Violet at 3 Years Old

You stand 3 ft. 3 in. tall. You wear 3T-4T clothing and size 8 shoe.

Some days your eyes seem more of a gray-blue. Your hair is well past your shoulders and stringy straight. It's soft and fine and slithers out of every pony tail that I've made in vain. You've only had the one haircut just before turning two. I've offered to take you for a trim but you insist that it will hurt. You have a few tiny moles that have appeared - one on your back, one on your arm and one on the back of each thigh.

You are kind. At three, you are more thoughtful than most adults. When your birthday party guests arrived, you promptly began handing out party favors to each one - even me. Then you began handing out drinks. Just days ago I was laying down with a horrible headache and you brought me your vitamins and promised it would make me better. You are incredibly capable of doing things for yourself, which makes you feel empowered and independent. You are funny and dramatic at times. There was a night you were very sleepy and upset while getting ready for bed. Despite my best efforts to comfort you, you held your hand up and said, "Mama, I just need my tears."

You are athletic (no thanks to me). You have a t-ball set, a small basketball goal and a soccer ball. You are remarkably good with the soccer ball. Even strangers at the park have approached me to comment on it.

You're still in school three days a week. You've moved up to the "big girl room." The school has an ocean theme. The two year old room was called the Sea Horses, but now you've moved in the Dolphins. Your best friends at school are Aubrey and Deja. Fox still goes with you daily. When asked recently if Fox was a boy or a girl you grew really irritated and said, "Fox is just a people. OKAY..."

Whomever planted the idea in your head to embrace the concept of rising with the sun deserves a swift throat punch. You will wake up in the morning and yell, "The sun is out!" That's going to hurt come August when it's daylight at 4:30 am. You also used the sun as leverage against me recently when I was persuading you to take a nap. You quietly mumbled, "Well the sun doesn't nap..." You sleep hard. You laugh and talk in your sleep. While getting ready for bed one night you informed me that you get more stomachs when you sleep. You tell me what you "think and see" while sleeping. Cats - Always.

Some days you eat a lot. Some days you eat hardly anything. You peel the outside off of some foods and tell me you're "just taking the paper off." You call yogurt "ogurt" and I love it. You love cereal and always drink the milk at the end. You have a passionate hate for green beans.

Your favorite number is five. You have a shirt that just has a big '5' on it. You cry when you have to take it off for me to wash it. One day you were being a super hero and when asked what your super power was you said it was five. You've told me that I'm your number five and I was down right flattered.

You've been on a Toy Story kick and I've enjoyed it. You like Curious George and the movie Brave. You don't watch My Little Pony, but you collect the tiny pony figurines. You keep them in a small backpack that was mine as a child. You must have at least 40 in there.

Your favorite books are Duck & Goose, Corduroy's Halloween and Seek & Find books. You are lightning fast at finding the items.

Favorite things to do include playing store, playing doctor, playing picnic, dancing to music and helping me cook. You love to cast spells turning me into things like a poot or a grocery store.

You've recently decided certain things are scary, like a dark room or going upstairs alone. You've also told me many times that there's a ghost in your room. I am not ready for that... No.

A few nights ago you wanted to tell the moon goodnight. We went in the backyard to see it and you said, "Mama, da moon is yours. It's your baby white moon. It's yours because it's wike me, just shining."

Your spirit is so bright.