Three

Today, Piper turned 3. This girl of mine is quite a character and, to me, quite amazing. She pretty much rolls with the punches and is just happy to reside in someones lap. Piper is still super into all things pink, princess, and girly. She loves wearing bows, flowers, and having her toes painted.
However, she sees a certain benefit to getting dirty at any point in the day. If there is a puddle of any kind, you can be certain that Piper will be streaking toward it if you blink.
Piper is super active, but she is also a kid who loves to do any kind of craft. She currently owns around 25 coloring books, every possible art and craft supply (and yet I'm surprised daily when I discover she doesn't have an item) and loves to "read". She, of course, cannot read the written word yet, but she loves to look at books and must have one in her hand each time she lays down to rest or sits still.
Another thing that Piper is really into is music, which is absolutely no surprise to me. Jes and I both have musical backgrounds and Caleb also has had a significant ear and love for music as well. You will often find Piper listening to and singing along with any song that she's heard more than once. She is very intent, often concentrating really hard, while we are in the car and constantly asking us to "turn it up".
If I had to pick a future profession, however, for my girl, I would say that it has to be something to do with animals. The girl just can't get enough of any type of animal. She even has an appreciation for bugs, something that most of her counterparts run from.
Piper is 33.2 pounds (73 %tile) and just over 3 ft (97cm, 68 %tile) tall. Piper has always fallen within the 50th to 75th percentiles for height and weight, which is SO different after her brother who consistently landed around the 99th.
I had a good discussion with our NP about Piper's diet, something that concerns me greatly. She is super picky, which seems to be the norm for 3 year olds, but it's just strange to me and hard to deal with. Her brother is not picky and will, literally, eat anything I put in front of him so to have her turn her nose up at mostly everything is a bit frustrating. I was told that if her nutrition was affecting her negatively, then she wouldn't have grown much and would be much, much smaller. Also, Caleb has entered that phase of life where he is ALWAYS hungry, so he often gets the lunch/dinner she won't eat.
Speaking of Caleb, I have to include in this post about Piper that they are still the best of friends. Piper has started attending an every other Friday Mother's Day Out program that my friend is running and the first person she hugs and tells she missed them is her brother. She then will proceed to tell Caleb every single event that happened in her day and just hang with him. She loves being with him and the feeling is totally mutual. They do still fight, but it does my heart good to see how close they are. Since I didn't grow up with a sibling in the house, I didn't have anyone my age to share much of my childhood with. I wanted to ensure that my child(ren) had someone with which to share the sad/difficult/happy/exciting moments.
Piper is super sweet, loving, happy, and fun and we are so blessed to have her in our family. She is the perfect 4th and makes our family complete!
We love you Piper and are so excited for all the fun that is in store!!!