Birthday Letter to Abigail

My sweet baby girl,

Where to begin? You are the sunshine in my eye and melt my heart so quickly. You are a little charmer and at moments, I have to catch myself to not give in to your every whim. You and I have a very close bond that I pray never severs.

You and I are similar in many ways. You cannot get physically close enough to me...when we snuggle, you want to be nose-to-nose. Your favorite place is still on my hip! Your personality is vibrant and vivacious, full of spunk and fire. You are so passionate and take things with gusto. You squeal with a high-pitched shrill when you get excited, which is often!! You take control and report on what everyone else is doing, right or wrong. You are a social being; you love to play with same age peers and "big girls"--you love for Emma or Ashlea to carry you around! "My Georgie," as you refer to him, is your very best friend and you play very well together. You do not like to be apart from him and you are caring and nurturing with him. Yet, you love to play the "victim" role with him to get him in trouble. You want to be with people and have to know everyone's names. You amaze me with your memory, remembering people's names of whom you met months ago. Ms. Leah appropriately nicknamed you "Miss Activity Director" as you tell your friends what we will be doing and when. You are very strong willed and have met your match with Mama on stubbornness...

Your vocabulary is unbelieveable...you learned an adult vocabulary early and have been speaking in full conversations since you were 2 1/2. You are such a smart little sassy thing, answering questions correctly before anyone else has a chance to process the question.

And such the girlie girl....you're all about dress-up, dolls, purses, shoes, makeup (though I won't let you wear it even though you try to convince me that Grammy lets you do it), and playing "house". You love anything pink or sparkly!! But then you put on your tutu and play tools with George...you have a variety of interests!!

You have always excelled at physical abilities. You have started to learn to "pump" the swing on our backyard fort late this summer. And you love to climb and slide. Your new favorite game is hide-go-seek. You have strong dislikes, such as water sprinklers (though you love the pool) and spiders. You mastered the trike very quickly even though your legs were too short to reach the pedals. You zoom all over the place and ride as often as you can! You love to go to the park or ride in the bike trailer or go to new playgrounds. You recently began dance class and ballet is your favorite. You took to it very quickly and love to twirl and gallop. You love to dance and sing and twirl and jump...we had an indoor swing during George's OT and you would beg to swing every time you could!! The pink papoose and cacoon swings were your favorite...."it's my faborite mama!!"

Your stomach problems have been our family focus for many many months now. You have severe stomach cramping and gas every 1-2 days, mostly after awakening from your afternoon nap, and your stomach stays distended most of the day. Our Pedi GI is directing diagnostic testing and you are such a fabulous patient! You hold out your arm for blood draws, crawl up on the xray/ultrasound tables willingly and always remind them you get a sticker!! You accept when we say "Dr. Altaf says no" to your food requests and you say "oh-kay" to reminders of how certain foods make your belly hurt. You would be a perfect vegetarian as your favorite foods are fruit, veggies, and bean nachos. But since July, you haven't been able to eat those foods, so you've responded well to redirection to the foods on your new diet. You have your first surgical procedure tomorrow, an upper endoscope, where we will learn about your esophagus, stomach, and intestines as well as your gut enzymes. We are praying for answers as we all hate to see you in pain.

You potty-trained yourself at 2 yrs 2 months and haven't looked back. You loved earning M&Ms so it didn't take but a few days before you were fully potty trained, even during sleeping. You have been a huge cheerleader/motivator for George's potty training recently. But you must have separate potties as you don't like to share or wait and you love to read books together during your potty time.

Childcare....going to Ms. Amy's house was the only childcare setting that you were happy about...you idolize Ms. Amy and you love to play with Rachel. Even though you battle female dominance with her, you are still the best of friends. We have started dealing with bullying at a much earlier age than I ever dreamed, but it's a good life lesson for you in 2 y.o. moderation. You adore Gideon and all babies in our lives...you love to kiss them and make sure they are okay. Day School has been much better this year, you enjoy being challenged to learn letters and new tasks and love to tell me about your friends and what you did that day.

You love TV (Dora, Mickey Mouse, and Lawrence Welk are your favorites)..."are my dancing friends on?" When we drive around town, you love to read books and sing too; you love to listen to "Jesus Rock", country, sing-along kid music or rock-n-roll on the radio. You get so excited to hear the OU marching band!

Your blond ("yellow hair" as you say) soft curls are precious...your hair is past your shoulders now and we've decided to grow out your bangs...we'll see how that goes since you don't always leave bows or barettes in your hair for long.

Your face looks just like your Daddy...your baby pictures are carbon copies of his. Your features mirror his, yet your expressions are like mine. You inherited my long waist, blue eyes, and short little legs, but they don't slow you down as you NEVER stop!!! Your metabolism must be sky high as you are so wiggly and full of energy constantly!

You awaken each morning asking for breakfast and would eat continuously if we would allow it.

You don't require as much sleep as George and you are gracious to quietly leave your room to allow him to sleep in. You sleep about 11-12 hours at night and about 1 1/2 hours during nap. You are a bear if you don't get your rest. Your beloved Monkey, Boomer Puppy, and Quilt all accompany you to sleep, and I don't think you have slept a night without Monkey since you were about 2 months old.

You are my beautiful angel and I cannot wait to see how you grow this coming year. You are dynamic and full of life, and I cannot wait to see where that takes you. You are a natural leader and I pray that you will continue to show compassion and beauty towards others. I love you, my "sweetheart". Happy 3rd birthday, Abigail Bess.

My big 3 year olds!!