is when I take a walk and see her explore and observe her surroundings.

Earlier that week when I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday she said that she wanted to go to the "jumping place" (Kidsville Playgym) with her cousin and one of her best friends Tyler.  So I made arrangements with my sister-in-law to take the two of them together.  For over two hours they ran, jumped, slid, swung, pretended and had a blast.  We practically had the place to ourselves.

Afterward I told them we were going to go to Barnes & Noble to pick out a cupcake because Abby had a free birthday coupon.  Unfortunately the one we chose didn't have a cafe so we opted for a cake pop at the adjoining Starbucks and it was just the right size treat.

That evening we celebrated with our family by making a chocolate pudding, Oreos and gummy worms (Bud thought it would be fun) "dirt" dessert and added a few candles.  She said she had a really fun day and was happy she is three now like all of her friends. 

I love her so much and can't believe how big she is getting.  We are constantly having hilarious conversations together.  Last night while we were eating dessert she said, "Mommy, how many are you going to be?" (my birthday is about a week after hers.) and I told her I was going to be 35 to which she responded.  "Wow Mommy!  That's amazing!" and then kept on eating.  Bud and I laughed so hard.  She has started taking dance once a week and loves it.  She is also starting preschool this year and her first day is September 3rd.  She will be part of what is called a reverse mainstream program.  It is a preschool which is a combination of kids who have some delays (speech, hearing, learning, social, etc.) and kids who are their same age who can be role models of those skills through play and interaction.  We were going to pay for her to go to school close by but when I found out about the program and that it would be free I submitted an application right away.  We have an evaluation this Friday and if there are no major issues she will get to start attending on a trial basis for a few weeks.  They need to make sure the blend of kids and personalities works well for the kids will delays so they have a positive learning experience.  Given her advanced verbal and reading skills I don't think there will be any issues.  However she will pretty much be the youngest in the class so we'll see how things go.  She'll attend Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri from 12:10-3:10 pm.  I think she's going to love it!