In Case You Ever Ask…

Notes to Nia about what she was like as a 3 and a half year old:

You are a wonderful big sister.  When Nate cries you try to do things to make him stop (either by giving him toys or his bottle or by yelling “NATE! BE QUIET!”  (The yelling usually works best!)  You also try to soothe him.  When he got his shots the other day you gently touched his head and told him it was going to be OK.  On the flip-side though – you are definitely making him tougher.  You are constantly chasing him around the house and that usually ends with him falling on the floor and you falling on him.  Amazingly, he hasn’t been hurt yet.  He actually seems to think it’s fun – in fact, that’s what you tell me when I tell you to stop…”But he likes it.”

You have a GREAT sense of humor and love to make others laugh.  You make me laugh a lot – sometimes you make funny faces and sounds to be silly and other times you say something you think is silly and then you ask me with a smile, “That was silly huh Momma?”

You love books and are super perceptive – always pointing out the little things in the pictures and which picture matches the one on the cover.  I still am amazed at how you do that and how you can read the books by memorization and looking at the pictures.

You are extremely particular.  Whether you are playing or getting ready to go to sleep, you like things a certain way and you will not let it slide.  For example, for night-night time I have to read you books in bed and then you have to drop a purple crayon on the floor like “Harold” does.  You wait to hear the sound of it hitting the floor and if the sound is different than it hitting carpet you want to know what it hit. (It seems like you really like it when it hits something.)  I then have to wind up three music boxes and you will sometimes tell me one is playing just to keep me in the room longer.

You love laying on the arm of the couch as you watch your nightly fix of “Harold.” You are so tiny that you fit perfectly on it – you lay on your belly and let your arms hang down on either side of the arm.  You make it look so comfy.

When you want to make me happy or show me you love me you give me what we call an “extra special” hug where you hug me so tight that I can let go and you don’t budge.  We call it “extra special” because I tell you all of your hugs are special but that one is my very favorite.