A letter to Camdyn on her 3rd birthday

July 26, 2013

My Dearest Camdyn,

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine; you make me happy when skies are gray…” 

You, my darling daughter, are my sunshine. Today you turned THREE…. When you turned two, I commented about time racing at warp speed. Well, time hasn’t slowed down any because I blinked and now another year has flown by! 

I could not be prouder of who you are! At just 3 years old, you show tremendous compassion and love for others. You are kind and gentle, silly and sassy, and you light up the room when you enter it.  You talk nonstop. You engage in conversation, with real dialogue and concern for what the other person has to say. You ask anyone you meet what their name is. You want to know how those around you feel, or if they’ve had a good day. You have begun to question my every decision- “Why, Momma, Why?” is your new favorite phrase. You are hilarious. As in, stop in my tracks and laugh out loud kind of hilarious. You are ridiculously smart. You know all of your colors, shapes, letters and most of their sounds. You use picture clues to “read” books all by yourself. You are such a girly girl. You love jewelry, hair bows, high heels, nail polish, princess outfits, and anything pink. You LOVE to dance and we’re still having dance parties every evening. You are fiercely independent. Heaven forbid I try to put you in your car seat! You can do it all by yourself! You want to try to accomplish everything on your own. Yes, it sometimes drives me crazy when I am in a hurry, but that “No, Momma, I can do it” reminder tells me to slow down and enjoy watching you learn.  You are stubborn and self confident. Bossy? Yes, but that assertiveness and take charge attitude will serve you well in life. 

You are beautiful, inside and out. Proverbs 31:3o says that “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” As you grow older, I want you to discover the importance of your inner beauty. I pray people see you as beautiful because of your kindness towards others and your passion for Christ. I pray that you would pursue the heart of a servant, love others more than yourself, and reflect the love of Christ in every aspect of your life.  

Camdyn, I love you so much. Happy 3^rd birthday! I love you to the MOON!

                              Love,

                                              Momma

PS – You know that humor I referenced earlier? Well here are 5 funny memories from this year.

1)  We went through the Chic-Fil-A drive through and you were happily eating your chicken nuggets in the backseat of the car. When we passed the chicken processing plant in Canton, you saw its sign had a chicken on it, and said “Chickens say bawk bawk.” Then instantly, you looked down at your own chicken nuggets and loudly said “Oh no! This chicken don’t say bawk bawk no more!” 

2)  We were hanging out with Uncle Mike and Aunt Whitney. You threw a blanket over Hudson’s head and he ran into his baby gate, bounced off, and fell into the floor. Out of nowhere, you said “No one can help you now!” in your best Darth Vader voice! We have no idea where that came from! 

3) You spent the better part of this year calling yourself “Cammen”. I would correct you and say, “Your name is Camdyn”, really enunciating the D. You would flat out argue with me that Camdyn was not your name. I finally told you that you had to say your name right or you couldn’t go to preschool. (I know that is terrible parenting, but I was exasperated!) Your response? “Fine Momma, my name is Camdyn.” And you’ve been Camdyn ever since.

4) Your Honey and Papa went on vacation. You asked where they were since you hadn’t seen them for a few days. I told you that they had gone on vacation. You said “No they didn’t! I still here!” You just couldn’t believe that they would go on vacation without you! 

5)  We were over at your best friend Jack’s house. You and Jack were potty training at the same time. You’d just gone potty and now it was Jack’s turn. You saw his underwear and proudly said “Jack, you have big girl panties on too!” Jack spent the whole next day telling himself “These not big girl panties. These big boy underwear!” Ha!