Little Miss the toddler today graduated from toddlerhood and became a fully fledged ‘threenager’ - that’s right she officially turned three.

We were awoken at 7:00am by a bang on the door and a declaration of, “It’s my birthday, I turned three”. Which was followed moments later by a knock at the spare room where a visiting nanny was awoken with a similar declaration of “Wake up Nanny - let me in - it’s my birthday!!”

All this early excitement was topped off with a 7:05 am rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ by all members of the household. Led loud and proud by the birthday girl herself, who every time the song was sung for the day (I lost count at rendition 23, which was the version that replaced the usual bedtime stories), sung louder than anyone else and even headed up the cheers at the end.

We then had a special birthday breakfast (which was the same as every other breakfast except it included a rasher of bacon).

We put on our special birthday dress - otherwise known as the remaining clean dress in the house.

Got a special birthday visit from Nanna and Poppy (not to be confused with Nanny and Pa - Nanny is staying for the week already and Pa is not arriving until the party at the weekend). I think what made it a special birthday visit was it also involved a present. Actually that is the same as most visits, so I guess what made it special must have been the birthday card.

Then there was a special birthday lunch - which was the same as a normal lunch as far as I could tell.

Then there was birthday cake and songs - this bit actually was special. Well as special as a sung sung ad nauseum through out the day can be.

Finally we had some special birthday phone calls from an uncle and the aforementioned Pa who were unable to attend the family gathering, followed by a special birthday dinner (it was special due to there being two different types of sausages to choose from).

Then as I tucked Little Miss into bed I asked her if she had had a good birthday, her response “It wasn’t good, it was great! I had a really SPECIAL day!”. We then sung Happy Birthday one last time as I kissed her good night.

For those who may be wondering, her actual birthday party isn’t until this coming Sunday. The hot tip is that it will be a SPECIAL BIRTHDAY PARTY