Emily made her annual visit to the doctor for her well checkup. It is amazing to think about how old she is now!

At this visit she had her first eye chart test. The nurse quizzed her about the shapes so that they could eliminate the confusion over shapes from the ability to see. When she saw the cup shape she announced that it was a ‘coffee cup’. The nurse almost lost it laughing – I guess Daddy’s drink choices have influenced Emily a little. The eye test went really well along with all the other tests. She didn’t quite have the communication skills for the hearing test at this visit, but it is pretty unusual for three year olds to get that one. I’m pretty sure her hearing is fine though – she has me turn the volume down on her TV shows because they are too loud.

Her weight at this visit was 28-1/4 lbs (an increase of 2-1/4 lbs) and height of 37-3/4 (an increase of 3-1/4 inches). She has remained around the 50th percentile for height. The doctor was pleased to hear that Emily had recently given up her pacifier and was working on potty training. Big steps for a big girl. She is off the hook for another visit for a year and no more shots until it is time for school.

It is so sweet to see the girls just hanging out with their Daddy. I remembered this time to grab the camera and take a photo. Julia is very aware of what Emily is doing, and if it looks fun she is trying to join in her own way.

Other than celebrating a birthday, we have had a very quiet three weeks with sickness moving through the house. I thought that we were getting out from under the sick gloom and Emily got sick again. The girls and I are ready to get out and mix with other people and maybe tomorrow . . . but that is a thought I have had many times in the last three weeks. When we are officially well, we will have Emily’s birthday party with her friends at a local pool. It is good that she is only three and doesn’t realize that we have moved her party twice already. Being homebound has given us a lot of time to play with our new Christmas and birthday toys. This mommy is very grateful for the new things to hold our interest!

Emily and Elena are in a Mother’s Day Out program together, so we couldn’t pass the opportunity to share a little birthday party. Ashley made the cupcakes and I brought pinwheels and candles. Emily seemed pleased to eat her cake with her class and was happy in a quiet shy way. It was sweet for her Mommy to share this party with her.

Our days change daily as Emily grows and develops. Today is just a reminder of that fact. Three wonderful years ago we welcomed our little bundle into this world and today we enjoy watching her engage the world with her opinion and observations.

We had a fairly quiet day and didn’t get to go out to anything special during the day because of a cold Julia is struggling with. Emily enjoyed a movie and helped make her birthday cupcakes. After helping with the cupcake she preceded to make cupcakes in her play kitchen with interesting ingredients like mustard. For her birthday cupcakes she picked chocolate cupcakes in flower liners. We had to test them to be sure they were OK and enjoy a snack.

For her party we met Grammy and Granddaddy for dinner at a local ‘cowboy’ restaurant. Emily dressed the part with her cowgirl boots. They put us at a special table with an over-sized special chair that Emily got to sit in. She was big stuff in that chair! She enjoyed opening her gifts (all by herself), eating peanuts, snacking at dinner, and eating her cupcake. It was a good day. Tomorrow will be a fun day filled with playing with all of her new toys.

Emily’s version of the Gingerbread Man – She was quite proud to sing it for me. She will correct herself soon enough, but I want to remember it forever.

Emily and I had some fun with lunch today and used her sandwich to reinforce the letter we are learning this week. The rod pretzels were broken so that she could also make the letter A, but it was much more fascinating to eat than to play with. She thought it was pretty cool. In addition to our fun lunch we read books and looked for the letter A and attempted to trace the letter with our finger.

Tomorrow’s fun food is going to be pancake shaped letter A’s for breakfast. I have a variety of things to do with her to reinforce the letter of the week and we will see how it goes over the next 26 weeks. If every day could be as fun as today was we will be doing well.