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| Happy 3rd birthday, Kate! |
Kate just celebrated her third birthday (which, is incidentally the same day as my baby sister) and, as always, I had a flurry of emotions. Three years really isn’t all that long but at the same time, it seems like we’ve known her forever. Families are forever, after all.
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| Usually Kate’s a dog person, but she doesn’t discriminate if the cats are close by. |
Kate was the last of our girls born in Iowa, which seems like a lifetime ago. Jack was in school, I was working and we had a small 1900’s homestead to totally renovate. When we moved to Indiana, she and her sisters were just babies! No one was in school, everyone’s hair was shorter and wispier, language and vocabulary was just budding and Katherine hadn’t even begun to crawl.
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| Always helpful. Recently, she’s also developed an incredibly cheesy camera-ready smile. |
Now, she’s blossoming into a delightful little human being with a personality all her own. Her imagination is off the charts (have you ever played with an alicorn that has rainbow, chain, ice, fire, flying, super speed and bubble powers? ‘Cause I have!) and she is just as independent, adventurous, athletic and creative as her older sisters.
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| Cuddling one of our new chicks. |
Though Kate was the baby of the family longer than her siblings, she had no trouble giving up her role as the youngest when Henry arrived. She loves her baby brother fiercely and is usually the first to run to his side when he begins to whimper. She’s already mastered snuggling with him and can get him to take his pacifier like a pro. Frequently, when he’s upset, she’ll squat down by him and coo, “Hey, boy. What’s wrong? You’re okay, Henry.” Trust me, it’s adorable.
Long before she had a knack for babying babies, she practiced a lot on others. Raven and her are best friends…
…and she long ago gave up being squirmish around bugs and now delicately handles them right along with her sisters.
And, of course, there’s always time to practice mothering on Dad.
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| Jack happily puts up with a lot at our house. |
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| Um, if you don’t like kids licking their fingers while making dirt cake, you might not want to have a serving of Kate’s… |
The birthday girl declared the day a success before she went to bed, which is always a relief. We’ve loved all of our three years of Kate and are looking forward to celebrating many more with her!
Happy birthday! We love you, Kate!
