are you really that old? happy 3rd birthday to The Baby

My sweet baby girl,

I cannot even believe this much time has passed. You're three years old now and you're taking on the world.

This has been a big year for you, and for me. We've both learned so much about who you are and I am beginning to get a grasp of why you do the things you do.

You have had me on my toes since the day you were born and I was never quite able to figure out what was going through your little head.

We learned this year that you have Sensory Processing Disorder and that is the reason for your sensitivity to so many things. You also are severely delayed in your speech, but somehow you still get your point across and you're anything but silent!

You crave crazy, fun play. You love to laugh and jump and crash into things and demolish everything in sight.

You love puppies—but don't hold your breath, this family isn't getting one anytime soon—and you screech and scream and run after them after time we see one in person, in a book, on television or in a picture.

The way you yell "MoMMMMeeeeee!" every, single time you see me is adorable. Even though you see me all day long and you announce my entrance every time I come into the room you're in, it still makes me laugh. You seem surprised and excited to see me, it melts my heart.

You still sleep in a crib. You can get in and out of it, but for the most part, you don't. Sometimes I'll come in to find you in your crib in the morning with every single toy in the bed with you. You get out in the middle of the night, start dumping buckets of toys in the crib, climb back in, play and go to sleep.

You can hardly ever be found without a great, big toothy smile on your face.

You have a hilariously-evil, maniacal laugh that kills me.

Your hugs, your crazy little monkey hugs are the best things in the world.

You don't really walk. You run, hop, jump, skip, stomp and stumble your way around your world.

You are amazing. I have struggled for so long to figure out why you're not easy, why you're not like every other little kid who is go-with-the-flow, can sit and eat a meal, can talk in a normal-non-screaming-tone, can sit still for more than 20 seconds.

You are exactly who God made you to be. And he gave you to me to raise, to teach and to train you into exactly who he wants you to be.

He knows why you're spastic, silly and kinda crazed.

He knows why you're loud, slightly maniacal and extremely bouncy.

He knows why you're quick to smile and why you laugh all the time.

Because He made you and He has plans that I can't even comprehend or plan for. I try and I worry and I pray for you. I pray for things to be easier, for you to be find your niche and selfishly for it all to just be normal so I don't worry about you.

But He has a reason for the way you are.

Because you're amazing. You're the only one like you.

He is showing me time and time again through people, words and experiences all around us, that He has purposefully made you who you are and is putting all of these things in our lives to make you the best you can be.

Happy (late) Birthday, my sweet little girl.

Mommmmmeeeee!