So first we had: The Day She Was Born

And then there was: On her first birthday

Followed by: On Her Second Birthday

And now here we are, she’s three!

Three years, wow! That’s longer than I was at Uni in Chester. It’s longer than I was a Chaplaincy Assistant and at Vicar School combined. It’s longer than my curacy in Formby!

And yet, where has the time gone? And where did this tall, chatty, caring, confident child come from?! She is most definitely not that baby any more.

So what was two like? It was far from terrible. I knew it wouldn’t be as bad as they said! Don’t get me wrong, Sophia has had her moments, but then again, so have I, and so has Nathan! Most of the time it’s been brilliant, not terrible! But I’d be lying if we haven’t had some interesting moments.

So what’s our new three year old like? She’s brilliant at talking and she loves to learn about the world. ‘What are you doing, Daddy?’ and ‘what have you got there, Mummy?’ are regular questions in our house! As well as ‘can I help you?’ and ‘can I have a try?’ Looking back at the last two birthday blogs, I talked about some of the sounds and words she could say, but I couldn’t even begin to count now!

She likes to read, colour and be in the garden. Nathan has done so much work on the veg patch, herb garden and fruit bushes this year, and Sophia loves to help! ‘Let me show you the garden!’ she says. More than anything, she still loves to hang out with us. An honour that won’t last, but we’re making the most of it while it does!

She still loves Frozen and she’s also a fan of ‘punzle. She likes watching Musical Theatre performers on Tiktok and enjoys the music from Six. At the moment, she’s into youtube videos of other people unboxing baby Annabell dolls and various accessories, which bemuses us!

Some of Sophia’s favourite foods are sausages, ice cream, bananas, oranges, chocolate, chips, fish, ‘acdonalds, stirfry and broccoli. A big change this year was stopping feeding. We were both ready, although Sophia took a little more persuading than I did!

She also loves her church communities. She’s very at home at St Giles and ASSF. She thinks (although I don’t agree) that she’d enjoy coming to work with us every day. She’s got friends of all ages in both churches, from 1 to 90! All these people enrich her life, and I’m so grateful for the interest they show in her, as well as the patience they have with her.

Soph also loves her family, and she seems very excited about welcoming her new sibling in a few weeks time. Yesterday when I picked her up from nursery, I said ‘I’ve been to see the midwife today’, and she lifted up my top and kissed my bump.

Although Terrible Twos was more than manageable, we do get a glimpse of a Three-nager occasionally, so watch this space! Here’s to the next year and all that it holds!

Happy birthday to our wonderful girl x