all about C @ 3.

My firstborn is turning 3 tomorrow. The crazy thing about 3 is that it is like, a kid. Not a baby. Not a toddler. We're talking 100% kid. And Carly is one fabulous kid.

Carly is loving. Lately when we put her to bed, we face all sorts of negotiations: "How about 4 more baby hugs and 1 more kiss . . . or 5 more baby hugs." And you count out the hugs . . . "How about one kiss on the cheek and two more baby hugs" she says, holding up two little fingers. It is impossible to fight a negotiator like that.

summer-loving girl.

Carly is fun. She is active. She loves to run and be praised for how fast she is. She loves to be chased and tackled and tickled. She loves playing sports, and I look forward to seeing what she develops a passion for. She is strong and tall and lean. I'm kind of all for volleyball, though soccer would work too. She has an outrageously fabulous imagination. It is fun to catch her talking to imaginary people and singing made-up songs. She loves to draw and paint and color with chalk. She loves to swing. And she loves to swim with her daddy. So. Much. Fun.

reading in bed with mom.

Carly is smart. She recites books. She remembers everything. She says things and I just think, "How in the world did you get so smart?" She is a big talker and talks talks talks your face off. And recently we have entered the world of "Why?" She asks "Why? Why? Why?" and we go on these long trains and countless times my last answer ends up being "Because Heavenly Father wants us to." But that usually stops her. Maybe that should just be my first answer. She is curious and likes to learn about everything.

big girl Rapunzel braid.

Carly is a sweet big sister. She has a real sweet tenderness for Quinn that makes me feel warm and fuzzy. More recently she has started to like John, since she can make him smile real big and she was even the first one to get hard-core laughs out of him. She is protective of "her babies" and when people come to look at them, she'll say "This is Quinn and that's John. They're my brother and sister."

with her babies.

Carly is strong-willed. Remember way back when right after Christmas when we started the "3 day potty training". Ha! Joke. For Carly it was the "7 month potty training". After a few hellish weeks, she got #1 down. But that dang #2, or "muds", as it is officially called in the C House, is literally just now becoming a smooth process. Carly was afraid to go, so she would hold it and hold it and hold it. And we would pump her full of fiber bars and dried apricots, so she wasn't stopped up. When she had to go really bad she would start acting emotional and dramatic and screaming and all sorts of crazy stuff. We lovingly dubbed it "Poop PMS" and got a glimpse at what she might become once-a-month in 13 years. So finally, I just quit. I stopped asking. Stopped trying. Stopped pushing (ha! no pun intended). I made a chart that if she went in the toilet 5 times, she'd get to pick a toy. And guess what? Poop PMS is all but gone. At the splash pad the other week she was playing and came to me and said "I have to go muds." We went to the bathroom, she went, and she went back out and kept playing. This is UNHEARD of over the last 7 months. I was seriously elated and outrageously proud. She just has to do things on her own terms.

loves her sister.

Carly loves Towel. Her beloved white dishtowel . . . she really loves that thing. It goes everywhere with her. And you do NOT mess with White Towel. Before the babies came, she'd say, "The whole family . . . mommy, daddy, Carly, and Towel." In fact, I often call it "he", it is so much a part of the C House. When he "takes a bath" (goes in the washing machine), Carly cries softly and moans, "I miss my white towel." It is a long hour plus. The other day, she said, "I love my grandma. I love my papak. But THE MOST, I love white towel." That thing has wiped her blood, dried her tears, and calmed her fears. And it is falling apart. White towel's stray strings litter our carpet and cover her bed. When she finds one, she picks it up and puts it back on the towel as if it will stay and says, "Here ya go, towel." He is now transparent, and I just don't know what we're going to do when he completely waists away. Breaks my heart just thinking about it. The love of a girl for her towel is sweet.

silly goose.

Carly is a crack-up. Some of her best quotes:

One day I was super frustrated with crazy babies, and Carly was having poop PMS and I was just at a melting point. Carly was crying and wouldn't blow her nose. So I said (not my best mom moment), "Carly! Just blow your freakin' nose!" She sobbed harder and said, "I don't have a freakin' nose! I have a Carly nose!"

She put on a dress one morning and spun in it and said, "Its so beautiful! Can I wear this dress when I get married in the temple?"

I asked her if she wanted to watch a show on my phone: "Well, your phone is really so small so I can watch it on the TV."

Chris and Carly were leaving the bathroom after her bath:
Carly: "Uh, oh. We can't get out. Mommy's helmet is in the way."
Chris: "What?!"
Carly: "Mommy's helmet is in the way. Her purple helmet."
{The purple helmet . . . was my shower cap. Yes I wear one; fast showers are key for me, and washing my hair is not always an option. I am not ashamed. And Carly sees me get out of the shower in it. I died laughing at this. She still calls it my helmet.}

finishing her gymnastics routine.

Chris was getting Carly dressed and Quinn managed to grab Carly's underwear. Carly got upset and yelled at her: "Quinny, those aren't your panties!" Fighting over clothes already.

I was dressing Quinn after a bath. Carly came over and was stroking her head: "I like Quinny . . . [long pause]. Mom, do you like John?"

She has started this pitiful "I wish . . . " thing. Like, we will see a cute puppy and she'll say in this sad sweet voice, "I wish I had a little black puppy." And all I want to do in the whole world is go buy her a puppy (though I NEVER want a dog. I have enough living things to keep alive and clean up after). Or she'll see people at the swimming pool, "I wish I was a swimming girl" and you just want to drop everything and take her. Hopefully she grows out of how dang cute she is, or we're in trouble when she's a teenager.

Carly was rocking John on the rocking chair. She came running to me in the bathroom and said, "Come look! John is broken!"
"What is broken?" I asked.
"John!"
(For the record, he had just slumped over in the chair. He wasn't broken, thank goodness.)

She and Chris were talking:
Chris: "We're on the earth."
Carly: "No, I'm on the chair and you're on the bed."
Chris: "Well, the earth is really big. Our whole house is on the earth."
[Pause.]
Carly: "Ok, dad. We can pretend."

lunch under the table in her fort.

I watch this girl every day in awe. I can't believe how grown-up she is. She is a truly amazing human being, and I'm grateful for the sweet little person she is.

Happy 3 years, Car. We're glad you joined us.