thirty one months

<img src="http://www.aisforbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/dsc06090-copy.jpg" alt="1" />

Dear Julianna,

My big, beautiful, brown-eyed girl. Another month has gone by and you're another month closer to turning three. This year you've said you want to have a dog on your cake so I guess a dog it will be.

The other day at school your class went to what they call "Storybook Theater." The actors there were doing a preschool rendition of Beauty and the Beast. I wasn't there but when I picked you up your teacher said you'd had a bad day. She expained how terrified you were of the Beast and how badly you wanted to leave. She said that she was able to convince you to sit on her lap in the back of the room. It hurt my heart to hear how afraid you were. It broke my heart even more that I wasn't there to comfort you - but I know this was just one of the many times you'll be scared in your life and you'll eventually learn to deal with fear.

As I write the first draft of this letter you're sitting in time out because you hit M (one of the little boys I keep each day). You've been pretty good dealing with quickly going from an only child to one of three but you do have your moments and you certainly struggle with sharing.

<img src="http://www.aisforbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/dsc06099-copy.jpg" alt="2" />

Today your Aunt Whitney is getting married and Uncle Seth will officially become your Uncle Seth. You're going to be such a beautiful little flower girl and I'm sure I'll have pictures to prove it. You seem to have a good understanding of what you're supposed to do - whether or not you'll do it remains to be seen.

This month you've ridden a horse for the first time. You rode a train for the first time and you rode the rides at the fair for the first time. As you get older, I'm suprised to see that the firsts really don't end as I thought they would; they just change a little in nature and that's fun too.

<img src="http://www.aisforbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/dsc06101-copy.jpg" alt="3" />

You're hair has gotten so long. Even so, it is still blonde and we still get the same question all the time: "Where does she get her blonde hair?" I'm sure it will change since mine had already started changing by the time I was two, but it hasn't yet.

These days you love to show people your "Chucks" and you're starting to want to pick out your own clothes. I dread the day where we fight over what to wear every morning. You also love to talk about the train table that Santa is bringing you for Christmas. It's so funny how I simply suggested that you ask Santa to bring you one (a train table) one day when you were asking me for one at your house and somehow you solidified the idea in your head that he was most certainly giving you one this year. Somehow I won't be able to deny that.

<img src="http://www.aisforbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/dsc06103-copy.jpg" alt="4" />

I ran a 5k earlier this month and you were supposed to stay with Nanna but instead you insisted on coming. You rode in the jogger, but you wanted so badly to get out and run with me. It was FREEZING! You kept saying, "I a big girl! I want to run with you!" I hope you do run with me some day, but please note that the next time you're riding in the jogger as I kill myself trying to get up one more dadblame hill, I WILL let go of it and send you off without me if you say one more time, "I tired Mama."

Jules, you still LOVE to sing. You will entertain yourself for a good while by just singing song after song. The funniest is when you decide to entertain us (usually when we have company over) and you get up on the fireplace and sing whatever song comes to mind. You sing it loudly until you get a laugh. If only you can stay so confident for the rest of your life.

You are such a smartie; you regularly read letters you see on the TV and in books. You're learning the lowercase letters now as you've known all the big ones fo quite some time. It won't be long before you are learning the words too.

Doodle, after all the fun and running around we've done this month I can only imagine what the next couple of months will bring. I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store for us next. Be good.

Love,
Mama

<img src="http://www.aisforbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/dsc06094-copy.jpg" alt="5" />