Big Girl at 3!

We celebrated Faye's 3rd birthday this week,

and I think it turned out to be a very special day for her.

Growing up, my parents had the tradition of decorating the dining room with streamers and balloons to surprise us when we woke up in the morning. I've enjoyed carrying on the tradition. Faye chose blue and orange for her colors.

A good chunk of the morning was filled with Faye and Calvin playing with the balloons. We had fun hitting them to each other. It's amazing what can occupy a child!

We went to McDonald's for lunch, and Faye was brave and

crossed through the overhead tunnels and went down the big slide.

While Calvin was at preschool Faye helped me make her cake.

She had chosen chocolate fudge for the cake and pink frosting.

This was the moment Faye was waiting for all night: time to eat the cake!

At first we were going to do a butterfly cake, but then I found the recipe for this one, and Faye chose the bunny. I thought it was appropriate since her birthday was so close to Easter this year.

In the spirit of gift giving, Faye gave her family the biggest gift a child in this stage of life could give to her parents. She woke up potty trained. :)

Faye has gone back and forth with her enthusiasm for potty training. We at first thought she would beat Calvin. Treats really worked for her for awhile, but then she just gradually digressed and going potty on the toilet became very rare. So for the past month, we decided to mentally prepare her for this great and wonderful change. Every time we changed her diaper we would tell her that when she had her birthday and turned three, she would become a big girl and be potty trained. We said that over and over and over.

So after waking up from a wet bed on her birthday, she sat on the toilet and then put big girl underwear on that we have had sitting in a drawer for the past year. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I definitely wasn't expecting the success we had. We are now 4 days into it and have yet to have an accident. I haven't been brave enough to do this when we leave the house. So she wears a diaper with her underwear over it. After wetting it once the first day, she has impressed us all and has kept the diaper dry since.

We are so proud of our big girl!