K is 4 1/2 Years Old!

K has been counting down the "sleeps" until her 4 1/2 birthday and just couldn't wait! Her bestie, Keaton has been 4 1/2 for a few months and she could not wait to tell him that she was now 4 1/2 as well. She didn't quite understand why we weren't having the party she wanted, or the cake, or the candles. She did get a very special date with Mama to the beach after school the next day, just the two of us!

Everyone keeps telling me that K is so tall, and strangers will ask if she's six years old!  Most of her clothes are size 6 or 6x, and she wears a size 13 shoe.  She still loves dresses to wear every day, and she has recently discovered skorts (the kind with the shorts underneath the skirt; not the weird shorts that try to look like a skirt!).  The only time she will wear pants or shorts is if underneath a dress.  She has to pick out her clothes every day, which sometimes requires major negotiations.  She really likes to wear her hair down, so I have to convince her to at least put in a barrette or headband so that we can see her beautiful face!  She still likes to play dress up, but I am happy to report that we no longer feel the need to wear princess dresses in public.  She is pretty into her new Elsa dress, of course.  Frozen is everywhere in her world right now.  Even B sings along to "Let It Go"!

K loves art, and it really doesn't matter what materials she's using.  She loves paint, markers, crayons, glue, scissors and any other random things that she can glue or paint.  I love that when I look at her pictures, I can recognize what she's trying to draw or paint.  It's a whole new world!  She brought home a picture from school a few weeks ago and told me that it was a talking flower from Alice and wonderland...and it looked just like one!

She also loves puzzles, mazes, and those workbooks with all types of games in them.  She is really getting good at writing most of her uppercase letters, and has started on the lowercase letters, too.  Her favorite words to write are her own name and B's name, which she can write from memory.  And she is often asking me how to spell words, so that she can write them down.  She LOVES to draw pictures and write words, and then put them in an envelope and send them to her friends by mail.  And she loves to receive mail, too!

During the school year, K took ballet lessons and swim lessons, and she recently started soccer.  She really seems to like ballet, and always tells me it was fun, but that she's tired and sweaty.  I really like the structure of the dress code: black leotard, pink tights, and a bun in her hair, just like it was when I started taking ballet lessons as a child.  K takes swim lessons year-round every Saturday.  It has become Dada's thing to take the kids on Saturday mornings to swim lessons, and then for some fun activity like mini-golf.  They all love their Saturday mornings together! Although it is quite a challenge to keep B out of the pool!  And I get to go the gym with some of my friends for a class, and then meet up with them after.  K was not super excited about soccer at first, and would often fight me to go.  But after a few weeks, and some practice with a ball and net at the beach, she is getting better and liking it more.  It helps that her coach is really fun and the kids love her!

This summer, K took a few weeks of summer school at her preschool, and also, two weeks of camp in a French-immersion program.  We are considering the program for elementary school, and thought that French camp would be a good way to try it out.  The first week of camp was only half-day and she made a new friend that she really likes.  The second week was full day, and proved to be a little more challenging.  It was 9 am to 4 pm with two snacks, lunch, and a rest time, and it was a really long day for K!  They told me that she cried a little after I dropped her off the first day, and by the second, it was full-blown tears at drop- off with her clinging to my leg.  What was interesting was that B walked right into the class and sat down in the circle with all of the kids.  It was really hard to say goodbye to K every morning, but I know that it was a good experience for both of us.  Although, she would tell me that it wasn't good, and the day was too long, I heard her tell a few people that she actually had fun!

She and I had a really special day at the beach together.  We played in the water, built sandcastles, and dug big holes in the sand.  Here is K sunbathing over one of our creations...

While I insist on the hat and rash guard, the skirt is all her!!!  She needs a skirt even at the beach!  K is all girl!

She's growing up so fast!  I get teary just thinking about it!  I love you, sweet girl!