Sydney is THREE!

This post is a hard one for me to write. My little baby is growing up and yes, I'm mourning it a bit. The sweet dimples on the knuckles of her hands are disappearing. Her little Buddha belly is shrinking and suddenly her legs are getting long and lean. Her cheeks are still mercifully soft and pillowy... belying the grown-up phrases and questions coming out of her mouth. Her hair is gradually thickening and lengthening so I can braid it now.

I can't stop time. But perhaps I can record this moment in time and at least remember all the quirks and peccadilloes that made her my little girl back in the day. Still, I feel like those memories are slipping as quickly from my fingers as Sydney's babyhood. It's trite but true: they grow up so fast.

Sydney get's "firsty" and notices it gets "lighten" in the morning and "darken" at night. As I change the millionth poopy mess (potty training has been a challenge with this one), she timidly asks if I'm "happy at" her or "sad at" her. When I give her instructions- like to find her shoes or to bring me the wipes (seriously, the potty training!), she mournfully says, "OK" in the sweetest little voice.

I love her little airplane dance, captured by my sister Reagan in the photos above. She will often "fly" her way around the house as she navigates her own little happy world. A handful of toothbrushes and a sink half-filled with water provides hours of entertainment for Sydney as the mermaids play by the pool. She doesn't actually say pool. She says "poohaa" and I kids you not, it's the most adorable thing in the world.

It was actually pretty chilly but the light was rapidly dying and Reagan (correctly) felt the pictures would be better outside than inside. Sydney really loves this dress so it was a challenge, but Reagan did a fantastic job. 

Perhaps the thing I'm mourning the most is the loss of her simple happiness. Sydney has always been my little ray of sunshine-- my sweetly smiling face no matter how bad of a mommy day I'm having. I see that starting to change now. The Wuehler stubbornness is starting to creep in (potty training!!!), and she's starting to disobey and talk back. Aside from adding to the frustration and exhaustion of any given day, it makes me sad to see the attitude creeping out of her. I could always rely on Sydney to lighten any situation, and that is starting to change.

I already know that by the time I post about her 4th birthday she will have shaken off the last of babyhood, even toddlerhood, and we will simply be a house of little girls. There is much to look forward too (POTTY TRAINING!) but I can't help but feel there is so much we are leaving behind. Admittedly, I've gleefully disposed of the rear-facing car seat, the crib, the high chair, the bibs, bottles and oh man, all that other baby stuff that clogged up our home for so long. I just never want to dispose of the chubbiness, the sweetness, the innocence... but I don't get a choice on those. They don't get tossed in a garbage bin, they just fade and then disappear whether I want them to or not.

Breakfast in bed and a tiara for the birthday girl!

 I hope this post does her justice. One day, I hope I look back on this one and smile at the memories of this little one, while she was still so little. The sad truth is that it's so easy to forget all those tiny details and I just want to lock them up in my heart and relive them over and over.

Traditional 3 year birthday gift- a personalized piggy bank along with rolls of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies as well as a $2 bill as she leaves her twos. 

Well, aside from the potty training...