Team Taylor: Happy 3rd Birthday, Monkey Doodle!

I can't believe you're T-H-R-E-E!!! The last 3 years have gone by like a blur! Daddy and I were just commenting on how boring our lives were 3 years ago. :-)

You are becoming such a sweet, kind, funny girl. You are very caring and hate to see someone hurt or upset. I bumped my elbow a few weeks ago, right on the funny bone, and made a noise because it hurt. You immediately came over, asked what was wrong and then asked me if I wanted your ring or your butterfly (your ice packs) to make it feel better. You helped me get your butterfly ice pack out of the freezer and then rubbed it on my elbow and said, "there, all better".

Right before Christmas, we went to the Detroit Zoo Lights with your BFF, Callie and her parents. We all rode together in our car, so you and Callie were right next to each other and chatted away the entire car ride. Callie said her favorite colors were purple and pink and when you said those were also your favorite colors, Callie got upset. You thought about it for a bit and then told Callie, "actually, my favorite color is blue" so that she would feel better.

You still love to wear chapstick (and still refer to it as "chap chic"). For awhile you were loving us giving you kisses because we would kiss our chapstick onto you. If you had just put chapstick on and we gave you a kiss, you'd immediately grab our face and say "kiss it back" so that we would give you back your chapstick. Now, you're not a fan of kisses and usually wipe them off as soon as we give them to you.

You love to be silly and make us laugh. You'll often slam down your sippy cup after taking a big drink and say "ah, rock & roll". You have also taken after Daddy by being able to remember quotes from movies and other things. One of your favorite movies is "Tangled". After fussing at you one night because you weren't getting ready for bath, you suddenly stopped what you were doing, looked right at me and said, "you want me to be the bad guy? Fine, I'll be the bad guy." This just so happens to be an exact quote that the witch says to Rapunzel in this movie. It was so funny, but I stayed strong and didn't laugh (not an easy task).

You listen to everything we say and love to be part of our conversation. I like to say "what evs" to be silly and the other day, in perfect context, you said "what evs" to Daddy...it was hilarious!

You love the movie Frozen and especially love Olaf, the snowman in the movie. We spent a lot of time this Christmas season driving around looking at Christmas lights. Every snowman you would see you would immediately say "Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs."

You love music and start to tap your foot the second you hear music; you also love to bust out the moves when a song comes on the radio or the TV. You have moved up in swimming lessons and now are in lessons without Mama or Daddy. You finally love to be in the water, which makes me so happy. You also will be moving up to the big girl gymnastics class, which you are so excited about.

You love singing (favorite songs are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wheels on the Bus, Mr. Clown, and Itsy Bitsy Spider), doing art projects and coloring (you've gotten really good at coloring and staying close to the lines), and puzzles (you are really good at puzzles and can put them together very quickly). You love to have your finger and toenails painted and love to paint my nails.

You know the alphabet and love to sing it (but always forget T, U, V in the song) and you can write the letter H.

We went to the doctor a few weeks ago and you weighed in at 29 lbs and were 39" long.

You're still sleeping in your crib, but we will likely be transitioning you to a big girl bed soon. You're definitely ready, it's Mama and Daddy that aren't quite ready for you to have the additional freedom!

You're in daycare 5 days a week now and have lots of friends there. Your best friend is Evan.

You have become quite the talker and your shyness is slowly going away. You will often talk up the cashiers whenever we go to the store.

For your birthday party, you asked for a Frozen theme and you loved opening the presents. You got a little bashful when everyone sang you happy birthday.

You were a little too excited for your party to pause for a picture.

Being bashful during the "happy birthday" song.

Checking out the party favors.

Cupcakes with Callie

On your actual birthday, you woke up earlier than normal, so I fixed you a quick sparkle pancake (pancake with sprinkles in it) and let you blow out the candle.