Lydia at age 4.5 is talkative, imaginative, emotional, caring, energetic, and very funny. I came across this picture at my inlaws house on their computer, and I can hardly believe that that tiny girl has...
... has turned into this darling little ball of spunk. Oh how I love her. She makes me so frustrated sometimes when she digs in her heels about something, but it's incredible how quickly that melts away as soon as she does something sweet, or funny, or kind, or really anything. She can make my heart melt into a big puddle of mama-love with just a few words/actions.
The last six months have been full of adventures together. Through it all she has been the best big sister I could ever imagine. She loves Austin and treats him as though he's her best friend, all the while taking care of him at every turn. I've loved watching their relationship develop into a true friendship.
--She's got such an adventurous spirit. She love to explore, to play, to climb on things, and she has such a love of life. She loves to ride her bike, to go to the park, to go swimming, and she does all those things with gusto.
--She says "You got it!" instead of "Okay." Of all the things that she says, I wish that I could save this one thing and have her say it for the rest of her life. (For example, Me: "Lydia will you please go wash your hands?" Her: "You got it, mom!" I love it! The other thing that she says right now that melts my heart more than anything is when I tell her that I love her, she says "I love you thirty much!" Which seems, to her sweet 4 year old self, to be the most that someone could love another person. I'll respond and tell her that I love her thirty-one much (or maybe fifty much, or some bigger number) and she'll respond copying the number that I said "I love you thirty-one much, too!" I love this about her.
--She loves her dad and often blocks his way when he tries to leave for work in the morning, begging him to stay home. It's no wonder that she loves him so much, because he adores her and he plays with her pretty much every minute that he's home. Some of her favorite games are: "Chase the Monster", which involves him chasing her (and Austin) all around the house - from the kitchen, through the family room, down the hall, into the living room, around the coffee table, back down the hall, through the family room, and around the kitchen island where they start all over. "Tacos" where David rolls her and Austin up in a blanket like a taco, then pulls the end to roll them back out. And, she loves to build with David. She's really very good at building with our Magnet Tiles on her own, but she loves to build them with David. And building forts, towers, etc... Mostly she just loves being with him.
--In September, it was time for Lydia to start preschool. (Can't believe that she'll be in Kindergarten next year.) I had done a lot of research into preschools and just wasn't feeling great about any of them. I finally found a Gymnastics Preschool that I had been feeling good about, but when it came time to enroll her, I felt like three days a week was too many. So instead, we enrolled her in Upstart, which is an online preschool where she works on the computer for 15 minutes a day instead of going to a formal preschool for 9 hours a week. It has been perfect for us! She gets plenty of "social" interaction with all of the kids that I babysit every week, and she's been learning so much. I'm amazed when we are talking about something and all the sudden she's like, if you have 2 and you have 3... that makes 5! She's definitely picking up on the pre-reading and pre-math skills, and she enjoys it a lot. However, we wanted to do something extra for her because we weren't enrolling her in an actual preschool and we decided to put her in a once-a-week Gymnastics class. She has loved it! Between the Upstart preschool on the computer, and the gymnastics class on Monday mornings, we've found a really great routine for her right now.
--We've started reading chapter books to Lydia at night and it has been such a fun thing. Bedtime has been a little more difficult as of late, but as soon as we started reading chapter books it's gotten a lot easier for her to calm down at night. Particularly, chapter books that I download onto my phone. We turn out the lights and cuddle up and I read the words while she turns the pages and looks at the occasional picture. Some of our favorites have been "The Mouse and the Motorcycle", "James and the Giant Peach" and one of the "Cam Jensen" books. I can't wait to read Pippy Longstocking with her. I don't remember ever really reading the Little House on the Prairie Books, but I've heard such great things - they are next up on my list. It's been a really nice bonding thing for us.
--Some things that she loves right now:
-A lot of days we draw a "list" for our day. It's kind of a game-plan for what we're going to do that day. Most days it has things like "1-breakfast, 2-preschool, 3-play with toys while mom does laundry, 4-lunch, etc.." I write the number with a circle around it and draw a little picture so Lydia has an idea of what we're going to be doing that day. She loves it. David hadn't really seen what we'd been doing, but one day he was home in the morning and Lydia asked him to draw the list for her. When I saw it, I was so impressed! Both with David's artistic skills (my lists don't look anywhere as nice as this), but also with Lydia's ability to explain what the list was supposed to look like and have David execute it so well.
-Paw Patrol. It's this TV show about a group of dogs/pups who work together to save the day. It's a cute show, and although I've tried not to let it take over everything that she likes - we've bought her a few of the pups and she uses her imagination and plays with them pretty much all day long.
-Playing with water in the sink. In the picture below she's "washing" one her her pups (Zuma, who she was for Halloween), but she and Austin could spend an hour just sitting in front of the sink playing with the water. It's kind of a problem (water everywhere- plus wasting water), but sometimes it's worth it - for a little while at least.
-Hot Buttered Toast. This is one of the funniest things, but months ago we read a beginning chapter book about Mercy the Pig who loves to eat hot buttered toast. Lydia has adopted that into her identity as a person and she loves "hot buttered toast". She likes to eat it for breakfast, for a snack, and even has been known to prefer hot buttered toast to a treat like hot chocolate. She asks for it frequently, and always by the full name. It's not just regular toast - no sir. Hot buttered toast for us.
-Taking pictures with Lydia is pretty much an aerobic activity. For every one picture I have of her standing still (looking at the camera is a bonus) I have 17 more of her jumping, bending, leaning, etc...
-I babysit pretty much all day on Tuesday and Thursday. The Cooper kids in the morning, who we all love. And then two six-year olds after they get home from school in the afternoon. Lydia loves these kids. She think's they are so cool and pretty much wants to be just like them.
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--Life with this girl is so, so good.
Darling Lydia - we love you so much! There's no way that I will ever be able to record all of the things I love about you. I love where we are at right now and I'm excited to spend the rest of my life watching you learn, grow, and enjoy life. Happy 4.5!
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