"Mama, it's for you!"

Lily has a huge heart. She can be a diva/grump/tantrum-mer, but really at her core is a very high level of empathy and concern for others. At even the slightest mention of "ouch" or "my back feels weird" from me, Lily is immediately ON IT, running to get her doctor kit or ice or a bandaid. "Mama! Oh, no! I can fix it. Wait right there." Some days, I have quite the collection of bandaids all over my body. 

For the past few months, she has become quite the artist, and at least once a day, I hear, "Mama! Don't come in my room!" And, a few minutes later, a sweet little voice telling me, "Mama, it's for you!"

She made me these flowers completely by herself. 

She used glue dots (we LOVE glue dots around here- next time you go to a craft store, get some! Lily is not patient enough to wait for regular glue to dry sometimes), post-it notes for the flowers, and popsicle sticks for the stems. She even wrote "MAMA" on the front one that she stuck to the cup/vase. 

SEVERAL times a day, I get an invitation (complete with stamp/sticker in the corner) to my birthday party.  I will see an envelope sliding underneath the closed door and hear a string of giggles from somewhere in the room. 

When I walk in..."SURPRISE! It's your party!" We have pretend cake, tea, and we play a board game. 

She dresses herself more and more...creatively? It's hard to tell, but she is wearing black and white Halloween leggings, a black and pink striped shirt, a brown and blue dress, one pink shoe, one black shoe, and a yellow bow. 

She was telling me about my newest present. 

She really loves gift tags. 

 I got a bracelet!

After we put up our Christmas decorations, Lily looked forlorn and confused. "What happens next, Mama?" Once I explained about Valentine's Day and the involvement of hearts, pink, glitter, cupcakes, etc... those dark eyes LIT UP. I have a feeling I will have an overflowing collection of valentines by the time February comes. 

Another present from her, complete with a picture of her and me!

Moms of only boys are constantly telling me how lucky I am to have a girl so I don't have mud tracked all over and little cars everywhere. This is her playroom after about 8 minutes: paint, glitter, play-doh, teacups, tiny sticker paper backing, glitter, buttons, tea party friends, glitter...

It's difficult to really see the amount of glitter that is a constant presence in our lives. We SPARKLE. 

She makes me snacks! 

Then she stares intently to make sure I actually eat one. 

At dinner one night, Daddy mentioned his arm felt funny...next thing we know, Lily has grabbed a ziploc bag and is carefully choosing ice for Daddy.

She takes her role as care taker so seriously. 

Doodlus always gets the love, too. Lily gave her a whole place setting, complete with cake. 

Puppet show. LOVE that little face peeking out of the box.

This is why I am constantly running the dishwasher- the friends also have to have real snacks. 

Her newest...talent...is to decorate my clothes. It's extra fun, because her feelings are crushed if you decide maybe you will wait until another day to actually WEAR the fashion piece. She is very symmetrical and detailed, though. For example, she puts the same size sticker on each sleeve, on each side, bigger stickers in the middle, etc... It's nice that the attention to detail is so strong, since I actually had to wear all of these shirts. In public. 

To be fair... there are still HOURS of this in our lives as well. I hate blogs who only show the Pinterest-y side of their lives.  Of course, Lily is bursting with sweetness, heart, energy, creativity, fun, and spunk...but she IS three. A demanding, intense, needy, SENSITIVE, constant, dramatic three year old girl who rarely is content to play by herself. By the end of the day morning, I am exhausted and have ZERO patience left. SO. MUCH. DRAMA. 

She is the best, best, best part of my life. Duh. But, I just like to keep it real. And, I will punch the next mom who only has boys and tries to tell me how much easier a girl is. I'm just saying.

 :)

Okay...I want to end on a sweet note, because my girl really is the best. Here are some flowers out of Kleenex and stickers. "These are for you, Mama. Because I love you."

I know. I am the luckiest Mama in the world. ;)