Four!!!

It is hard to believe that my spunky little girl is already four years old!  She has made life SO fun and always keeps us guessing.  It has been such an experience to watch her personality grow and to realize how completely different she is than me.  Maya is so similar to me that I can usually figure out what she is thinking... Laurel, not so much.  It can be a bit challenging, but I am really learning to love the different perspectives.

Some of my favorite things about four year old Laurel:

- Her energy.  If she is going anywhere, she tends to run there.  She doesn't do well just sitting still and is known to pace around a room in circles.  Until she is tired.  Then it is like someone turned a switch and she refuses to take another step and wants to be carried.  That has made for some fun adventures (can you sense the sarcasm?).

- Our morning snuggles.  Laurel is an early riser and almost every morning she makes her way into our room, usually between 6:30 and 6:45.  Rey is typically at the gym so she climbs into bed with me and we spend some time together snuggling, checking out the weather forecast and chatting about the day to come.  It is probably my favorite time of the day.

- Her sense of humor.  She is constantly making us laugh with her make-believe play, her jokes and her stories.

- How thoughtful she is.  Her valentines day card for us said,  I love you because: - you pray for me at night time! - you read books to me! - you give me hugs and kisses! - you take me to do fun things! She really thinks through what she wants to say.

- She still loves her art, although has a streak of perfectionism that can sometimes make it challenging to complete a project.  We are working on understanding that not everything has be exactly perfect and it is a good thing when everything does things a little differently.

- She has quite the little temper and I have learned that sometimes it is best to give her a little time and space in order to work it out herself.