joie de vivre: 4.5

I've forgotten how much I love my kids at 4 years old! It is by far one of my favorite ages. I think 4 is the reward for surviving 2&3. Ha!

This is the first time that I've had a 4 year old without also having a toddler and it is the BEST! Charlotte and I truly have the best days. Sure, she can still be a lot of work. And, yes, it is still easier to do things by myself. But, it's not nearly as fun. I am determined to soak up every single moment of this year with my last one at home.

Charlotte is just too cute right now. She's still part baby but she's also part little girl. She has the cutest voice. It's tiny. And I love the way she says some words --- some of my favorites are "breaktfast" for "breakfast," wunch for lunch. She counts things by "sleeps" and loves babies. We take a baby doll with us most places. Her dolls are named "pink baby" "blue baby" and "sweet baby." I love that.

She plays by herself really really well. She can spend hours in our playroom with her dolls and her kitchen and just be in her own little world. Such sweetness. And, she is obsessed with cheer and cheerleaders. Even as I type this she is on her tumbling mat doing her own made-up cheers.

And, as far as tumbing goes....she is kinda amazing. She can do a front walkover, front handspring (on trampoline), back handspring (on trampoline), roundoff back handspring on the trampoline as well as cartwheels, etc. Yesterday they started working on back tucks (aka back flips) and she loved it! I forget when I see her out there in that class that she's only 4 -- she is holding her own in a class with 8-12 year olds. It's crazy!

She is such a good eater! She asks me at least 2 times a week for a "fruit lunch." I keep the fridge full of washed apples and grapes and she will just help herself to them. She loves cheese, yogurt, turkey, grapes, apples, oranges and pretzels. Those are her favorites. We try and do a LOT of calcium products since she is working so hard in gymnastics. She isn't a big sweet eater -- but she does like ice cream (vanilla) and skittles. :)

She is smart and can count to 100 and recognize each number too. She knows her letters and can write a handful of words by herself and write most works if I tell her how to spell them. She "writes" all the time -- I find notebooks filled with her writing and she loves to write on the white board and play school.

She loves to help me clean. She will take a spray bottle and clean all my baseboards and wipe down the doors for me every week.

She also LOVES games! Her favorites are mancala, uno and memory. She keeps them in a box and brings it out almost daily. She's also gotten to be a whiz at parcheesi.

Donuts before school MDO one morning. She is loving MDO one morning a week! And I love the sweet ladies that take care of her!

I promised her ice cream when she got her front walkover on the ground. I wish I'd recorded the look on her face the first time she did it -- it was like Christmas morning. She was excited/surprised/proud!

Miss priss.

I've been helping out in Harrison's classroom one morning a week this year. Charlotte goes with me and sits by me and does her "work" while I do reading groups. She loves to pass out papers and "help" me too!