K is 4 Years Old!

I cannot believe it!  Our little girl is already 4 years old!  We go to the doctor for her check-up in a few weeks, so I don't have her stats yet, but she's growing like a weed!  She wears size 5 or 6 in everything, and a size 12 shoe.  And she's getting taller every day.  She's going to be as tall as me before I know it!

She happily goes to preschool 2 days a week, and loves to play with her friends.  Her favorite games at school are playing house, playing grocery store, and hopscotch.  Even on days when she's not in school, she's counting down the days, and wanting to go for a playdate with her friends.  She rides a big-girl bike with training wheels and her scooter.  She still loves to go to the park, swing, and play in the sand.

K loves princesses, and especially, the Disney Princesses.  Her favorites are Repunzel, Cinderella, and Aurora, and of course, Elsa and Anna from Frozen.  While at home, we will often find her cooking in her play kitchen for her kids and babies.  She loves to change their outfits, and especially loves to do hair, that of her baby dolls and her own.  She is way into braids these days!  She loves to play Legos, do puzzles, and color.  She recently started to write her letters, and loves to write her name.

K still takes a nap a few times per week.  She goes to school until 2, so she doesn't get a nap on school days and it wears her out!  When I pick her up, she will say, "Mama, school is really long!" or "Mama, I'm really tired!"  She usually goes to bed around 7 or 7:30, and sleeps until 6:30 or 7 in the morning.  While she sleeps through the night most nights, she sometimes has nightmares and wants Mama or Dada to come and cuddle with her to go back to sleep.  I know her imagination is going wild and developing so rapidly from both her pretend-play, and from the questions she will ask.  Lately, she is very inquisitive about how the doctor gets the baby out of the mama's belly!  I get a little overwhelmed in trying to answer these questions!

And some of the things she says are just priceless!  I want to record every moment!  Each night, we eat dinner, take a bath, and then, if she has been good, she gets to watch "A l'il-bit-a-tv," and she says it just like that, like it's one word.  On Thursdays after school, we go next door to her school for ice cream with her friends and they all sit outside and eat their ice cream bars from the cooler at this little lunch place. Every school day, without fail, K asks at pick-up, "Can we get POCK-si-bulls with my friends?" POCK-si-bulls, meaning popsicles....I love it! While she used to say, "Mama, hode you!" when she wanted to be held, it has evolved to, "Mama, I want to be hold!"  It still melts my heart and I eat it up! And whenever she's using a verb in the past tense, she adds an extra "ed" on the end, but it sounds like "id", like "Baby Brudder messed-id it up!"  And even though she knows the days of the week, and pretty much knows our usual schedule for those days, she still asks, "Mama, what are we doing tomorrow?...after tomorrow?...after, after tomorrow?"  She also still thinks that after nap is morning tomorrow.  Patrick likes to remind me of this when I'm worrying about her understanding of things that she doesn't need to know yet (see above about the baby and the mama's belly).

Unfortunately, K caught a nasty cold and cough the week of her birthday, so she wasn't able to go to school or anything that week, and she was so bummed!  She had been counting down the days until her "school birthday," so much so that we had to make a paper chain to tear away each day until THE day.  We tried to make her birthday special at home...

 And she's off....tearing the ribbons and paper!

 B got her a new outfit for our upcoming trip!  In lieu of a birthday party this year, we're going to Disneyland!!!!

 Her big present from Mama and Dada was a new Leappad, and she was super excited about it!  She called it her very own iPad!

 Auntie Lauren sent her a new American Girl doll!

 And Mimi and Grandpa Bill got her a salon chair and accessories, so that she can fix all of her babies' hair!

 Despite our germs, Keaton and WyWy met us at the park on K's birthday!  There was no one that K wanted to see more for her big day, and they had the best time!

 They even gave her a cool new Yo Baby...a skateboard that you can learn on at home on the carpet!

 B had a great time at the park, too!  We were all going a little stir crazy, so it was nice to be out of the house.  And so great to have Mimi's help with the kiddos!

 K wanted a cake this year with sprinkles, so that's what she got.  We lit the candles and sang to her, even though she was a little embarrassed.

 4 years old!

 B wanted in on the action, too!

K is such a big girl and we are so proud of the young lady she is becoming!  These past 4 years have gone by way to fast!  We love you, precious girl!