Hannah's 3-year-old Birthday/ 3-year-old story

So much to say about my Hannah-Bo. She was sick all day today and would come up to me every hour at least asking for me to hold her. At one point she fell asleep and I got to stare at her peaceful sleeping face: her long lashes, the tiny freckle under her right eye, her crazy hair that she never lets me do (except for church on Sunday, family photos and her birthday-- but you better believe that the SECOND she walks in the door she is pulling those pigtails out). Oh man, I live for Hannah snuggles.   

I'm pretty sure every morning we wake up one of two ways: Hannah yelling, "I went poopy! Come wipe me!" or hearing her little feet pad over to the side of my bed and then climb on up and crawl into the covers next to me- her blonde hair all a mess and usually demanding "bre-fast cuz I'm hundy!" This usually leads to a fight because Liesel always wakes up after her and sees her cuddling with mom and get jealous which leads to accusations of feeling unloved and un-cuddled. 

Hannah is independent. She dresses herself every morning before breakfast, brushes her own teeth and says her prayers (always short, always adorable- "tank dee for mommy. Tank dee for da day. Tank de for Cee Cee and Fa-li-ci-dee. Tank dee for pan-takes." She plays well by herself and will decide everyday what she is going to do. I'll find her doing puzzles, playing with magnet dolls or dressing her baby. She takes such good care of her babies-- although she totally draws on them with marker. She does that to herself too. The most common are large circles on her feet (buttons to help her run fast, she says), or stripes down her leg like a Tiger. 

Hannah loves to cook. If I'm in the kitchen, you better believe she is grabbing a chair and pushing it over to the island to help. And she does pretty darn good. She'll mix with the beater (and I trust her to do it while I get other ingredients or spatula etc), she'll measure the sugar or flour with the measuring cup and knife and she loves to dump in the ingredients. 

Hannah is a quick learner. She figures things out so easily-- but she has to be interested in it. You can't make her do or learn anything she doesn't want to do. Her only stumbling block is her own fear, but once she overcomes that she learns it right away. Like her strider bike or monkey bars. She likes to put together puzzles and she knows many of her ABCs, shapes and all colors even though I've never sat down and taught her any. 

You can't force Hannah. As a matter of fact, that is the quickest way to a meltdown. When Brian gets the girls ready for bed, he used to ask Hannah to do something sternly but after multiple night of that resulting in screaming and crying, he learned that you have to ask Hannah or frame it as her idea. She also prefers mom to get her ready for bed and I'll hear this conversation from the other room while nursing Felicity: "Hannah, time to brush teeth." "NO! MOMMY!" etc. I both find this endearing and annoying. But she is determined and knows what she wants. I find myself giving into her requests frequently because she also knows HOW to get what she wants. She is adorable in her approach and very persuasive. 

Which leads me to another thing about miss Hannah. People (adults and children alike) love her. She is very easy to love, despite her general mistrust of people. The other day we were biking on the pedestrian bridge and I was a little ahead of her when an old man passed. She started screaming and yelled, "MOMMY! I DON'T KNOW THIS GUY!" He laughed and said to her, "I wouldn't hurt you for a million dollars." She gave him her sideways glare and caught up to me (which was all of 15ft). 

Hannah's fear radar is dialed way up. Even when she was 6 months old I could tell she was more sensitive to fear. All Liesel has to do is growl and Hannah freaks out. And she takes full advantage of this. Hannah will frequently say things like, "dere's no monsters under my bed cuz dey don't live dere," while she shrugs her shoulders and her hands are out in explaining position. She also uses this technique while eating foods she think are gross. "Hmmmm, yummy." she says while choking it down. haha!

Love my baby Hannah.