Honey girl turns three. Our one and only Atalie Maeve.

Lots of important things have happened to my husband and I on the 17th day of the month.  We got married.  And our son was born.  So when I realized I was due with my daughter mid-March I thought, “Come on the 17th!”  Then I realized it was St. Patty’s day and I changed my plea to my unborn child to, “Come on the 18th!”  And she did!  Three years ago.

It sounds almost miraculous and funny to say but when my son was born my husband picked the date.  He circled it on the calendar months in advance.  And though our son didn’t actually come on the 15th as my husband had asked, that IS the day my labor started.  My daughter, being a second born, with a much more efficient and an easier passage into the world came just on the day that I asked her to, in a 6 hour journey from her world to ours. (Here is the story of her birth told in 4 totally absurd, but also totally true moments.)

Our little girl.  She’s funny AND she loves to laugh.  (Even at 5 months old she was cracking her own jokes to herself and laughing at them.)  Once, within the last year she did something at the table that she thought was funny but I did not.  After turning to her and saying, “That is not funny Atalie,” she turned back to me and in an equally serious tone said, “It IS funny Mom.”  Then giggled some more.

The first English words I ever realized she spoke was a full sentence, “Iwannagetup.”

Metaphorically speaking she’s always had a very keen sense of what was up and down for her and she’ll let you know if what you are doing is not to her liking.  My father likes to joke that he “can’t imagine where she gets it,” and then he looks pointedly and not so subtly at me.  Like her mother (and father), our girl likes to make her own choices– ones that suit her perfectly.  And she doesn’t care if they suit you or not.

She’s also an unbelievably fantastic clothes shopper!  Totally serious.  She walks into our local shop, tells me she’s going to try on shoes (while I peruse in my section), brings back a handful of items she would like to try on, is happy when we get some of them, and fine when we don’t.

She loves adventure and she’ll laugh in fits of charming hysterics when she’s doing something new like sliding down a hill in the snow for example.
True to her Pisces nature she loves water.  Even at the age of one-year-old she loved showers.  Water running over her head? No problem.  She’ll get in any time anyone else happens to be getting in, and stay long after you’re done if you let her.

She sings all the time, in French mostly.  Because that’s what she learns at school.  But this, is one of my favorite videos of all time of her singing with her grandmother (in English)!

She loves to dance.  Once at a wedding she was on my back and begging to go home.  I put her down on the ground to adjust some things and to start gathering up the family.  Once there she felt the beat of the music move through her and entered the dance party for real.  Compete with kicks, spins, shakes and grooves I’ve never seen the likes of before.  45 minutes later I had to convince her that it was time to give up dancing and go home.

Another funny thing I love about her is that she seems to be a very good at being pregnant! 🙂 It’s worth noting that she frequently has twins, usually two boys.  And unlike mine, her births are remarkably easy.  She just opens her shirt and her babies fall out!  Presto! A baby is born.  So easy.  It wasn’t exactly like that for me three years ago, (not even close actually), but that doesn’t stop me from having high hopes for her if she ever decides to be a mother.  From the looks of it, she’ll have a lot of practice by that point.

Once after a long drive in the car I saw her take her baby doll out of the car, wrap her up in a blanket, and walk with her down the beach, murmuring sweet nothings to her, kissing her on the head all the while bouncing just as a mother of a baby does.  It still makes my heart melt to think on it.

She’s not afraid to breastfeed in public.  I have photos of this.  In fact the only thing I’ve ever seen her afraid of was deer.  For a time she had an erroneous belief that deer were going to eat her, and not the vegetables in our garden, should they get through our fence.

Someone once told me, “Your daughter reminds me so much of you.  She’s that uncommon combination of a very old soul and childlike verve.”  She continued saying, “Sometimes when I speak to her I feel like I’m talking to an adult.”  That, at 2 1/2 years old.

Of course I’m proud, and often awed.  Mothers often are.  But it all makes perfect sense to me on so many levels.  Including her name.  The combination of her names mean pure, maiden, and sovereign woman.  And from the looks of it, even at just three-years-old (today), that suits her just fine.

Our little Atalie Maeve, we love her so much!