Your birthday. If you were Rudy.

 1.  Wake up at an unreasonably early hour on the day you turn three, so early that the sun has not yet risen, and start opening presents.  Don't even waste four seconds by putting on your glasses.  You got a Pigeon!  Don't let the Pigeon...out of your sight for the rest of the day.

 2.  The house is already decorated for your Yo Gabba Gabba birthday party.  This is the theme because you love it, and because your mom will take any opportunity she can to wear her DJ Lance Rock costume.

 3.  Start eating the 3 sugar cookies with your sister way before breakfast.  These are a birthday tradition your mom is fond of for the first half-hour of creation, and in retrospect, after they are baked, iced, decorated, and on display.  While rolling out the dough for the sixth and seventh times, the kitchen counter both covered in flour and greased from the warming butter: not so much.

 4.  At your party, when everyone starts singing "Happy Birthday," you suddenly realize that this is not a random get-together and are overwhelmed by the attention.  Tears collect in your eyes, and blowing out the candle is just too much.  Thank goodness Owen is there to huff and puff it out.

 5.  Even though it's November, it's actually warm outside, so you join your cousins and friends on the playground, in the line of overgrown trees by the neighbors' back fences, and eventually, on the new back patio where there are more presents for you to open!  Keep shooting Jackson vicious side-eyes whenever you think he's getting too close to your new Lalaloopsy Tippy Thumbelina.

 6.  Thank goodness.  Heather got you an actual Hermey action figure.  Your other figurine is still awaiting reconstructive surgery after your mom, who loves you more than anything, threw what she was holding in an embarrassing swell of rage after you threw your mac and cheese on the rug last week.  When she realized it was your precious Hermey, and that his head had broken off, it didn't do much to lighten her mood.

7.  After your guests have left and just before you head upstairs for your nap, enjoy being three by running around the house with a dozen vibrant birthday balloons that completely engulf you.

8.  You have plenty of rainbow cupcakes left over after your party, which is so nice.  But when your mom notices that one of the cats, Mr. Peterson, keeps licking at the easily accessible frosting, she gets rid of most of them and is reluctant to give you any of the others.

9.  After dinner, you open your last gifts with your family, including another Tomten book that everyone is sure you're going to flip out over with the same squeals and wriggles brought on by the Pigeon.  You are perplexed and momentarily intrigued, but the book that's already upstairs, The Tomten and the Fox, is still your preferred bedtime story, and you still know every single word.

10.  End the day by coloring in your new Rudolph and Hermey coloring book, the one from a dollar store.  You are three!  You are ridiculous and sweet, quirky and brave, fun and silly, and a whole lot smarter than anyone knows.  And you are very, very loved.