Happy Birthday Lilah

Lilah is a little friend of Ayden Jane's. She is an adorable bundle of energy and if Ayden Jane manages to even remotely keep up with Lilah through the years she will excel. Today Lilah turned 3. Now, I realize that it is not remarkable that there is an adorable little girl named Lilah who happens to have turned 3 today, but what is remarkable is the change in AJ since she turned 3 just 6 weeks ago.

At Ayden Jane's birthday we worked for about a week to master saying 'Happy Birthday'. She still did not get what I was talking about. She did not really know what presents were about. She did not sing really any songs on her own. She was not good with numbers. She still talked mostly in the same phrases and joined in our conversations by asking one of 2 or 3 standard questions which had nothing to do with what we were talking about.

So, yesterday I asked Ayden Jane if she wanted to get a birthday present for Lilah. Her answer, "Yes. I get Lilah a present for her birthday. Lilah is 3 just like me. She not 2 any more." We picked out a present and the rest of the afternoon, Ayden Jane kept singing, "Happy Birthday to Lilah, Happy Birthday to Lilah."

I am so looking forward to Christmas. I have been amazed at how much she already understands about the holiday and the excitement of it all. She gets the idea of giving and receiving presents. She is becoming familiar with nativity scenes and Santa Claus...

I wish I could describe the cognitive light that has come on. She is just so much more aware of her surroundings, and thus is just more a part of everything.