All About Aliyah

 My Sweet Little Aliyah-Loo is 3!

This post is in celebration of such a great event, for such a darling and delightful girl :)

To begin, here are Aliyah's answers to our little birthday quiz:

How old are you?  3

Who is your best friend?  Paisley and Beeboo (Kaleb)

What is your favorite thing to do?  Play (and sing and dance)

What is your favorite color?  Pink, purple, and light blue

What is your favorite food?  Spaghetti

What do you like to do with your family?  Color and puzzles

What is your favorite toy?  My new Anna doll

What do you want to be when you grow up?  A princess

What makes you happy?  Toys and castles

What makes you sad?  When Mommy and Daddy take stuff away

What is your favorite show to watch?  Anastasia (and Angelina Ballerina, Frozen, Sofia the First, and Despicable Me)

What is your favorite book?  Snowman book in nursery (Oh the Thinks You Can Think!, Go Dog Go!, Mice are Nice, I Want to Be a Mommy)

What do you love to learn about?  Jesus

What was the best part of your birthday?  The chocolate cake!

Where do you like to go?  The mall - the play place is so fun!

Who is your teacher?  Mommy

What is your favorite treat?  Chocolate (M&Ms, pink lemonade, Ovaltine, really just anything sweet)

What do you think about before you fall asleep?  Not really anything

If you could meet someone famous who would it be?  Anna and Elsa and Olaf

What was your favorite birthday present? My sparkling pink scooter

Now, to tell you all about this sweet girl, and oh there is so much to tell!

If I had 5 words to describe my little Loo, I would choose: silly, adorable, stubborn, loving, and whimsical 

Jonny's 5 words for her are: dramatic, beautiful, crazy (in a good way), smart, and musical 

When I asked Jonny what 5 words he would use to describe Aliyah, he said, "There are too many facets to her as a person, I need 25 words."

• She is always thirsty (or as she says, "sirsty") and as soon as I get a drink for her, she downs it so fast.  Her favorite drinks are pink lemonade, ovaltine, chocolate almond milk, and honey lemon water.  She has also been really hungry lately, so we're wondering if she is about to have a growth spurt.
• She loves to dance.  She is very expressive in the way she moves and seems to feel the music so deeply.  She dreams of being a ballerina someday :)
• She sings all day.  She sings songs she has heard in movies, primary songs, songs Jonny and I have taught her, and she also makes up a lot of her own.  She sings about normal day-to-day activities and all about the things she loves.  Her songs all used to end with "and these are the things Jesus taught."  I was so sad when she stopped ending them that way, although that phrase does make it into a lot of her songs still, along with many other phrases from scriptures and especially the Articles of Faith.
• Speaking of Articles of Faith, we have discovered that Aliyah is really good at memorizing things and she pretty much has all 13 articles memorized!  She is seriously such a smart little girl.   
• She is a cuddler, which I am so grateful for.  I love to wrap her in her "Cozy Red" and hold her close while we watch a movie or read books.  
• Aliyah makes up a lot of words, and the sillier they sound, the better.  She gets a lot of laughs out of Kaleb with her silliness, which keeps the wacky words coming. 
• Her favorite sandwich is a PB&J, and as she's eating it she almost always says, "Mmmm I love the J."
• We have found that it takes creativity to get Aliyah to do what we want her to do.  She responds so much better to our requests when we make a game of it.  When it is time to change her diaper, to get her to lay down I'll tell her to do an "up-twirl" and 5 kangaroo hops, and then slide to the ground where she wants to lay for me to change it.  For some reason that works so much better that simply saying, "Come lay down so I can change you."
• Aliyah has recently become obsessed with puzzles, which is probably because she is really good at them!  I will often find her in her room (with the door closed to keep Zay out) just working on puzzles.  Her favorites are her princess ones, of course.  She has a 48 piece puzzle with Belle, Ariel, and Rapunzel that she can do completely herself! 
• She loves to do silly faces and poses, that are so uniquely "Aliyah" that they just make me so happy :)
• She loves to get "all dolled up" whether it is getting her nails painted and dressing up in a princess dress, or having her hair done in a princess style.  She currently requests either Anna braids or an Elsa style braid, although not too long ago she wanted it down and straight just like Princess Sofia.  
• Aliyah has such a special relationship with Kaleb.  They do everything together, and they do such a good job of balancing things out so that they both get to have a say in what they play.  Aliyah is right by Kaleb's side as they have dinosaur battles and build marine crocodiles out of legos, but then they turn around and play with Aliyah's princesses and her castle and practice their twirls.  Aliyah is very thoughtful and quick to give in to what Kaleb really wants.  If he is upset about something not going his way, she'll usually hold out for a little bit (seemingly to tease him, or enjoy the little bit of power she feels) and then she'll say, "Ok Beeboo...you can have it...or we can play that, etc."
• She also has a very sweet relationship with Isaiah.  She can get a little rough with him, but most of the time she is so loving and she adores him so much.  He does a great job of getting a good belly laugh out of her, which is so fun for the rest of us :)  Isaiah clearly loves Aliyah so, so much.  Several times throughout each day I will catch him walking up to her and hugging her and laying his head against her while saying, "Ahhh."
• When Aliyah is frustrated, she uses the word "anything" a lot.  For example, if she is crying and I ask her what I can do to make it better, she'll often shout, "Anything!" (Meaning nothing)
• She absolutely loves to help me in the kitchen.  When I'm making soup, she loves to sit up on the counter and put the veggies in the pot once I have them cut up.  She also loves to put in the different ingredients when I made cookies and bread and anything else that requires mixing things together.  One of her favorite new skills is forming bread dough into a loaf...she really works that dough!
• She really, really doesn't like to clean (there are a few exceptions...she likes to wipe up spills and she loves to fold wash cloths!) Generally when I tell her it's time to clean up her toys, she has a very dramatic and creative response for why she can't or shouldn't do that right then.  One day while playing with her stuffed animals, she responded with a story about how Quack, her stuffed duck, would be so very sad if he had to leave his pond (a blue blanket carefully positioned on the floor) and his friends because he loves his pond so much and he really needs to stay and swim around or else he would just be so, so sad!  And what if he gets put away and then he can't find his pond and his friends again? Oh dear!  (She usually adds in the phrase, "He really needs me right now!")
• She often talks about what she'll do when she's a mommy.  She'll say things like, "When I'm a mommy I'll wipe the counters and make the bread and fold the clothes.  I'll hold my babies and change their diapers and get them dressed."  I'm glad she's looking forward to being a mommy, and I'm also glad that it is about 20 years away!  For now, I just love being her Mommy.

Happy birthday my beautiful girl!  In case I haven't made it clear through this post, we thoroughly enjoy having our sweet Aliyah in our family.  She has such a special place in my heart, and I am so grateful for every day that I get to be blessed by her cheerful and wonderful little spirit.  She brightens my days and fills my heart with so much joy and love.  Ah, my little baby doll I LOVE YOU!