This past weekend you turned 4, yet you really want to be 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 or maybe even 10 years old. Every day for the past several weeks you have told me what age follows after 4 and what exciting things you’ll do (like go to Kindergarten!). Don’t hurry to grow up so fast…stay little for as long as you can and enjoy swinging and riding your bike and dressing up like a princess. Every day for the last two weeks, you have worn a dress or a skirt with tights. Sometimes, we even get a dress and a skirt worn at the same time. You will often start your day in one outfit that you picked out all by yourself and by the time you go to bed, you will have changed at least three times. And people wonder why I am always doing laundry!
You are a story teller…you can meet someone for the first time and tell them a very descriptive explanation for why you are wearing your particular outfit or how you did a certain project. I love your imagination and your attention to
detail. Your vocabulary is unlike most others your age, yet you still have your desire for ASL (your ASL vocabulary is probably in the 75-100 range), which has come in handy translating for your sister. You love and care for your sister very much, so much that you will go to great lengths to protect her and help her: you’ll change her diaper or help put on her shoes, push her in the swing while singing her a song and, when you both are in good moods, you like to snuggle together. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of screaming and tears from you because she took something you wanted, after all, you are sisters.
You enjoy being busy and every morning ask “what are we doing today”. If I respond with “staying home”, you’ll usually respond back with something like “well, let’s go to the park or the aquarium or the museum.” For that reason, we are often on-the-go out exploring the world. Your favorite places are the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Children’s Discovery Museum, and the park. You enjoy special time with special people: lunch dates with Papa at Erik’s Deli or Aquarium trips with Daddy. You look forward to bike rides (in your new big bike!) and cannot wait until it’s warmer and we can ride every day to the park.
And on the days we do stay home, you keep yourself entertained with art projects, swinging in our new swing or with a video (Curious George and Clifford are your favorite). You love wor
king on the computer and are learning to type your name. You are fascinated with e-mails: you love to send them and when you get a response, it makes your day. You can spend hours playing with Emily, being a very caring mommy to her. You will load all of her belongs into a bag and drag it around with you throughout the day, from room to room, into the car and back into the house again. Even if we are just running an errand, it has become extremely important that we bring Emily, her filled bag, and usually her carrier and stroller. We often have more things for Emily in the car than we do for you or your sister!As for eating, you are adventurous, but only to a point. You still favor sweet things, like M&M’s, cinnamon rolls, and yogurt covered raisins. But you also love sushi, red meat, pasta (with a white-crème sauce on the side) and of course, milk. The fact that you can use chopsticks almost as well as most adults really impresses me.
On the night of your birthday as I was tucking you into bed, you asked to be rocked. You have not asked for this until just recently, since I have been rocking a lot more with Vanessa, it has become something that you enjoy now too. And you know what? I LOVE it too. You just lie in my arms and snuggle, just as you did nightly when you were a baby. And, for now, you are still little and fit in my arms. And just as I tell you every time I rock you, I’ll do it forever, no matter how big or old you get.
Happy Birthday Baby Girl! I love you to the moon and beyond.
Love,
Mommy