Well Gee, She's Three!

Today my youngest daughter turns three! To be honest, I don't feel like it's been three years, and it's a little hard to believe that she's this old already. It took a long time for us to decide to parent an infant. We decided to start with teenagers, which we were used to from our drama days, so starting with a fresh baked cookie was a new experience. We debated and talked about it, there were obstacles and fears. I still worry a lot that something crazy or bad will happen, but it's usually very absurd and I push the crazy out of my head and move along.

Three years ago, after nearly two days of the whole labor process, my wife was whisked away to an OR as I was brought up to speed on what was going on after a couple of hours of sleep. I recall being afraid that something would go wrong and we wouldn't have a baby, or something would go wrong and I wouldn't have a wife. I saw with my wife on the other side of the curtain that was put up so we couldn't see what they were doing. I remember them saying that she was out, but there was no noise. My wife asked why she wasn't making noise, and the nurse said that often they don't realize that they're out when they come out this way. It wasn't long before she cried. They asked if I wanted to go see her, and I said that I wanted to wait so we could both see her together. They brought her over, and I tried to hold her up in a way that my wife could see her. I probably should have just let her hold her, I don't know why I didn't, I'm sure there was some sort of reason. I cried holding her the first time, which I didn't expect. Once they finished up and we went back to recovery Becky held her and we discussed names. I informed everyone that things were fine, and through a typo almost threw everyone for a loop because I typed "he" instead of "she" so they had to clarify that we did have a girl. And thus Sal became part of our family.

There were a number of times as she got bigger that I couldn't imagine her being older. I couldn't imagine what she'd look like with teeth. I couldn't picture her with hair. I thought how weird it would be to someday hear her voice. I look ahead and there are many things that I can't imagine. What will she like? What will she do with her life? Who will she choose to journey by her side? Will she become a parent, and if so what will that be like.  There is so much that she has ahead of her that I can't imagine, but I hope that she imagines great things for herself and she does them.

I adore having a three year old, but really I adore being a parent at all. I love watching her squeal in delight over bubbles, or cats, or when she makes me sing "spoon full of sugar" but makes me add the word "cocoon" to it so the song says, "just a spoon full of sugar cocoon makes the medicine go down." It makes no sense! Why does she want me to do this? Why is this so funny? How did this idea pop into her head? I love that I am seeing every day more and more imagination, more personality, and more thoughts. I look forward to all the new things that she will do, discover, and who she will become.

Today I wish her the happiest of birthdays, and will enjoy the journey over the next year as my youngest is now three.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
Picture 3
Birthday to birthday! Three years is far quicker than you imagine.