- She is super excited to be four years old. I have been using that to my advantage and she has willingly played along. We made an agreement that she will try at least one bite of everything... because that is what four year olds do. And she has lived up to it (which is a HUGE accomplishment considering her picky ways). She has put up less of a fight when I ask her to do things on her own (get dressed, brush teeth, go to sleep by herself, clean her room)... because that is what four year olds do. Next up, stop the finger sucking. She talks about how she did certain things a "long long time ago, when I was 2 (or 3)".
- She has been asking to learn how to read for ages and we (by we, I mostly mean school!) have taken the plunge. She can read a good number of sight words and we are now working on sounding out words. One of her favorite games in the car is to have me go through the alphabet letter by letter and she will figure out a word that starts with that letter. The challenge is to think of a new word each time.
- I am impressed with her self-confidence. One day in the car, I kept mixing up her and Laurel. She told me that it was "ok that I got them confused and it was because they are both pretty". She has asked to play certain sports because she knows she is good at them. She doesn't hesitate to speak with the people around us and is always wanting to share some story with whoever will listen.
- She is NOT a morning person. It takes us forever to wake her up each morning and she will ask for just a few more minutes over and over and over and over again.
- She only wants to wear dresses these days. It is a battle to get her to wear anything else.
- She loves to see Laurel grow and develop and will come running down the hall to tell me what new word Laurel just said or what new skill Laurel just accomplished.
- Of course, four comes with some challenges and attitude that I am not quite prepared to deal with yet. She is always telling me, "I told you so". Her whining can get a little out of control. And I haven't yet figured out how to deal with the tattling.
- She has had some tough stuff to work through in the last couple months and she has handled it with more grace and understanding than I ever expected. Working through life and death concepts was not something I expected her to have to deal with at this young age. She is working through the loss of her beloved Uncle in her own time and she is slowing grasping what it means for him to be in Heaven and that we don't get to see him again. As time is passing, the emotional side of it is starting to set in and she talks about him alot. She says that she misses him and wishes he could be with us forever, she wishes that she could play with him again, she is sad that he didn't get to see all her new birthday toys. She says she thinks about him in her sleep. She talks about how much he loved her and that he is still in her heart. If she hears someone mention Heaven or God, she is quick to share that her Uncle Roy is there. It breaks my heart that this is something she has to deal with right now... but we are all doing what we can to get through it together. Her memories, her hugs and willingness to talk about him have been a comfort.
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