It's Her Party, She'll Swim If She Wants To

One evening, a very new mother held her newborn daughter close


and very slowly rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
And while she rocked her she sang:

Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you
And all the things you do
And they were all yellow*

That baby grew.  Grew and grew and grew until she was four year's old, always wanted to read a book, always played imaginative games with her brother, and never wanted to go to bed.

But at night time, that mother would sneak into her room and if that 4-year old was really asleep, she'd pick her up and very slowly rock her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked her she sang:

Your skin
oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn in -
to something beautiful
you know
you know I love you so
you know I love you so

And even though her mom is over one month late in posting about her birthday, she is still shocked that her first born is now a preschooler.  A good shocked.

*Coldplay's Yellow (Emily's Song)

*****

The Party

Emily was quite lucky to have 3 of her grandparents in town for her birthday.  We decided to throw a party at her grandpa's hotel pool.  It was awesome!  She did her favorite activity - swam!  Plus we had pizza and a delicious Coldstone ice cream cake.  Hooray!

Her grandparents gave her all sorts of splendid gifts:

• doll clothes
• barbies (with clothes and accessories)
• kids' cook ware
• princess dresses and accessories
• a princess tent (!)
• clothes
• and so much more!

We all really enjoyed the party.  It was just perfect.

(These are the photos from the party.)

The Play

But that wasn't all.  Ben and I didn't give her a gift, instead we got her tickets to...



Yay!!

She had a special daddy daughter date to this play the weekend following her birthday.  It was fantastic!  Since she and Andrew basically have all the songs memorized from the movie, she was ecstatic about seeing it IN REAL LIFE.

Although Ben did not snap any photos, I can promise that she had the best time.  She is still telling me little details from that day.

The Girl

Emily is so big.  SO big.  I am not sure if I could adequately describes her right now, but I'll try.

What she likes to do:

• Play dress-up, whether it's in my clothes, her clothes, her old clothes, her sister's clothes, her brother's clothes, and everything in between.  
• Play princesses.  She must have 10 dresses right now (and we are okay with adding more).
• Draw all sorts of pictures.  She is quite talented at capturing my features. :)
• Color in coloring books.
• Spell.  She even has a song:  "I love to spell!  S-P-E-L-L!"
• Write.  She knows how to write her name and is working on various other letters.
• Read.  She has quite a few books memorized.  She knows that the letters on the pages make words and will often point to them and ask me to read them.
• Jump.  On the couch.  On the bed.  On chairs.  Off the stairs.  Everywhere.
• Watch movies.  Her favorites are all the Disney movies we have right now - Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Lady and the Tramp, The Princess and the Frog and Mulan.  (If you would like to donate to our collection, please do! ;-) )
• Play games with Andrew.
• Help with her sister: holding her, helping giver her a bath, help in getting her dressed, etc.

What She Doesn't Like to do:

• Go to bed.  Seriously.  She could stay up until midnight every night.  
• Wear clothes that Ben or I choose.
• Eat dinner - unless it's cheerios, peanut butter or cheese sandwiches, and her other favorite foods.  

What She Does (Mostly) By Herself

• Brush her teeth
• Bathe using a loofa
• Get dressed
• Get undressed
• Pour her own cereal, milk, juice, etc
• Clean up her toys

Other Developmental Milestones

• Talks things out with Ben and I if she is angry, sad, frustrated, or whatever
• Can do simple arithmetic (how many toys do you have now?  What if I take away one?)
• Started preschool
• Sounds out words
• Spells words
• Knows all the letters and their sounds
• Learning to tell time
• Rhymes with everything!  Nonsensical and real words
• Makes up her own songs
• Has her favorite songs memorized
• Has formed quite a few lasting friendships (Journey, Azariah, Simone to name a few buddies)
• Rarely wets the bed (though the potty training this is, um, on hold, kind of)
• Speaks using grammatically correct sentences (correct pronouns, verbs, tenses, etc)

I must say that since becoming 4, she has turned into quite a charming, sweet child (not that she wasn't that before, she was just very busy and 2-ish).

While I am still a bit shocked that she is 4, I have loved this past year and I still love watching her grow.