Happy Birthday Linnea

Happy 3rd Birthday Linnea. We are so proud of you.

 Love Mommy and Daddy

Linnea is 2 weeks old in this video!

Linnea is 7 months old in these videos.  It's amazing how much she has changed in the past 3 years.

Linnea, Age 3

All About Linnea

Linnea Katherine's Stats
30.5 pounds
3 feet 2 inches
green-blue eyes
size 7 shoe
3T clothes
Potty Trained since 2 1/2

"I'm a BIG Girl" was her theme this year.  As a big girl she...

*went to the dentist for the first time

*got her first big girl haircut with bangs

*buckles her seatbelt

*puts on and takes off her clothes

*reaches some things like light switches

*climbs and balances on everything, like furniture, monkey bars, logs, rock walls, curbs

*walks a long way! No more stroller.

*pretends to be animals like a kitty, donkey, jaguar, tiger, leopard, dragon and you must call her that animal or she'll correct you! 

Favorite Things

Praying:
Linnea loves to pray for people. Before bed we have a short prayer time.  It often becomes a conversation like this...Linnea: I pray for Grandpa. What's Grandpa got, Mommy? Me: Arthiritis.  Linnea: What's Arthirits? and so on.  She goes through her list of people and then surprises me sometimes by what she says.  She almost always prays for Isaac and Eli. Very Sweet.  I've tried to teach her the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary, but no success yet.  She interupts me before I can get through the whole thing. 

Books and Letters:
We read books together everyday and Linnea is really tuned into words and letters.  She loves her books, especially the Christmas books I've borrowed from the library: Oliver All Alone, When Posey Peeked at Christmas and The Three Bears Christmas.  We read them over and over.  She knows her letters and letters for important people in her life.  D- Daddy, M- Mommy, S- Sofia, H- Hailey and so on for Isaac, Eli, Grandpa and Grandma.  She basically only watches Sesame Street and Super Why which is all about letters, words and numbers.  She has learned a lot from them.

Foods

 Linnea still loves cheese more than anything else.  She's a pretty good eater and with a little persuasion will try most things, unless it's any kind of berry.  Nathan and Linnea love eating pickled herring for some reason.  I've been trying to get her to like raisins, but so far no luck.  She gets really upset if she find one in her oatmeal.  She will eat most things that are single ingredients, but doesn't like things that have a bunch of ingredients like casseroles.  I tell her she's so lucky to have Daddy because he's such a great cook. 

Dressing Up and Dancing: 
Linnea has become very interested in dressing up.  She has 2 tutus, jewelry, animal ears, wands (which are often taken away) and 3 pairs of wings (bee, fairy and butterfly). She loves to wear these plastic high heels in the house.  It really hurts when she steps on you.  Even though they are big for her, she can go up and down the stairs with them.  Just before her birthday one broke in half so I had to throw them out.  Linnea "cried and cried" (Linnea says that!) Luckily for Linnea, Grandma Trish got her another pair for her birthday.  Nathan says he'll have to take her fishing to balance out the girly dress-up stuff.  When she is dressed up she wants music on so that she can dance around.  She gets this serious look on her face, closes her eyes and then points her leg out and twirls her arms.  It's so cute and hilarous!  For Christmas I am giving her dance lessons at The Creative Dance Studio in North Seattle.  It's a class for 2 1/2 to 4 years old that parents do with their child.  She's going to love it!

Linnea loves Sofia

Linnea is great at making Sofia laugh.  This has been a big year for Linnea.  She has had to learn to share Mommy and Daddy.  She is mostly gentle with her :) They all ready make each other laugh.  Sofia lights up when Linnea talks and plays with her.  I think they're going to great friends!

Linnea Loves Her Counsins
Isaac and Eli are so special to Linnea.  They love playing together and are a lot like siblings.  Like siblings they care about each other, but can also drive each other nuts!  Hailey and I are so glad that the kids are close in age so that they can grow up together.  Linnea is closest in age to Eli, just 11 months apart.  She talks about them all the time.

Happy Birthday Linnea!