My Jillian is 3!

Happy Birthday Jillian Mae!

Such a cliche statement but Jillian is such a blessing.  I really am not sure how I can even begin to put into words what she means to our whole family.  She is just an amazing mix of personality, humor, kindness, gentleness, and spunk.  She has such passion for things - ok, maybe three year old things like hippos and the color purple, but also for her sister, for me, for singing, for taking care of her baby doll.  She has her own little mind about everything - even when it means she isn't doing just what her sister does - and I admire that so much in her.  

Here are just some of my favorite memories of times with Jillian:

-When I get her from school, when Neal comes home from work, when she sees someone she loves for the first time in a bit, she tells us "I miss you SOOO much!"

-She loves to grab me by the face and look into my eyes and say "You have blue eyes? I have blue eyes?" Sometimes she asks if hers are purple instead!

-She loves to show me her belly button - "See my belly button?" and then I proceed to tickle her on her belly button - which she always says "You not touch it again!" All while laughing

-She and I spend lots of time at the zoo while Meredith is at zoo school.  Usually we head for the hippos first, but we swing by the meerkats - she always wants to take a picture of whatever they are doing to send to Neal and then call him to tell him about them. Then, anytime we talk to him on the phone for days after she pipes in "Daddy, the Meerkat was in the tree!" 

-Of course, then there are the hippos.  Like I said, we always head for the hippos first - she often tells me that the hippos have missed her and that they love her.  Last week she wanted to make sure to go by to see them so that they would come to her party.  She mentioned that they would blow out the candles, but when I suggested they might bring her a present or want a cupcake she thought this was ridiculous!  But even if we aren't at the zoo, she can spot hippos from across a store - it is really uncanny!  And anything hippo she loves - books, stuffed animals, little figures, songs, shows, movies - you name it!

-She still has a fantastic friendship, with her bestie Caleb.  They are in class together and the teachers say that they have stopped even attempting to let others sit next to them because it isn't worth the fit that Caleb and Jillian will have if they aren't together.  Caleb learned about "wives" from his mom and dad the other day and has since decided that Jillian is his wife and now refers to her as "Jillian Bean Hank Wife" and she calls him "Caleb Wife"  

-If I get frustrated with Jillian over anything, she gets really sad and then will say "I didn't mean to!" And when she says it, I know she means it

-She loves to play pretend with her baby doll, Maddie - she will even tell me full stories of things that Maddie says all while talking in a Maddie voice

-When she is trying to get out of doing something, she often tells me "Ms. Erica says I can't" (Ms. Erica is her teacher, who thinks this is hilarious!) 

-She calls her forehead a "boy" have no idea why.  She will bump her head and say "I bonked my boy" Makes me laugh every time.

-She is dead-set on breakfast choices.  Every morning she requests frozen pancakes, jelly toast and "monkey milk" (drinkable yogurt with a monkey on the front)

-She still loves to be rocked at night time.  I spend some time rocking her, and then she loves to count the last few rocks (usually she requests 14) and then I put her in bed.  Then, of course, she tells me she is not sleepy - which I believe because I walk in every morning to every book in her room all over the floor. 

-Speaking of books, she loves them.  She will pour over them forever - whenever we read at night she always knows what pictures are coming up because she spends so much time looking at them by herself.  And of course, anytime she comes upon a random hippo in a story, it becomes a new favorite!

-I always tell her "You are my favorite Beans" and she responds "You are my favorite mama"

-She is a snuggled - at the end of the day we each talk about our "favorite parts" and she has gotten good at asking everyone else about theirs, too.  The other night, I was laying with her on her bed snuggling talking favorite parts, when I just had to catch my breath because it was just such a sweet moment.  She looked at me and said "what was that?" I told her, "Oh, my heart is just full." To which she replied "Oh, my belly button is full, you want to see my belly button?" 

 Jillian - there are so many things about you that make you so easy to love.  I hope you know how much you mean to each of us, how you brighten up my day and make me smile every day! Happy birthday, my sweet, silly, beautiful hippo girl!