The Ordinary Moments 25/52 – Megan Turns 3

Megan has now been 3 for 2 weeks and is well and truly loving it. She currently is full of attitude (some old, some new), loves being a diva, doing crafts, anything to do with Princesses and animals (especially Rabbits, dogs, cats and creatures) swimming and all things ballet. We’re still having the occasional accident with toileting but its mostly high fives and smiles.
She likes to snuggle, speak her mind, go to her Montessori school, hang out with Ethan and get into mischief. I know everyone says it, but where does time go? It seems like 2 minutes since she was just walking and now she is strutting around as a beautiful little ballerina; full of imagination and confidence. I absolutely love her fearless approach to life, how she’s always up for things and conversation with her is brilliant, she observes and understands so much and speaks (as she has done for a while) so well about it all. Her gratitude with cards and gifts blew me away and her glee over everything just made me burst with happiness.

Birthdays are of course such an ordinary part of life for us all; they come around every year and usually involve gifts and cake. I am big on birthdays and absolutely love them, and so experiencing them again through a child’s eyes has brought a new magic and special touch to them that I guess hasn’t been there for a few years. I get so excited with them and appreciate how huge turning 3, 4, 5 and so on is for them. I also notice how different such an ordinary thing makes them.
I think as we get older birthdays/age/changes aren’t as distinctive as they are with our children and I love (sometimes) to see how quickly another year older changes them and how much it brings to life. With Megs and becoming 3 I noticed immediately that she went to bed a cute, confident, sweet little 2 year old and woke up a flipping nightmare (okay maybe not quite that bad) but yes, these last 2 weeks have certainly been a witness that the “threenager” stage is a truth and reality, we have found that she just seems to be way more of a grump, a lot more sensitive to things and now answers back, throws herself on the floor or whines like no other when she doesn’t get her own way. She also has the biggest bottom lip you’ve ever seen (and knows how to use it) if you say “NO”! But you know what? She is AMAZING; she is still sweet (at times), polite, funny, lovable and knows what she wants and I wouldn’t change her for the world.
Whilst I am excited for Megs to be 3  (growing, developing, learning and trying new things) it also makes me quite emotional. I know its because since loosing Poppy she has kind of gone back to being “my baby” and also because I find her birthday to be an emotional time of year. I tried hard this year to not focus on it but as soon as it comes to something as simple as buying a card with a number “3” on it your stood frozen staring at the “happy 1st birthday” cards and realise our next child wont get this and our next child’s birthday isn’t going to be anything like the fun it is of this one. I don’t know how many more years I will feel emotional around her birthday, it might just be my new normal as Poppy will always follow Megan and nor do I know how long it will take me to let go a bit of her being my littlest (perhaps until we have another?) but for sure her last 2 birthdays I certainly have found harder than Ethans. Last year we had barely had the news of Poppy’s condition and then it was Megsies 2nd – I remember just feeling so emot that day and wondering how many birthdays we would get with our 2nd daughter? of course we got none and now those emotions have shifted to…Ill never see my 2nd daughter turn 3, 4, 5…will I have any more kids and have “Happy 3rd Birthday ” cards around? (I hope so) or is this my “baby” and she is growing up so fast right in front of us? I don’t know, nor would I like to say, I am learning not to plan too far ahead but treasure the celebrations and adventures we are blessed to have and these last 2 weeks they have certainly being plentiful with those.
Her birthday celebrations have been quite staggered with us going on holiday on her birthday but she didn’t care and has enjoyed everything that has happened and just gone along with it.  We didn’t plan on a party for her as we said every other year we would and in between that just have joyful family days out in their honour – lucky for Megs our holiday coincided with her “non party year” and so she had an absolute blast living it up in Italy. She took a cake into school before we left and then enjoyed gifts and a pancake breakfast before we left on holiday. We then planned for a family Tea party for when we were back home with her cousins, which she couldn’t wait for, but unfortunately everyone became busy or had prior arrangements and so not one person could come (#Tears) and so I took her to soft play with her “best fwend and best bruvva” for a dinner out and a play followed by a tacky shop bought frozen cake, which helped her get over it, feel special and most importantly to which she beamed over – evidence that it really is the small things in life.
Yesterday some of my family came over and she enjoyed some more gifts and ANOTHER cake! I think its safe to say whilst we are adjusting to a new attitude she is well and truly into being 3 years old! Such an ordinary step in life but with it so many special moments and excitement for all.