Happy Birthday Kenley!

Three years ago I became a mommy, to this teeny tiny sweet little thing.

Many of you didn't know me then, so I'll tell you how it went. Well, and even if you did know me, you may not have known all this. Those first few months were pretty rough. I had fantasies of draining our bank account, and escaping to Palm Springs to lay out by the pool and drink pina coladas. Being a new mommy.... um, for me it wasn't all that fun and glamorous. It was very discouraging. I really only like to do things that I know I'm good at, and parenting... I was pretty sure I wasn't very good at it. I had left my teaching job that I loved, to sit at home without very many friends and let this little person scream angry cries at me all day long. Babies. You devote every minute to them, and they don't smile or act like they really even like you, they just cry. It wasn't that much fun. So we had a rocky start, I guess is all I'm saying.

But now she's three.

She is precious. I am under no illusions that our parenting makes her such a great kid, she's just great. She's obedient, funny, and has great manners. Whenever I buy her something, she thanks me profusely. "Oh, Mommy! You buy me this new pink dress! Thank you, Mommy! It's so cute!" And of course she's just darling.

At times she tries my patience, and we have our battles, which I know will only get worse. But she's so sweet, and really tries so hard to be good. When she's really sad, usually because she's gotten in trouble, she'll try so hard not to cry. Her little mouth turns down, her lips quiver, and she looks away, blinking hard. If you ask her what's wrong, she'll whisper, almost inaudibly, something like, "I'm dest a tiny bit sad." It's heartbreaking. She's not doing it for attention, she's trying valiantly NOT to cry, and oh, it just kills me every time.

She loves princesses, animals, dancing, art, and dress-up. She is a sweet big sister and a big help around the house. She can feed the dog, sweep, Swiffer, dress herself, load the dishwasher, unload the silverware into the drawer, set the table, clean the glass and mirrors, and clean up her toys. Huh. That's quite a list. Maybe she should do all that every day! Imagine how easy my life would be then! She's a good little talker, and uses all kinds of words that amaze me, like already, yesterday, still, probably, etc. Her favorite new word is "cool." I don't know where she picked it up, but it makes me laugh every time.

And she's forgiving. I'm still not that great of a mom. I'm not very patient or interactive, and sometimes I'm short-tempered. But she's always there with her chubby little arms and sweet sticky lips to give me hugs and kisses. Yesterday we had a little feud, and not a half hour later we were sitting on the couch watching TV, and about every two minutes she would tell me, "I love you Mommy. I really like you. I like your hair ties, they're so cute." Awwww.. how could anyone be sweeter than that?

Edited to Add: While I was typing this, Kenley was playing in the kitchen with a new playdough set. She comes trotting back to her room with it all put back in its little case. She really cleaned up every last bit of playdough, and all the tools, put them all in their bag, and then pulled up a small chair and put it back on the shelf where it goes. Little sweetie pie.