One Year Older and Wiser Too!

Happy Birthday Sweet Hannah!

I can hardly believe you're already 3! My heart aches to see you grow up so quickly, yet I'm so excited at all of your new achievements! A lot has happened in the last year! You had to officially have your banged up tooth removed due to infection. You have taken great strides with your speech and graduated from ECI (due to turning 3). And, the biggest change of all, you are a big sister! You have taken to this new role very well! I was nervous that you would get jealous and have problems, but you are just so excited to have a baby sister around! You would love to do everything to take care of her! Fortunately, you always ask permission to hold her and don't try to drag her around anywhere. But you are such a proud big sister whenever we place EmmaLee in your lap! You are so petite that EmmaLee is half the size of you, but you don't mind. She's your baby sister :). I still love watching you care for your baby dolls. Especially as you bounce them in your arms and lovingly "shush" them! You always make sure that they have clean diapers and are well fed too. You are even practicing breastfeeding them from an early stage :).

Lately you have also taken a strong liking to the Barbie dolls. It is so fun to hear you playing with them and having them talk to eachother. You could entertain yourself for hours as you role play all sorts of scenarios with them. I wish I could understand the conversations that they have with eachother. But I can tell that Cinderella is usually the mom, with Princess Anna as a daughter and Prince Charming as a son. Other Barbies make their way in there, but those are always consistent. You also love cooking in the play kitchen and doing art projects with Lydia. And you have taken to swimming this season like a little fish! You get your floatie on and swim all around the pool with perfect intent :). I'm excited to see you develop these skills this summer!

Your speech has improved drastically throughout the year! Though you are still very much behind and have speech therapy on a weekly basis. You speak in full sentences using appropriate tense and pronouns. Well, except that everyone is a "her", there is no he, she or him. Working on that one :). Your biggest speech problem right now is that most consonants are replaced with a "d" or "b" sound. Unlike most speech delayed kids that get "firsty" (thirsty), you get "dirty". I've gotten used to a lot of it and can make out a lot of things, but it's very difficult for people who don't know you. But I have confidence that this will improve with the therapy given how far we have come this past year.

You have a lot of new favorites this year! If asked what you want to eat, it will almost always be either a hotdog/corndog, spaghetti, or crackers and cheese. You love anything princess (which is really any girl wearing a dress) or mermaid. You love playing any sort of game: phone or board game. You are very well entertained through sacrament meeting with just a pen and paper, which in the end will be covered in rows of neat circles. Your favorite friends are Lucy and Adelyn. You adore your sisters! And you love reading books.

Sweet Hannah, you are such a determined and diligent little lady! Though this can often lead to emotional outbursts, I know that you will make sure that things get done. You are perfectly content to play alone and don't need me to entertain you, but you are also very excited to spend time with friends and family. I wish I had the right words to describe your personality. You can be very shy and clingy, but also very outgoing and social. You are a little hesitant to try new things, but don't take too long to get used to them. You love to hug people and shower them with love. Your big smile and big dark brown eyes can melt me in an instant! You've got the pouty lip and puppy eyes down and you know how to use them!

I love you so much, Hannah! You are such a unique and beautiful little lady! We have many things to look forward to this year, including potty training, preschool and primary! You are officially out of toddlerhood and into preschooler mode! I am so grateful to be a part of this journey with you!

Love,
Momma

ps: your current growth stats are:
Height: 3 feet even! (35th percentile)
Weight: 27 lbs (20th percentile)
Still my petite lady! Strong woman in a small package :).