Etta Mae is THREE

etta, etta mae, mae mae, uwera

she answers to all of them

and she is THREE

in the last six months etta's personality has exploded out of her.  true, she is my shy middle child, more reserved and less likely to talk to you much if she does not know you.  but she also has this very playful side, that has always been visible on occasion, which is coming out more and more often.  

she also has a really sassy and pouty side, which is also coming out increasingly, and which is not so very sweet.  she is very easily offended, especially by eden, and seems to be a natural born contrarian (like a certain father of hers, whose name shall not be mentioned).  her attitude, especially just after she has woken up, can be pretty prickly, and we are working on gentle ways to communicate her need for space or quiet that don’t involve outright ignoring or, the reverse, high pitched screaming. 

on that note, she and eden are about as hot and cold as can be.  they are either playing contentedly for hours in some magical world, OR they are at each other’s throats over grave offenses such as ‘touching me’ or ‘looking at me’ or whatever other absurd things.  its especially disheartening to see them fight when i know how well they can play.  there is SO much coaching, so much repeating of the same phrases…

‘is your sister hurting you?’   ‘no’ 

‘is she destroying something?’     ‘no’ 

‘is she doing something dangerous?’       ‘no’

‘then go talk to her about it and leave me out of it!!!’

anyways back to etta.  she is still very much in the season of wanting to be snuggled and held.  she still seems to need me as home base in the way she always had.  

she has amazing hair, which she loves to wear down/out.  (i dont let her wear it down too often for two reasons; 1. it gets much more tangled down and 2. i have a hard time saying no to her when its down because there are too many hearts shooting out of my eyeballs and she knows this).  she loves twirly dresses and fancy shoes and playing in the dirt for hours on end.  she has a great eye for bird watching and always manages to spy the ones that the rest of us missed.  she loves to drink tea and listen to poems being read loud, she is really into the music from both newsies and les miserables right now. 

i have a unique phrase for each of my daughters; one that solidifies their importance in our family.  i always tell eden that she made me a mama.  and i always tell etta mae that she is the one who taught me how much a mama could love.  because before she was born, i could not imagine loving anyone as much as eden.  but with etta came the miraculous expansion of my heart and the growth of a newer and deeper love than i had thought possible, the love for daughters.  and that is a mighty big thing if you ask me.  (ivy is the one who completed our family, in case you are wondering what i say to her).  

etta mae you are an absolute delight (most of the time) and you are beautiful and spunky and i hope your three year old voice and phrasing and pitch stay in my head and heart always.