P-I-P-E-R

When I think of Piper this fall/winter, I can hear her spelling her name over and over again. "P-I-P-E-R." She loves to write it, she loves to see it, and now that she's mastered her name, she's onto Iver's and I think she has that one pretty much down also. I love to watch her learn and grow. It's unbelievable how much a kid can change in 3.5 years. And then I think of how quickly the next 3.5 years are going to go and I get all sorts of freaked out!

Piper has a great sense of humor, and whenever something ridiculous comes out of her mouth, I think to myself she is such a little Reid. Last week it was bitter cold out. So cold that the only time we spent outside was walking from the car to whatever building we were going into. And even that was done very quickly. So on one of those days, Piper comes flying down the stairs one afternoon in a tank top and PJ pants and she was "sweating from doing her HOT dancing in her room." Hot dancing! What does that even mean?! If you really want to know, just sit in my living room during quiet time and you'll hear the jumping, thumping, her doing who knows what to her music CDs. The kid just cracks me up.

And then she can be a little devil, and on those days, I count down the hours until bed time. She can get under my skin better than anyone I have met, and then I think to myself, she's a little Jen. Not because I enjoy getting under peoples' skin, but because she understands how I tick because she ticks the same way, and therefore knows exactly what to do to push my buttons. And truth be told, I'm pretty sure she enjoys pushing my buttons. I have to remind myself that she's just three, but on days when the countdown is in play, I dread when she's 13. Oh my ...

Luckily there are more good days than bad! I was just looking back through pictures and we really don't have many pictures that show her funny faces that she makes. She has incredibly expressive eyes and I'm pretty sure she'll use them to make people laugh and get what she wants for her whole life. This pic doesn't do them justice, but I want to remember how she makes funny eyes when I'm old and grey.

Piper's favorite color is still orange and she loves Disney princesses. I can't remember exactly when she became obsessed, but it was a bit before Christmas so we gave her a Disney princess story book for Christmas. This may have been a huge tactical error as we've barely read anything else for 5 weeks now. Two stories at quiet time, two at night time. Her favorite are the The Mice Save the Day (Cinderella) and The Royal Friend (another Cinderella one about a little girl named Emma -also her BFF's name). And to round out the old school stories, she also loves Falling in Love (Sleeping Beauty) because she loves to say Maleficent's name. I'm pretty sure this is because Reid had a hard time saying it one night and Piper could say it perfectly. I am SO sick of these stories and can't wait for this obsession to end, but it's also a ton of fun to hear her finish the sentences, and every once in a while, "read" those stories to Iver or one of her lovies. When she hits kindergarten and has to know 92 sight words, I hope we luck out and they show her Cinderella, Jaq, Gus and Maleficent. We'll have those four down, no problem!