Last week, the little one turned three. THREE – imagine that! Every now and then I look at her and I can’t believe how much she has grown during the last months. She has developed her very own character, her very own quirks and her very own look. That’s why here’s another round of “how you know you live together with…” (the first two rounds are here and here).

You know you live together with a three-year-old when…

…you hide certain clothes because they are completely inappropriate for this time of the year but your child automatically finds them again and insists on wearing them

…you hear yourself saying things like “Couldn’t you ask your poo to fall into the toilet?”

…you don’t care anymore about how your child looks when going outside as long as it stopps crying

…you still wonder about the concept of “time-out” and how to teach it to your child

…you are able to imitate at least ten different characters of soft animals

….you stop singing actual songs and jump right to the improvisation

….you find yourself in the garden singing “Leo Lausemaus” with your neighbour

…you master the art of bribery

…and hence keep a hidden stack of smarties and gummy bears

…you actually start playing games that you can relate to

….and you start reading out real books as bedtime stories

…you are able to make up stories about hippos, slides, blue stars, pengiuns, cakes and weird animals on the ground impromptu

…you have incredible arm muscles (but the situations when you have to carry a crying kid over your shoulder are getting less and less (see also: art of bribery))

…you wonder about things like “why do slugs crawl over dog poo?” and “can you acually sleep long enough to grow into the sky?”

…you really enjoy a quiet evening and a good drink

…you can’t hurry when it’s raining because every slug has to be personally greeted

…you very much enjoy doing things with your kid because it’s so exciting to watch her explore the world

…you are not surprised anymore when finding sticks, stones or other stuff in your shoes

..you resign and decide to let your child have its own will sometimes, even if that means to be looked at with a weird expression by strangers

…you are in this ongoing dilemma whether to keep or to ditch the numerous questionable arts and craft products that your kid brings home

….you are aware of the fact that there is a big difference between eating your cereals with a pink or a green spoon

…you have seriously wondered whether your child might have a hearing problem only to find out that the problem reduces itself to phrases like “could you please” and “hurry up” but not to “chocolate” and “ice-cream”

…you’ve been called “you are mean, mean, MEAN!” and you could do nothing but smile because you knew this day would come

…you look at your girl at night with a slightly heavy heart because you would love to keep all bad things away from her but you know you can only do it to a certain extend

It is so exciting to watch this little person making her way through life! I have the feeling that the series of heart-breaking situations has begun when you as a mom realise that your child has to make its own experiences. Life can be cruel. Other kids can be cruel. But I do hope that the little one will continue to find her own strong, happy way without too many disruptions from the outside. That she’ll stay as curious and imaginative and happy as she is right now. And that we can always be there for her, because she is one of the greatest things that ever happened to us.