So Long Birthday...

The birthday rush is now officially over. Kate and I just finished licking icing from our lips after eating the last two birthday cupcakes as our healthy mid-morning snack. When the cake's gone, the party is definitely over. Three years old has already brought new challenges our way even though we've only enjoyed the age for three days. Here are a few examples:

On Saturday night I was carrying the girl on my back through the mall and she said "STUPID" in my ear. I asked her what was stupid... she paused for a minute and said, "ALL these people."

On Sunday she informed me all the way to church that she didn't want to go. I asked her why not and she said with as much authority as she could muster into her voice, "Because-I-said-so."

Yesterday we were at Target waiting for our turn to check out - you know the place where marketers have strategized to best locate flashy, sugary items that will entice children to beg, prompt mothers (who are already barely able to hold onto their sanity after shopping with a toddler for an hour) to refuse giving their precious child the item because the cart is already full of as many snacks and food for the child as is affordable, and thus produce massive amounts of tears, fits, and general unpleasantness from all involved. Anyway, there we were ready to check out when I hear candy clattering to the floor. I turned around and saw angelic newly three year old eyes looking back at me with her little girl hand frozen in the mid-air. She immediately stammered, "I didn't do it. My brother-sister turtle Tim did it." Then she turned her head toward the invisible being on the ground and started explaining to this "brother-sister turtle Tim" why he/she/it shouldn't have done that and to pick it up RIGHT NOW.

So in three days I've had to find ways to deal with disrespect of others through insult, definite independent ideas and a desire to be autonomous, lying, blaming, and deceit... or I imagine another way of looking at it would be that I've gotten to deal with the ability to imitate others, the ability to identify her wants and share them with me, and a newfound capacity for imaginative creativity.

The adventure of three years old is in full swing around here!