Four years old! There aren't enough words in the world to express how much this girl is loved. It's a frequent occasion that I will watch her doing something she just learned, or listen to her saying something so sweet, and my heart fills with such an abundance of love that it feels like it's going to burst. (I know that sounds ridiculous - but this girl... she honestly makes my heart burst.) I love her so much. She's kind, she knows what she wants, she tells me how she feels, she loves her little brother, she dresses herself and she's really good at talking her way into (or out of) something. She's the best.
Official Stats:
Weight: 36.4 lbs (62%)
Height: 39.5 in (45%)
Size 4T pants & 5T shirts (for the length). Size 7 shoes.
I have a thousand things to say about this girl, but I didn't write nearly enough down throughout the year (what happened to my 3.5 post? I don't know...) so most of it is recent memories accurate of her right now. But when I look back at pictures of the newly-three Lydia, it just makes me smile. Every day I can see more and more the beautiful woman that she will become. She looks so big to me right now, but I know that there will be a day that she will look back at these pictures and we will talk about how darling she was when she was four. I only hope that she will know then, as much as now, how much she is loved.
Some things I want to remember:
--She's really good at sharing, specifically sharing her food. Even if she only has a couple pieces of candy, she will share with you if you ask - and even a lot of times that you don't ask.
--She really likes music and singing. We got a CD player and she loves to switch her music CDs in and out. She can sing the songs along with the music and loves it all.
--Her new favorite show is Paw Patrol. It's a show about little dogs (pups) that work together in a team to save the day. It's actually pretty cute - and they have a good mix between boy and girl pups and I like that. Henry is the one that started watching it and talking about it and Lydia jumped on that bandwagon so fast. Now she legitimately loves it.
--She picks out her clothes every day. Every day. The only way I can get her to wear something I want her to wear is to give her two options to pick from, then recommend the one that I don't want - and hope that she picks the one that I want. This is literally the only way that I can get her into something I want her to wear. Oh, and bribery. That works sometimes, too. Most of the time though - I just let her pick what she wants. I think it's good for her to be independent and have a say in what she is wearing, so I only fight the battle when it really matters to me.
--Other people talk about their "three-nager", and I've never really felt that way. I mean, being three comes with a lot of new (and big) emotions and it's not always easy to handle that. But she's not bratty or sassy. She's really kind and has a huge heart. We've been working on using our words (both of us) and she's getting better and she's eternally patient with me.
--You know when she's really excited about something because she shouts "Yay-hoo!" That's reserved for when she's particularly thrilled about something.
--Sometimes during a conversation she'll ask a question then say, "Oh, I got confused." It's pronounced really well, but it's the sweetest voice "confuuused."
--For a while she was telling everyone that we were going to have three new babies. People would always look at me with wide eyes, and finally I realized that instead of jumping in with embarrassment, all I needed to do was prompt her to tell them what she was going to name them. "Their names are going to be Lydia, and Austin, and Mommy!" People laughed, and it was enough to explain that she was just being silly.
--She says "Danks Mom" over the sweetest things. Making her lunch. Helping her get her coat on. Getting her a tissue. It makes me want to do all the nice things in the world for her just to hear those sweet sweet words of appreciation.
--She loves quarters. If I want to bribe her to do something, I usually just have to offer a quarter as a reward. She helps me put her laundry away, wipes down the bathtub, or other random chores I need help with at the moment. Most of the time she carries it around and then loses it/forgets about it - so I don't actually end up paying so much money because I reuse the quarters, but I just have to make sure that I have one in the car for when we are at the store and she says, "Oh no! Mom! I forgot my quarter at home!" And I can pull it out of my pocket like the hero of the day and let her buy some candy out of the machines at the front of the store. (Her favorites are the candy dog-bones. She experimented with a gumball once or twice, but she just really likes those candy bones.)
--As she's gotten older she's started to hate having her hair done. After much tears and screaming every single day - we gave her a super short bob and that worked like a charm. We just had to comb through it, but not much of anything else. Now that it's getting longer I've started putting a rubber band at the front for her bangs and it's starting to be a battle again. The other day she asked if we could cut it again so that we only had to "comb it" not "do it". It actually works pretty well, in that I don't make her do her hair most days and then on the days that I really want it to look special I'm mostly able to convince her to let me do it. (Give and take, right?)
--She can be incredibly stubborn, just wanting to get it done herself. But she's also incredibly kind and thoughtful. I'm grateful to be raising a daughter like her.
--When you ask her what her favorite color is she says "All the colors!" Which is pretty true.
----Asks Austin "Do you want to come play?"
--Sometimes she gets upset and has figured out that she just needs some alone time before she can feel better. She storms off into the front room saying "I just want to be alone." And after a while of cooling down, she comes back happy to play again. It seems to work well to give her her space so she can work through the emotions.
--She loves to play "chase the monster" with anyone, but especially her Daddy. The game consists of chasing her around the main level of our home (into the living room, around the coffee table, back to the family room, into the kitchen, around the island, and repeat). I love that it's called "chase the monster" because you aren't chasing a monster, you are the monster who is chasing Lydia. She recently the game has been upgraded and she carries a bucket of balls and throws them behind her as a distraction and you have to find them/catch them before you can keep chasing her. Her rules.
--She comes into Austin's room at night when we are putting him to bed and sings him a lullaby. It's sweet.
--She loves to play "chase the monster" with anyone, but especially her Daddy. The game consists of chasing her around the main level of our home (into the living room, around the coffee table, back to the family room, into the kitchen, around the island, and repeat). I love that it's called "chase the monster" because you aren't chasing a monster, you are the monster who is chasing Lydia. She recently the game has been upgraded and she carries a bucket of balls and throws them behind her as a distraction and you have to find them/catch them before you can keep chasing her. Her rules.
--She comes into Austin's room at night when we are putting him to bed and sings him a lullaby. It's sweet.
--She has the ability to make me more frustrated than anyone or anything else in the world. She also has the ability to make my heart feel like it's going to burst with love at any given second. Those two things might also happen only minutes apart from each other. But with all the frustration, I would never trade it - not one second of it - because of how much better my life is with her in it.
Some pictures of Lydia from this past year:
Happy Birthday Lydia-girl. Four years old is going to be great.
(Update: Almost as soon as her birthday was over, she's started telling people that she's "almost five". And talks about being five all the time. Slow down sweet girl! I want to savor this year before jumping to the next. (But really, it's so sweet and funny.)
