Addison: 3 Years 6 Months

Addison,

You are 3 1/2. How did it happen? Little girl you are such a delight. You are quickly moving from toddler to girl so fast.

You still tend to be a girly girl. You play dress up and dance and sing nearly everyday. Sometimes when you see everyone watching you, you will try to act shy. You give us a sideways smile, cock your head to the side and pull your hands up to your face. But we all know you love the attention. We went to a store they had a "stage" (area for a tailor to make adjustments). You were quick to do a little song and dance on that stage and since have occasionally told me you need a stage at home. That is what you use our fireplace for. You have also started to make up all sorts of songs. Instead of singing songs that you know, you are now just singing whatever you are doing or a story you are making up.

You are quite the talker with a huge imagination. At night after your bedtime stories we will lay and chat before prayers and songs. You will say "mom, let's just talk". Then you will tell me all sorts of stories. Sometimes things that happened months ago. You will jump from topic to topic and it as if I can see your little wheels turning in your head. It is so fascinating to watch. I know you are stalling bedtime, but I also love this little bonding time we have. Just you and I with no interruptions.

You will start big girl school this June. You are so very excited about this. I am so grateful that you have been able to stay with your loving second mom, Stacy for so long, but the time has come to graduate. You are ready to learn and be in a school environment. I know you will thrive in this environment. You are a sponge right now. Learning is fun and exciting for you.

Highlights and tidbits throughout the past few months-
- You call Romo and Buddy your kids or you will call the kiddos in the nursery your kids. You recently added a Memo ("Nemo") to your group of favorite "kids".
- You are bossy and a leader, the typical first born. I see so much of myself in you.
- You are always mothering others.
- You had your first real playdate (ie not family or one of mom and dads friends). A little girl from your ballet class came over one evening. You two were so incredibly cute, grabbing hands and hugging when she arrived and left.
- We got a trampoline and you love it. Right now the fun game we play on it is "don't let the giant exercise ball hit you". We run around and try to avoid letting the ball hit us. I see many evenings of fun in our future.
- You are hilarious. You always say things that make us laugh. Your stories are funny.
- You are still a sensitive little girl. You get your feelings hurt rather easily and are rather dramatic when you hurt yourself.
- Around January of this year you started disobeying us and Stacy, so we instituted a strict time-out policy. Just a little time out to think about your actions and compose your emotions seems to help.
- Your nightly "thankful" prayer often includes being thankful for mommy, daddy and Lilah. You are so sweet, often telling us and Lilah you love us or we are your favorite.

Addyism's
- One day you told me "Daddy is my best boy"
- Lella bar = Granola bar
- When telling a story you tend to start with "last week"
- Belax = Relax
- My I miscuse = My I be excused
- Edderbody = Everybody
- Mackin = Napkin
- The cat off of Cinderella is LuciPer
- Bad move = bad mood
- Kajama = pajama
- Hadacado = avacado
These are just a few of the funny things you say.

Addison, you are sweet, funny, sensitive, musical, dramatic, imaginative, and just the perfect fit for our family. You are the best big sister, so kind and loving to Lilah. We love you so very much and can't imagine our lives without our little ray of sunshine.

Love you forever and always,
Mommy

Such a big girl now!

Here is are a few videos of you the other night entertaining us on our little family vacation....