sage alfar at 3 years and 5 months

If you're all grown up now and reading this old archive, this is how you looked as a little girl - yes, we do this to embarrass you.

But you must know how much your mother and I loved you then and love you now. Your flair for conversation and way with words, spelling out names of people and things; your spinning and dancing and singing and bouncing on the bed; your love for and devotion to your furry friends and all the other pretend creatures so real in our common imagination; your insistence that one day you'd grow up to be a princess (well, you already are one, you know); so many things I can tell you, I hope to tell you.

Today, like every other morning, you rushed after me as I walked down the corridor for work.

"Daddy!" you shouted. "You forgot something!"

And when I came running back, you pulled me down and gave me the sweetest princess kiss.

That made my day - and every other day before and after.