Rebekah's birthday

Our little Rebekah turned three years old last Saturday (12th May). She has seemed bigger and bigger lately. Some of that I suppose has been seeing the comparison as we have seen Peter grow bigger, but she has definately been changing too. She's such a big girl now, and seems to feel it. She can do just about anything her sisters can do, and is so tall to go with it. She also loves to be little though, and to spend time with Peter, sometimes playing the big sister who wants to hold, cuddle or even restrain him, sometimes playing along with him and not quite sharing her Mummy too well! Being 3 seems to bring a sudden change of behaviour with it (I believe it has for every one of our children, as has being 2, 5, and so far with Rachel, being 8! - who knows why the other ages haven't mattered so much, but I certainly don't recall quite such a sudden change with them!) We're pushing limits all over again. :o) This has brought a sadder side to Rebekah than we have been used to, as has a recent series of accidents which turned a very happy, confident little girl into quite an upset and clingy one. Luckily, she is still our lovely little girl though, and large outpourings of love do go a long way to easing her fears. One wonderful side to her character we have seen so much of in the last few weeks (and especially this week) is her kindness. She has been so genuinely kind and thoughtful on so many occasions, often sharing what means a lot to her, giving the most spontaneous outpourings of love, and being a split-second peacemaker as she has rescued more than a few fraught situations. Going from a terrible temper to seeing a need and being a peacemaker in literally seconds can be bewildering for us as her parents, but she is full of lovely surprises as ever, and we wouldn't be without her, even when she is grumpy! She is so like her sister Hannah, and so you would think we should know what we are doing this time, but I'm afraid our memories just aren't that good - so many names and birthdays to remember!! I guess we won't do too badly, with a little help from our little peacemaker.

Rebekah had decided that she wanted a teddy bear cake for her birthday, and so we thought we would have a small teddy bear's picnic for lunch that day. It had rained all week, and although it let up for her birthday so we could play outside, it was still a bit too cold and damp to eat out there. So we shared her picnic lunch on our living room floor. She had wanted to invite her cousins Edan and Elijah (nearly 2 and 4) to her little party, as well as her friend Hannah (very nearly 3) from Nursery at church. She was so looking forward to that, and then became unbelievably shy when they came, as did they somehow! So we had a quiet little time to start with. Or course they all perked up with a bit of food inside them, and the bears did too, then they were very lively for a few more games, including hide and seek (as all teddy bears play at a picnic!)

Rebekah really became her excited happy self again though when her grandparents arrived late afternoon. Nanny, Granma and Gramps got to see a little slideshow on the Mac of Rebekah growing through many of the pictures we had of her. They were excited (even 5 or 10 minutes later!) to be seeing some lovely pictures that they had never seen before (that's what happens when they go straight from a digital camera to the computer and rarely ever get printed!) Rebekah was so excited too to see her life. She had accepted by the evening (having seen all the pictures that morning as well) that the baby was herself and not Peter, and she quite enjoyed herself. She wasn't much bothered by presents or cards all day, but thrilled in being with people she loves. She loved her birthday tea, her playmates, having her family sing happy birthday to her again (that really made her eyes twinkle!) and being the birthday girl. She had a good go at juggling with the ball pit balls too along with her Daddy and Gramps. She was a happy little girl that read her scriptures with her Nanny that night, and is definately growing a little bit bigger!