three!!!

Normally I start birthday posts with thoughts of, "how are they already such and such age?!" but with Phoebe - it feels like she's been three for quite some time and has even requested, "four or five" candles on her (traditional carrot - and conveniently my favorite) birthday cake. We've been asking her what she wants to do to celebrate her birthday for months (since we have a little run of birthdays in the fall and around Christmas and she always wants to know when it's going to be her turn) and she hasn't wavered in saying she wants to go to, "Starbucks and Target" .... party animal in the making.

And so, we made it happen. Minus the Target - her memory isn't what it used to be, I guess.

If we had not had Phoebe and my parenting experience was limited to that of raising Julia, Sebastian, and Theo - I would never have believed that a spicy temperament like Phoebe's existed but alas - she's made me a believer. She keeps us laughing while simultaneously wondering where she came from but I suppose all parents feel the same way about their young at some point or another.

She is never deterred when told, "no" and only takes it as an opportunity to exercise her stellar compromising skills and figure out a more circuitous route to whatever it is that she wants. I think she truly believes that she's Theo's senior and superior and I think most days he feels the same way. She often bribes him into doing what she wants by promising that, "I'll be your best of best of friends" to which he always happily chirps, "okay!" ...

Whenever Bosco wakes up in a less than pleasant mood she always finds the nearest chair/couch to perch herself on and sighs as if I'm the clueless one and holds out her arms and assures me that he just wants her to hold him (exactly what he doesn't want) - so I think this new baby is in for a maternal treat of an older sister.

I really could go on and on and on but probably my favorite thing about Phoebe at this age is that her pronunciations of, "shirts" and "shorts" and "shits" are all the EXACT same which makes getting dressed a real good time.

Although, she strongly believes in wearing dresses all day every day which isn't a terrible phase. Big Kiss Little Kiss sent her this adorable dress and I've had a tough time prying it off her long enough to wash which is high praise in the book of Phoebe Patton.

Happy Birthday, Phoebe Anika! Our lives would be a lot less lively without you around!!!

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Phoebe's birth story
One
and!
Two