at 4 years...

Time to check in with my quarterly stats, folks, as this blog serves somewhat as my baby "book." Time is flying by WAY too fast, and this post is to help document some of the more memorable things about life during these days...

At 4 years old:

• I have been reading for several months now, but boy, I'm getting better each day! (this is waaaay early, while most kids at this age are recognizing letters & may be able to tell you a few sounds they make) Books have always been a first love of mine, and I'm curled up in them during my roomtime for an hour a day, (since naptime is a thing of the past) so I guess it's no wonder I'm figuring out new words on my own each day.

• I can count to 100!! (this is also early.)

• I'm also writing almost all of my capital letters & some lower case letters, too. (also early) I'm writing out words on paper like "MOMMY DADDY CAROLINE" and the other day I wanted to write out "We wish you a merry Christmas." (who cares if it's March, right?) Can you tell I'm an extremely smart little gal for my age?

• I'd do anything to be a grown up. It's my number one goal in life to be like Mommy, so I'm bent and determined to learn and watch everything she does to hurry up the process. (much to Mommy's pleas to enjoy being a kid!) What most kids don't notice or care about, I do.

• Other words to describe me at this age would be: confident, leader, assertive, perceptive, observant, concerned, musical, thoughtful, sweet, enforcer, verbal, strong, helper, active, athletic, energetic, focused, caring, mature. (please notice we substituted multiple other words for "bossy." :) Mostly likely a blog post on that topic later...)

• I'm telling everyone I got my ears "pierced," but what that really means is that I got some cute little magnetic earrings for my birthday! Mommy says whenever I want to get my ears truly pierced, I can. But since that would hurt, for now, I'm sticking with these. :)

• I may not have any hair, but I'm as girly as they come! I still LOOOOOVE high heels, I insist on wearing skirts & tights EVERY DAY, and I like putting on different headbands and jewelry and dresses. (I'm also currently terrified/disturbed when bugs are in our house.) The other day Mommy had to take away all of my dress up shoes as a consequence and it was the worst thing you could've done to me...

• Speaking of having no hair, I don't really like it. But you'd only know that if you asked me since I don't even talk about it. I love life! Strangers think I'm the happiest girl ever, and I am. When I draw stick figures of our family, sometimes I'll draw myself with a hat on. Other times I'll draw myself with hair, (ahem) "like I'm gonna have when I'm a grown up."

• Australia is on my mind! I talk about it quite a bit. I watched a movie about it, and it made me a little nervous that Mommy & Daddy might take me to the part of Australia where these scary people would paint my face funny. Mommy & Daddy keep reassuring me they won't take me to the aborigines. :)

• My interest in Australia has also peaked my interest in the PLANETS! I love to read library books about the planets and learn all about each one. I always tell Mommy & Daddy, "Do you know how much I love you? All the way to Pluto and Mars and Australia and back!"

• I'm also quite the musical little gal, too. I just learned my "do, re, mi"s, and now my favorite song that I'm singing all the time (in Julie Andrew's british accent, of course!) is "Do, a deer, a female deer..." from The Sound of Music. (Mommy's sensing the need to buy the movie very soon...)

• As an RUF kid, I LOVE having students over in our home each Sunday night for small group. It's a pretty nice arrangement because I think they like me alot, too. :) Hmmm, maybe that's why I always seem to be 4 going on 19....

• Now that I'm 4, I have definite opinions and I know how things are "supposed" to go. So when they don't go as I planned or how I'd like them to go, I do not handle that so well. (neither does Mommy, but at least Mommy knows not to mouth off, scream "NO!!!!", break into hysterics, or run frantically to her room & shut the door behind her...)

• I'm 4 and I still drink water at every meal. It's by far the best thing to drink, and it's what I've always been given at home with meals since I was 2. I've never put up a single fuss about it, which makes it so easy to keep doing in our house. (we don't claim to think this would work in every house!) So the other day when Mommy got me a milk with my kids' meal at Chic Fil A the other day, I honestly asked her, "Mommy, did I get a milk because they were out of water here?" (ha ha!! Sad, isn't it?) :)

• Yesterday I went to my 2nd wedding, where I watched our RUF student get married! I LOVED Kirsten's beautiful wedding dress, and as soon as she walked into the room at her reception & everyone else quieted down in the room, I yelled out across the room, "KIRSTEN! I LOVE YOU!" (no social anxiety here....)

• I'm still loving preschool 2 mornings a week and am excited to go 3 mornings a week next year before I go to kindergarten.

• Favorite things to do right now (besides going to school & reading & singing): being chased, kicking a soccer ball back & forth, running, going to a playground, playing imaginatively with someone or by myself, being tickled or "wrestled," going to church, painting, and doing a craft.

• There's no doubt I love my Daddy!

• I got these books for my birthday, and since then I am LOVING the stories of the Bible. I act them out quite dramatically in my room. Mommy also hears me talking to God & telling Him thank you for everything He made quite often. "Mommy, I think God is like A HUNDRED years old!" :)

• I'm MUCH more independent as a 4 year old, too. We've FINALLY reached the days where I can open the car door, hop into my car seat, and buckle my own seat belt, too!! (celebration!!!) Other jobs I have are setting the table, brushing my teeth, fixing our drinks, taking my dishes to the dishwasher, picking up, washing my face, etc. I LOVE to have responsibility and jobs, so bring 'em on. (as long as they're jobs I like, of course. And as long as I'm not doing something that I want to do...you get the picture...)

Being 4 is a dream come true for me.

(and YOU, Caroline, are a dream come true for us.)