3 Whole Years

I keep asking myself, "can it really have been three years!?"

Since Mariah is now more verbal (biggest understatement of the year), I decided to do an actual interview:

Mom: What is your favorite color?
Mariah: Green (this one really threw me for a loop. Never do I ever remember her requesting anything green, but this is her interview not mine)

Mom: What is your favorite food?
Mariah: Applesauce

Mom: What is your favorite animal?
Mariah: Bunny Rabbit (her first stuffed animal; Grandma Young brought it to her in the hospital) and Steve Jr (two year Birthday present from Max). (She was holding these two in her arms during the interview)

Mom: What is your favorite book?
Mariah: Bunny Book (I'm guessing she meant The Runaway Bunny which is the bane of my existence, and kind of creepy; that mom is a little psycho. But aren't we all?)

Mom: What is your favorite movie?
Mariah: Nemo and Panda Bear (Finding Nemo, which she has seen all of once, and Kung Fu Panda, which she has only seen the first fifteen minutes of)

Mom: What is your favorite song?
Mariah: Twinkle Little Star

Mom: What is your favorite dessert?
Mariah: Animal Crackers (I think that is a Nursery snack and she loves everything about Nursery)

Mom: What do you like to do for fun?
Mariah: Jumping and having fun and rolling down outside. But Chet doesn't like rolling.

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?
Mariah: Bouncing and Jumping

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?
Mariah: I sing with him. I sing. It makes me happy.

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Chet?
Mariah: Play with him on jump on a own tramp with us (sometimes she gets a little ahead of herself). Chet starts jumping and I count for him.

Mom: Who is your best friend?
Mariah: Elizabeth (her five-year-old cousin)

Mom: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Mariah: A big long girl and I get a party. (She was really stoked about her anti-climactic birthday party.)

I was surprised by pretty much all of her answers. Tanner was too, and he had the great idea to interview her again a couple days later just to see what her responses were:

Mom: What is your favorite color?
Mariah: Blue and pink and red and yellow.

Mom: What is your favorite food?
Mariah: Yummy Cheerios

Mom: What is your favorite animal?
Mariah: Mouse

Mom: What is your favorite book?
Mariah: Bunny Rabbit Book (Yeah, she would pick that creepy book two times in a row)

Mom: What is your favorite movie?
Mariah: Watching Nemo

Mom: What is your favorite song?
Mariah: Twinkle Little Star is

Mom: What is your favorite dessert?
Mariah: Yummy Food (That too is my favorite)

Mom: What do you like to do for fun?
Mariah: Jumping in a puddle and flying in thunder. (She had just finished a Daniel Tiger episode that was all about rainy days)

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?
Mariah: Jumping in a puddle and playing with thunder and lightening.

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?
Mariah: Jumping in a puddle and thunder.

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do with Chet?
Mariah: Jumping in a puddle.

Mom: Who is your best friend?
Mariah: Families

Mom: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Mariah: Thunder and lightening makes me grow up. (Ok, Daniel, you are one influential little Tiger.)

So there you have it. The fickleness of toddlers. I am starting to understand why it is so hard to figure those little busy bodies out. Obviously they don't even have themselves figured out. Or maybe it's just that she doesn't quite understand the questions and just says the first thing that comes to her mind. But I am starting to realize how big of an influence one little TV show that she watches maybe once a week can have. Kind of frightening. And I think it is time to hide The Runaway Bunny again.

And because this post isn't long enough already, I have included a few out of the mouth of Mariahs for memory sake:

One Sunday I came into the Nursery to see if Mariah needed to go potty. As I approached her she was telling off one of her friends and I could tell that she had been crying/whining. I then asked her if she was being a helper to which she replied, "No, I'm grumpy." Well alrighty then...

One day Mariah came into the room with a lot of huffing and puffing and plopped down on the floor. When I asked her what was wrong she said, "Leave me alone, I'm just sad". I then said, "you're sad?". And she answered, "yeah, it's just bad news."

Mariah loves to tell me stories and while excitedly sharing with me one of her imaginary adventures she said, "We dashed right into the car." We dash about quite often.

One night at FHE we were talking about the blessings that Heavenly Father has given us. Tanner asked Mariah what one of her blessings were. She replied, "My children is". Apparently we need to get a little more creative when we are talking about our blessings. And improve our grammar.

When Chet bumped his head Mariah said, "are you okay dude?".

At the library in an attempt to get my attention Mariah swatted my leg and said, "Hey! Stinker Linker!" Yes, I use that nickname from time to time.

One afternoon after a particularly sweaty workout Mariah tried to snuggle with me but then quickly shrank away in disgust saying, "Oh you're stinky!". She was quite disgusted with me and wouldn't touch me until I showered. Often after a workout she will check with me and make sure I'm going to shower. No hiding it now, I'm disgusting and she sounds a lot like her dad.

Before Tanner left for Missouri we were hugging. Mariah came up and in her motherlike way said, "ok, ok, that's enough", pulling us apart.

Looking through our photos to pick out these four brought back so many memories. It has been three years full of tears and laughter, tantrums and snuggles, messes and kisses and the best years of my life. This girl has taught me more about myself than I would have chosen to know but I am grateful for the growth that it has brought to me. There is something so special about seeing the potential in your children and watching it all manifest. This girl is my life, my heart and soul and oh how I love her.