this is three

Addy-Girl
Addy-Love
Addy-Cakes
Love bug
Sissy
Baby girl

Addison Lane

We call you many names because no one name seems to define you well enough. You are equal parts innocent,
spirited,
impish,
kind,
quiet,
loud,
funny,
caring,
imaginative,
wise,
impulsive,
questioning,
accepting,
loving,
soft,
edgy.

And today, little one, you're 3.

3!

You love Minnie Mouse and Daniel Tiger and carrying around purses full of treasures, of trinkets, much like Ariel (or your Granny :)). You sing songs. All. The. Time. Songs you know. Songs you've made up. Songs that float in and out of your head. I feel like you live your life in a sing-songy way. You seem to only find joy in the world around you. Pure joy.

I think that's why you find it impossible to fall asleep at night or sleep past 6 am on any given day. The days are just too good in your mind. Why miss a single minute?

I must confess that those nights you fight sleep, you want one more rock, one more drink, one more trip to the potty, oh, darling I grow frustrated. But I know in my heart that this is just you, love. No matter what those sleep "experts" say--you just exude joy and want to soak up every bit of it. I know that this is you. And I want to soak it up, too.

Because you are 3 today and as I sit and write this note to you, I am aware that the days of you needing me the way you do, wanting to curl up into my belly as I rock you to sleep, wanting me to "hold hold" you as we walk up the stairs, or needing me to painstakingly cut up your grapes for snack time, all of that is slowly, slowly (yet quickly, quickly) coming to an end. In another year, that list will look different. It will be shorter or perhaps transformed into an entirely new list, with this day, these days, these particular wants and needs buried in our memories.

You're 3 today, baby girl!

You're funny. You're feisty. You're fierce.

I want to hold on to every part of what makes you this incredible you. I hope you hold on to the best parts about you, too. Don't let the world tell you you are ever too much. Just persist. Let your voice be heard. You love to roar like a dinosaur with your friend Pearl. I hope you hold on to that roar, that confidence, that playfulness, that fierceness with all that you are.

Here's to another trip around the sun. To more moments and memories to come. I sure can't wait to see where this next year takes you.

Happy 3rd birthday, Addison Lane. You delight us in so many ways!

March 5, 2018 (you slept in your big girl bed for the first night last night!)

Ages: 0-2 (golly, that went fast!)