Last week we celebrated our sweet girl’s 3rd birthday!  It is SO hard to believe she is already 3.  I feel like I baby her at times because it is easy to forget she is 3 since we missed her first 2 years of life.  It is also hard because she is still not talking.  That is to be expected due to her cleft lip/palate but it still makes her seem younger than her true age.  Before I share her birthday pictures, here are a few things about our little China doll:

• She is extremely independent.  EXTREMELY.  I know I have mentioned this before but it is worth repeating.  She wants to do everything herself without any help.  Some days this works in our favor, other days, not so much. 🙂
• Going along with the first point, she is also extremely strong willed.  Seriously, there are days when we both end up in tears because she will not give in or give up.  And when she gets mad, she is really mad.  It takes a LONG time to calm her back down.  I have been told that this is normal behavior for a girl that is 3.  Having three boys before her, I don’t know if it is true or not, but I know it is hard.  I think a lot of it is her personality though.  I’ve been told that strong willed is a good trait to have later on but we have to get through the tough years early on. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that!
• Molly Kate has become very picky.  She really does not eat much at any meal except breakfast.  We are cutting back on snacks trying to encourage more eating at meals.
• She has become very attached to her blankets and Minnie Mouse.  If she is ever upset, she goes straight to her bed to snuggle with her blankets.
• She loves to wear new clothes or new shoes.  If I bring something home to try on, she loves it and doesn’t want to take it off.  I had to peel the fleece footed pjs off her two weeks ago because she didn’t want to take it off and she was sweating!
• She LOVES her big brothers.  She loves to show them her work from school or church. She loves to show them her new clothes.  She crawls up in their laps when they are watching tv and goes to them for comfort when Mom or Dad put her in timeout. 🙂
• She is still in speech twice a week and is definitely making progress, albeit slow.  She has started saying new sounds and is working her palatal muscles everyday.  Her vocabulary is limited, but she does have a few words – Mama, night-night, hello, Nana, war-war (Carter), milk, and maybe (when she wants to hear Call Me Maybe -ha!).

Okay…here are some pictures from her big week!

Molly Kate loves baby dolls so we got her a high chair for her birthday.  She loves feeding her baby.

Opening some of her presents.

Happy Birthday to our sweet girl!

Blowing out her candles.  Big deal for her…she couldn’t do it last year.  During therapy, she has learned how to blow and how to suck.  Two big steps!

Playing outside after the party.  She loves to swing!

This was on her actual birthday.  She got the crown at school and loved it!  When I told her that I wanted to take her picture, she went and grabbed her camera to take my picture too. 🙂