Dear Sydney,

Last month, you turned 3 years old.  I'm finding that I don't get a lot of computer time lately.  I steal it here and there when I can to pay a bill or to balance the checkbook, but I get a little too much help when I'm on the computer.  Often, if you catch me sitting down to type, you'll sneak up beside me, and I'll see a tiny, pudgy finger eeeeeeasing up to press just one key on the keyboard.  You can't stand it.

This year has been an explosive vocabulary year for you.  You know ALL of the words now.  And you say them.  All.  Of.  Them.  You almost constantly keep up a running monologue during the day.  It's like when you wake up in the morning you have a 10,000 word quota to meet.  If you don't meet that quota during daylight hours you'll lie in bed and night and just give an endless speech, sometimes hardly taking a breath in between, mixing in little snippets of songs just for fun.  You often talk in your sleep at night.  One night not long ago, you were lying in bed having a hard time sleeping.  I was sitting in the rocker in your room until you dozed off.  Your constant stream of words sounded something like this:

"Mommy.  Look at my face.  Ugh.  You're killing me.  What's wrong with you?  Mommy can I have some water?  Mommy?  Please?  Pleaseplease?  Can I have some orange juice?  Can I have a big girl cup?  Mommy look at me.  Watch this.  Look at this.  I'm stuck.  See Mommy?  Like this.  See?  Ow! I hurt my eye.  See?  Watch this.  Mommy?  Mommy?  Mom?  *now singing* IIIIIIII'lllll driiiiiiiiiive.  In Daddy's caaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr.....not Mommy's caaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr....  I'm the BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!"

Most of the time I don't know if I should kiss your face or spank your bottom.  Your antics absolutely crack me up.  A good friend of mine said you would keep me on my toes and on my knees.  She's absolutely right.  As you and your brother grow, I find myself praying more than I ever have before.

You love music.  You and I started taking a little music class once a week at our church last year, and something just clicked with you.  They took a break over the summer, and you cannot wait for it to start back up.  The first few times we went, you just sat in my lap and wouldn't really participate much.  I was even thinking that maybe it just wasn't your thing, but one day while you were playing by yourself, I heard you singing some of the songs from class to your toys.  Then we had to miss a couple of weeks for this and that, and you couldn't understand why we didn't go to your "Wachel cwass" that Thursday.

You're all about princesses right now.  Your favorites seem to be "'Punzel" (Rapunzel) and Ariel.  In fact, you went through a spell this year where you didn't want to brush your teeth, and Daddy started telling you he thought he saw Rapunzel sneak in your mouth.  You'd open your mouth wide so he could find her and it would give us just enough time to swipe over your teeth with the toothbrush.

You got glasses this year.  I must admit, you look pretty stinking cute in them.  The first few days you had them, we stressed that if you needed a break from them, that was fine but you had to give them to Mommy or Daddy...not just lay them down in the floor.  You've actually done a pretty good job following those directions.  And now you leave them on pretty much all the time, although we still have good days and bad days.

You're becoming so independent.  You want to dress yourself, put your shoes on by yourself, walk instead of ride in the shopping cart, brush your own hair...  And you love helping with chores for the most part--feeding the dog, folding towels, putting groceries away--although I must admit your attention span for those things is pretty short.  But you have a spirit that others can sense in the first 5 minutes they're around you.  People seem to know that you are your own person and you won't be pushed around.  I like that about you.

My Sydney-bug, I love your big personality and how you walk into a room like you own the place.  I love how when you're tired in the afternoon, you ask me to "wock" with you and how you snuggle down so your head is right on my shoulder and your arm is looped around my neck.  I love how you wake up like you're ready to conquer the world.  I love how you ask me to twirl "wike a pwincess" with you.  I love how your gorgeous red hair has golden highlights woven into it by the summer's sun.  And I love watching you become who you are.

Mommy