and now you are three....

once upon a time there was a little girl who went to bed two and woke up three.
she had practiced for weeks showing three fingers instead of two - she knew she was now one more than before.
her parents - who loved her so much they could hardly remember the time before her - told her stories all day long about what she did when she was two.

how she loved to dance - she heard music and would get up and start spinning, jumping and twirling - her face telling a story along with her little arms and legs...she wanted to be a ballerina like she saw on t.v. and tried to dance up high on her toes...she loved it best when her mommy and daddy and baby sister would dance with her - circle of held arms spinning until dizzy....

how she loved the beach - fearless and wanting to jump right into the waves, sand castles and buried feet. rolling her whole body in the hot sand after coming out of the water.

how she loved the park - her almost french "can i go to the park a wee-wee-wee". now able to climb the stairs to the big slide, run along the bridges and crawl through the tunnels. not needing the big arms to guide as much.

how she loved her baby sister nay-nay. how she held her sister, only weeks old, and said "i got you baby". how she loved to make her laugh and would perform endlessly for the giggling approval. how she woke nay-nay up for months with a "morning time nay-nay". how she hugs her everyday....

how she loves her hockey - daddy and me. loves the standing and singing of o canada, not knowing the words but trying " oh canda, stand up for me...", plates of "hockey snacks", copying daddy's ahs and ohs and "shoooot". her practice skating around the livingroom, her toronto maple leaf jersey worn over flannel p.j.'s.

how she loves to paint and do "crabs" (crafts). her mixing of colours and big confident strokes - putting of paper what she wants not what she thinks should be there. her pride at artwork hung on the fridge door or given as gifts.

her love of snuggling her parents - climbing on laps, hugs, kisses and tickling. up on shoulders, in arms, being "a baby", piggy-backs, and horsey rides, bedtime rocking, and "can i please sleep in mommydaddy's bed - i be patient and i not wake up nay-nay, i pomise".

her love of trying it all, of seeing someone do something and believing she can do it too.

her love of cousins big and small. names recited in list:sammymontylucyteaganquintonsadiemaddiedevonchelsea....

her love of bamma(grandma) and papa's sloan, walker and roswell...her stories of time spent with them that sound like exotic holidays - tomatoes picked fresh and eaten in sun, assisting with sewing jobs, baths in outdoor tubs, visits to market and library, and of course chocolate eaten....

her love of trains - tilted head and excited breath "i hear the train whistle"...

her love of turning three. of getting bigger. of understanding more. of being able to walk instead of being in the stroller. of being able to give advice to someone younger. of being able to help mommy and daddy with cooking and fixing things. of being able to push elevator buttons. of being able to make friends.....

when she was two - having parents who love her with more than their hearts can hold.
being the centre of the universe for this short, short time.
abby. the little girl who went to bed two and woke up three.