You're FOUR! The last six months you have really grown both physically and emotionally. You're fits and difficulties have calmed down a lot. Three was a hard year. You struggled also with adding little brother to the family and losing the attention of an only child. You were very excited to turn FOUR and are very pleased with your age.
Your thought processes have blossomed tremendously the last six months. You now know pretty much all of your letters and are getting very good at writing them. Words and diction are fascinating to you and you question Mama and Daddy relentlessly about what words mean and how to use them correctly. When Mama corrects you, you remember! For example, you were big time into using "yeah" and Mama told you - that's not a word, just say "yes!" You now correct Mama when I say "yeah" :-) You still sass Mama sometimes - you recently told me: "Let me live my life!" when I told you to get down from the window sill.
You also are quite interested in food and eat pretty well! You're often willing to try pretty much anything once. You tried oysters this year though, and decided that can go on the list with beets - not your favorite. You still mainly love fruit, Mexican food, dumplings and noodles, and rice. Pretty much kid staples for you! You like going to restaurants and enjoy the experience of ordering and having food brought to you - which you replicate at home with your kitchen by taking Mama and Daddy's orders and delivering food to us. We had to teach you a lesson one weekend though when you questioned why we were eating dinner at home, given that we had already had breakfast and lunch at home!?!? Spoiled kid!
You've been really busy the last six months. You have been working on your swimming skills and have done a lot of lessons with your swim instructor, Temple. You've really improved quite a bit and I think you'll be ready for some swimming this summer! Mama and you also went to your first movie in a movie theater! We went to see Frozen II and it was quite an event. You really loved it. We got candy and popcorn and got to sit in fancy recliner seats. We also went bowling for the first time. You had some trouble holding the heavy ball, but overall really enjoyed the experience. We also saw Disney on Ice in December and it was one of the highlights of your year, for sure. It brought a tear to both Mama and Daddy's eyes seeing how focused you were on the whole show and how excited you were.
One of your favorite things to do now is to engage in deep narrative stories with your dolls and your barbies. You love to both re-create movies and TV shows and to create new stories. Daddy is very good at your doll play with you - Mama, less so. When Mama plays doll stories with you, there somehow always ends up being a violent fight at the end. With Daddy, you go on for hours with ongoing stories of marriage, betrayal, medical emergencies etc. You are certain to request that Daddy play dolls with you as your first request. Mama is your go to for other things though - you love cooking with me, gardening, doing crafts, and exercising. We have been going on a lot of family walks around our neighborhood and going hiking when the weather is nice. You love to check out nature and instruct us on the hike the entire time. You also love having a camp fire with Daddy outside and roasting marshmallows. Daddy has promised you a camping trip soon - and has some gear purchased!
I am pretty certain you got Mama's chattiness. You rarely are quiet. Strangely, sometimes you get very shy and quiet and we see Daddy in you. But most of the time you are talking, singing, managing everyone - including Scott and Kala, and making sure everyone knows what is going on at all times. You still love playing with your cousins, Katie and Clara, and Grammy and Pa are also two of your other favorite people. You could spend hours playing in the yard with your cousins, or having a tea party with Grammy.
You were VERY into Halloween and Christmas this year. You absolutely love the idea of and execution of any holiday. It is something I think that you get from Mama. You were very interested in decorating for the holidays and getting the Christmas tree this year, though you did not have the endurance to get all the ornaments on. The Elf on the Shelf, Snowflake was another favorite and Mama also made you a really cool prize based nativity calendar. You got too excited about that though, and would wake up early to get your prize so Daddy was not a fan!
Sadly, your fourth birthday party had to be cancelled due to the world-wide Coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic. Right before your birthday, everyone started quarantining (see my other post for more details). You took the birthday cancellation well. We were still able to have a small party with our family and extended family at home. And you got LOTS of cake. Hopefully by the time your fifth birthday rolls around you will be able to have a real blow out!
Since the COVID-19 quarantine has loosened, you have gone back to school after a two month haiitus. You are much happier being at school than with Mama 24/7 while I was working at home. You're still in Ms. Fisher's class and will likely be moving up to pre-K in the Fall. We are still undecided on where you'll go to Kindergarten next year, but we have time.
Mainly, you've been a great kid and a wonderful big sister to Scott. You dote on him, bring him toys, help Mama with his bottles and diapers, and are just generally concerned for his happiness. It's great to see you in that role. We can't wait to see what the next year brings for you, our sweet Miss Dot <3
Love,
Mama
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