Three!

 Three.

 

For Emery's third birthday, we had a teddy bear picnic in the backyard.  She loves all things bear related with Little Bear ranking at the very top of the list.  A vintage Little Bear theme was perfect for her party. 

 

All the bears in the neighborhood came to help celebrate.

 It also gave me a chance to use the picnic basket that Kim and I recieved as a wedding present.

We had a picnic lunch and let the kids play in the yard, collecting acorns and swinging on the play set, two of Emery's favorite activities.  During lunch, I read a story from one of the Little Bear books from my own childhood while the kids ate on the borrowed parachute (thanks Jen!).  Then it was time for games and songs. 

We sang/played "Come Under My Umbrella" which is always a big hit.

 Bigger yet was the teddy bear trampoline.  Check out Emery's "Baby Bear" catching some serious air in the upper left. 

 

At three, Emery is all about dress up and pretend play.  She loves her kitchen set with felt food and loves to sing and dance.  She tells us "pink and purple are my favorites" on a daily basis and judges her outfits based on whether she can dance in it or not.  She loves ponies, all other animals, and her brother.  This is a girl who tells us "I love you so much!" several times a day and is quick with a kiss and a hug.

Emery's most common statement these days is "I do it all by my own."  Not by herself, or on her own, but "by my own."  This covers everything from getting out of the car to dressing herself.  It is neat to see how proud she is with what she can accomplish. 

Baby Bear is Emery's constant companion and she routinely tries to smuggle her out of the house and into the car, although Baby Bear is officially an inside bear.

For her treats, I made some simple cupcake picks with scenes from the Little Bear books.

Three candles for our big girl.  Emery sang at every meal for a week, particularly because both her dad and grandmother celebrated birthdays within the next 8 days.

 

Until this past week, she was unable to say Alastair and has called him "Dat-ter" as long as she has been talking.  This week she started to try to say his name.  I don't know why that makes me so sad, but my little girl is definitely moving into her new role as a big girl.  "Momo" is now Elmo and Boudreaux is only "Yo-Yo" part of the time now.  I have a feeling a major regression is on the way though with the new baby's arrival.  Emery isn't going to give us her status as the family baby easily, I'm afraid.

That's ok.  We'll keep our wonderful "honey girl" just as she is.