Our Emilia turns three years old today! Perhaps it’s being the second child – or more so a testament to her personality – but I would be lying to say, “I can’t believe she’s three already!” Because she absolutely feels like a three year old to us. She is a chatty cathy who is more quick witted than I am! She honestly makes me laugh more than anyone else I know with her dancing, jokes, dead pan stares and goofy faces.

On Monday night, to kick off being a ‘threenager’ a few days early, Emi told me sternly (pointed finger and all), “You cannot come into my room anymore, it is my room!” Ha – and oh did I squash that sass that quickly! Most of the time, Emi is my little sweetheart (although if you encounter her while she’s hungry or freshly awake, that’s not the word you’d use to describe her!).

The other day, we were accelerating to join the freeway, and as Sasha pushed down on the gas, Emi YELLS, “WHEEEE!!! FASTER DADDY! GO FASTER! DO IT AGAIN!” while Isla is yelling, “SLOW DOWN! THE POLICE ARE GOING TO GET YOU!” Sasha noted that it was the perfect example of how different the two girls are – one is cautious, the other more adventurous. She loves to be the center of attention and definitely eats it up (i.e. hams it up!) when she gets it. Emi loves to sing and dance – she’s always asking Alexa to play “Baby Shark” or “Justin Beavers.”

Emilia loves her baby dolls. She is always carrying at least one. She has names for all of them (approximately 12 babies), but “Big Belly Lulla” (pronounced “Woo-wa”) is still her favorite. She constantly amazes me with her ability to entertain herself. She will spend hours on end alone with her babies, putting them in their beds, giving them food, taking them on walks. She sings little made-up songs to them all of the time.

Emi walks into her closet solo (insists upon it) to dress herself every morning and, therefore, rarely matches. We’re working on this! She is about 90% accurate on putting shoes on the wrong feet. It is very likely if you were to run into her on an average day, she would have three different floral patterns on, her hair styled by herself with a bow or clip placed in a strange place, shoes that are on the wrong feet that absolutely do not match the outfit, ankle socks, and a jacket on. Marches to the beat of her own drum!

At this age, Emi’s favorite foods are cucumbers, “white cheese” (cream cheese), broccoli, macaroni and cheese, seed crackers, strawberry cereal, apples, blueberries, and blueberry waffles. She always chooses “banilla” over chocolate.

Emi loves being carried – constantly. Although she normally wants me to hold her, she is obsessed with her dad. She loves her sisters so much, and her cousin, Milly, is her very best friend. She adores all of her grandparents and loves 1:1 time with them. She always tells me stories about her friends at school too.

Some milestones that she hit this year include: being potty trained in June at 29 months old – it went better than I had expected (just a terrible two days stuck in the house) and transitioning to a big bed at the same time. She learned how to spell her full name (and all her family members) in November and how to write it on her own in December. Emi started Spanish classes in the fall and now know how to say all of her colors, how to count to 20 and some body parts.

We are so in love with this sweet little lady. Watching her grow into the girl she is today has been the biggest treat. I cannot wait to see what she’ll get up to as a three year old. You can read her first birthday post here and her second birthday post here.