Wendy Lou is FOUR

My baby girl is FOUR years old! There's a part of me that can't believe it, but there's another party that thinks, "Oh, wait... you're only four? I feel like I'm talking to a teenager right now." And can you tell she's a little excited to be four now? She's been checking all the tags on her clothes to make sure they're size 4T... 'cuz, you know, she wouldn't want to be seen walking around in BABY clothes.

 

Her (current) favorite princess, Rapunzel, has been put on hold for a minute to make room for her new obsession... Hello Kitty. "Mom, I just want Hello Kitty everything! (counting on her fingers) Hello Kitty clothes, Hello Kitty bathtub, Hello Kitty make-up, Hello Kitty toothbrush, Hello Kitty kitchen... can you tell the guys (AKA construction workers remodeling our kitchen... more on that later) to make it a Hello Kitty kitchen? Can they make it pink with red polka dots? Can you do that for me?" No sweetheart. I cannot do that for you. But I CAN throw you a Hello Kitty party.

*pin the bow on Hello Kitty

*this girl is not messing around! she wants some candy! she even pulled out the williams under-bite!

Some of the little things I want to remember forever about the 4 year old Wendy:

•  Her favorite game is tag, or "Try to get me." I can chase her in circles around the tree in our front yard, or around the kitchen island all day and she never stops giggling. When I catch her, I pick her up and spin her around until we're both dizzy. Sometimes I get a little tired of this game, but then I realize it won't be long before she wants me to leave her alone and then I'm not so tired of it anymore.
• I've been trying really hard to go on a "Mommy-Wendy Date" on the first weekend of each month. I love it. Her favorite one so far has been our Saturday morning trip to Chuck-E-Cheese. Did you know if you're the first one there in the morning, every single game has tons of tickets hanging out of it from when they re-stocked the night before?? That girl made out like a bandit.
• I still think she's the most brilliant little girl. She just turned four and she can sound out how to spell, do simple addition, subtraction, and remembers every tiny detail about things I've long since forgotten.
• She has an imaginary friend... sort of. It's her imaginary older sister named "Kristen." Kristen is always either 15 years old or  6 years old. I did a little investigating and found out that there is an "older" girl named Kristen on Barney (Wendy has discovered the purple dinosaur on Netflix and cannot get enough).
• She is SO SWEET to her baby brother. She makes him crack up all the time and she likes to hold hands with him in across carseats in the car. When my father-in-law jokingly tells him, "Harvey, you don't do anything! When are you gonna do something?" She gets very defensive and starts listing off his baby tricks, "Yes he does, he can sit up! And he can wave! He can pick up his own food..."
• I really look forward to picking Wendy up from school twice a week. When I get there and wait in line behind the glass door to her classroom, I watch her class walk in from recess in a single file line to sit on the carpet and get ready for their parents to come pick them up. She always looks to see if I'm there, then she always gets a huge smile on her face and gives me a very animated wave. Lately, she's also been holding up her pinky, pointer finger, and thumb to say "I love you!" after the wave. Sometimes she'll try to tell me something, but I can't hear through the glass so I just give her a thumbs up. If any parent is in line in front of me they look back to see who this cute little girl is so excited to see. Then when the door opens she always runs to me with open arms saying, "Mommmmyyyyyy!!" I sigh. She does love me. This is one of my favorite moments every week. Even though I usually have to wake Harvey up early from his morning nap to go pick her up, I wouldn't miss it for anything.