Celebrated Lelya turning the big 3 yesterday and have to say it was easily the best day of her life. We woke up bright 'n early to get ready for the first day of summer school and put her on her new school bus to her new school. Oh, no crying or separation anxiety at all for this girl! She was a happy little clam all buckled in as we waved to her in the driveway and I shed just a little tear. Boy oh boy does time fly fast....I packed chocolate cookies (her fave) for her class and the teacher made her a paper crown and they all sang to her at school and I'm sure she absolutely loved it and basked in her birthday glory all day.
After the half a day at preschool we took her swimming at the pool and enjoyed the beautiful 85-degree sun while watching Lelya swim like a little fish and make new water baby friends. Seriously this kid is AMAZING in the water and is already swimming! If you count doing the doggie paddle with a life vest on swimming, which I do. She goes in over her head no problem, does back floats, keeps her mouth closed from all the water, blows bubbles, jumps in the deep end and dunks under water and pretty much has the absolute time of her life. (Sorry, no pictures, too busy watching her and having fun).
We had a late lunch on the patio at the pool and then afterwards we got in the car to take Lelya on a real live choo choo train. Girl oh girl was this little one in heaven. We took her on the cta downtown and changed lines a few times and she would jump up and down and point excitedly at all the passing trains and there was nothing that could have happened to wipe the ear-to-ear grin from her face.
After the choo choo, we headed home for some presents, pizza, cake, & ice cream. The day was purposely filled with all of her favorite things in the world and it makes me so happy to see her so happy and her face lit up with so much joy. We decided not to throw her a party this year and do all her favorite things instead, and I'm so happy we did. We saved money, the day and planning the day was completely stress-free, and she hands down enjoyed this better than any party we've thrown for her in the past, which was absolutely priceless.