Big Girl

Brooke is officially four and a half and almost finished with her second year of preschool. Where does the time go? I've mentioned this in previous posts, but in the last few months, she's become ALL girl. Like, 3 outfit changes a day, self-accessorizing, outfit-critiquing girl. She's also super-excited for Paige to grow up so she can be ALL girl with her. Brooke and I spent an afternoon shopping the other day and had fun picking out a couple of things for Paige. Maybe having two girls won't be quite as scary as I'd thought...

Our big challenge right now is the independence balance. She wants to be really independent in some things (playing with friends in the neighborhood) but not at all in others (buckling her seat belt - we've had the new car for about a month and I'm already SO tired of climbing back there to buckle her in). She's getting into picking out her own clothes and is getting good at dressing herself. She's also started to clean her room more independently. She loves to cook and bake and has really gotten into art work and writing letters.

"Mom, do you want to take my picture?"

Ready to go out on a lunch date with Grandpa Brian.

We had her parent-teacher conference at school a couple of weeks ago and the only check mark that she got for "needing improvement" was scissor skills. (Which, as an OT, is embarrassing for me.) They complimented Brooke on her imagination and commented on what good friends she and Kali are. We emphasized to her the importance of including everyone. We've also had to talk to her about not always being the one in control of the play scheme when playing. Maybe that's a common four-year-olds problem? She's definitely a leader and not very shy. She's also into "performances" lately - acting, singing, dancing...she doesn't discriminate.

Speaking of performances, here she is at the Mother's Day celebration at school. It was really fun to go and have some special time with her there.

She's really becoming her own person and it's so fun to see. She makes us laugh, asks good (and sometimes hard!) questions and challenges us as she pushes boundaries. She's incredibly special and we're so thankful she's ours!