My Big Baby Turns 3!

Does anybody remember the "Big Baby" character from Toy Story 3 a couple of years back?

Well, I have often thought of Aurora as my Big Baby. She was literally the biggest of my three babies...more than a pound heavier than either Lorelai or Celeste! She's also my stockiest, "hardiest" girl; I suspect she will be the largest of my children when they're all fully grown. Big Baby had a bit of a fearsome reputation; she was the "muscle" of Lotso's evil empire in the Sunnyside Daycare. Aurora is the family "muscle" too; she is freakishly strong for her age. She has the unfortunate tendency to use her strength for nefarious purposes (she is the bully in her nursery class at church; she regularly makes her older sisters cry). However, she has a huge heart underneath her tough exterior, and she craves cuddles, hugs, kisses, and affection more than any of my other girls.

So, Aurora bears lots of resemblances to Big Baby. However, one way in which they are different is that Aurora is a "baby" no more! Well, she is my "baby," I suppose, but she has just grown too much to be mistaken for anything but a cute little girl. (Except her hair...she still has wispy baby hair that won't grow right, and sticks up in a wild frizz in the back.) She is potty trained; she talks, walks, runs, eats by herself, and can operate our tablet device. She is a girl!

And now, she is three years old! Last Tuesday morning, we celebrated her birthday. I was able to score several cool presents for her (one advantage in having two girls born in December and January are all the good toy sales before & after Christmas).

...the aftermath

Aurora got a Little People safari truck; a few baby dolls; and a large dollhouse complete with furniture and doll family. The toys have been a big hit with not only Aurora, but her older sisters as well!

A few days after Aurora's actual birthday, we threw her a birthday party. Every one of my girls has had their first birthday party at age three. Aurora has become the world's biggest My Little Pony fan in recent months, so planning the theme was a piece of cake.

Decorating was fun and easy; we just pulled all our ponies out of the toy bins and scattered them throughout the house!

Aurora got very excited when all her friends showed up to play...and play they did! I admit this wasn't the most organized birthday party; but three-year-olds probably don't want lots of structure anyway. I did manage to provide one game...the kids had to stick the "cutie mark" on the Pony (a simpler version of "pin the tail on the donkey"):

Aurora did pretty well, considering she was blindfolded...her sticker was one of the few on the upper part of the tail, nearer the Pony's rear flank!

After that, it was time to eat. I made "haystacks" for the kids (basically Fritos with chili, cheese, and lettuce all over the top...delicious, in a "junk-food" way). Our sides were carrots and apples...because ponies love those foods, right? And, of course, we saved the birthday cupcakes for last:

Aurora was incredibly proud of blowing out the candles, and did a good job. However, she actually didn't like her cupcake and didn't eat it, preferring the carrots and apples instead! Hooray...maybe I have a healthy eater on my hands! (or, more likely, she is her daddy's little girl, and prefers pie to cake).

I admit that after the party was over, I curled up and took a nice long nap! The house stayed pretty filthy for the rest of the night, as well. In fact, I leaped at the chance to visit a friend's house later that night, and thus put off cleaning for several more hours! All told, though, the party was a success. The grown-ups who stayed had fun talking to one another, the kids had a lot of fun playing together, and everyone really enjoyed the food. The only hiccups:

--Aurora took it upon herself to start the present-opening. She got sick of me saying, "In just a moment, honey!", and she took off to the front room, where she had half of them open before I even realized what was happening! Thus, my pictures of the event were somewhat blurry.

--Also, we kind of muffed it on handing out the party favors. Once again, I took too long getting around to it, and the kids took it upon themselves to hand out the favors, while all the kids were still running around playing. Needless to say, the bags got mixed up, all the toys & candy inside got scattered all over the house, and several never even made it home with the kids!! So sorry, everyone! I hope your kids had fun anyway.

Aurora has become such a strong-willed, opinionated, bossy kid...but she's also become ridiculously charming, energetic, tenderhearted, and playful. It is simultaneously great and terrifying to have such a passionate, intense kid. I am so grateful to have her in my life...she makes things exciting! Happy third birthday, kiddo.