Emily’s Three!

The last six months or so Emily has ended many requests with, “…two because I’m two.” I’m was curious how the transition to being three would go.  Just fine.  “…three because I’m three” began in earnest on Saturday along with exclamations of “I’m three just like everyone else!” Everyone else being the four other friends in our little neighborhood that hit that milestone pre July.

Friday night Andrew and I spent an hour or so preparing for celebrations in the morning. We set the table, hung the birthday sign, made a crown, put out candles, and carefully wrapped presents with construction paper.  In the morning I made pink ice cream (kefir with bananas and raspberries) and pancakes shaped like “E”.  I was really excited when I flipped the first one over and realized it was also a 3!

Our day began really early with rather grumpy children who we tried to convince to stay upstairs for another hour until it was time for the day to begin.  When Andrew got them out of bed, Emily came downstairs with gleeful excitement.  She was delighted to discover each element on the table: pancakes, her crown, pink ice cream, candles, and presents. “What are the presents doing there?!” Little chuckles populated the meal and it was incredible to experience her birthday joy.  We discovered that the pink ice cream made a delicious topping for blueberry pancakes, and therefore pink pancakes began a fast reality.  The finale of breakfast was blowing out the candles on the table – Emily’s idea.

We moved onto opening presents.  Nathan gave her fingernail polish. She has painted her fingernails and toenails by herself at least once a day and is determined to paint them every day.  Next she opened the sewing penguin Andrew 3D printed for her, which she has kindly shared with Nathan each day. Third she opened the magnetic paper dolls from Grandma Blomquist and enjoyed getting all the clothes out right then.  The crowning moment was getting her very own pink chapstick.  She has applied it non-stop since receiving it Saturday morning and is almost gone.

After Nathan’s nap we went on a birthday adventure to Prophetstown State Park.  We started out with a stroll down the bike path to see the scarecrows on display.  We also watched a speedy caterpillar, marveled at jumping grasshoppers, counted berries on trees, lit and blew out pretend candles, and took turns pushing Nathan.  Nathan carefully held onto an apple a good portion of the adventure.  We then went to a playground to play for an hour followed by a picnic lunch in the car to warm up.  After a quick stop at the visitors center we realized it was absolutely time to return home for naps.

The moment quiet time was over Emily ran out of her room and grabbed her fingernail polish.  She and I hung out in the bathroom while she carefully painted my toenails followed by her own.

At dinner we told Emily the story about the day she was born, three times upon request.  Then she really wanted to know about the day that Grandma Moose was born, so we facetimed Grandma Blomquist (my grandma) to tell her.  We ended with all the things we love about Emily and why we are grateful she is in our family.

Baths were an absolute necessity. While I was settling Nathan down for the night Andrew and Emily were having some creative fun with giving Emily a beard and making one giant curl of hair.

Once the kids were in bed Andrew and I went out to celebrate three years of parenthood by attending the incredible Lafayette Community Symphony.