Four
Our Heidi-rooster turned four this month, and is just as cheerful, loud, and loving as ever. We have had such a fun month with this kid. Karl and I each got to have a turn being Heidi's Most Favorite Person, which is an awesome status when Heidi's in a good mood. She has been playing more independently and going along with the big girls more often. Hooray for no-more-threenager!
Heidi is in a major Daddy's-girl phase for the last few weeks. This always happens when we go on vacation: she realizes Karl is actually way cooler than I am and falls in love with him, only to be soul-crushingly sad when he goes back to work on Monday. She has been tagging along with the boys to Henry's hockey practices and always picks running errands with Dad over staying home with me. Karl has been reading The Hobbit to her and she follows with rapt attention. She loves epic stories just like Henry did at this age and knows exactly what's going to happen when they watch the movie. Reading long books aloud is definitely Karl's territory, so they should have a lovely literary year together.
I also had a fantastic January with Heidi thanks to an impromptu trip to Disney World. Three days with just Heidi and no siblings to battle and nothing to be anxious about -- she was the BEST. I would never have thought she was capable of being endlessly cheerful, good-natured, eager, whine-free, and willing to walk miles upon miles. I'll photo dump that trip in another post, but it might be my favorite Heidi experience of her whole life.
Though she has mellowed out considerably in the past year, she still freaks out about tiny things. Her stress always manifests in 1) great volume and 2) the rending of garments. At this very moment she and Ingrid are arguing about some character in a movie and Heidi storms out while wailing loudly and yanking her skirt fabric through her fist.
School has been going well. Her new teacher seems to bring out the best in Heidi, so she is busy and focused all morning long. Heidi tells me all about what the other kids are doing but mysteriously never remembers her own work, but I'm pretty sure she's working on counting and adding into the teens, sandpaper letters, and hand-sewing. She loves to play the rhyming game, just like Henry did at this age, so she is definitely primed to hear letter sounds and start making words. At home, she loves to color, look at books, do puzzles, write long "stories" with semi-recognizable letters, and cook with me. Karl likes to do math with her at bedtime by having her add up fingers from two hands.
She just finished her first session of gymnastics and it was great! After twelve weeks of tagging along to Ingrid's class and spending 55 minutes crawling all over me and whining, she finally agreed to go to the super-fun-looking gym with the other preschoolers. Lo and behold, it's super fun! She pays close attention to her coaches and works really hard on all the skills and obstacles. Watching her bounce and leap is super fun because she does everything with such exuberance.
We also tried skating lessons. Alas, she despised them. Even though she was surprisingly good at it. She would remain upright and move around pretty competently while continuously weeping for the whole half hour. I made her go three times before letting her quit. Oh, well. Maybe next winter.
Heidi loves to dress up and sometimes changes her clothes multiple times a day (hear that sound? It's my mother laughing at karma's justice.). She loves the costume jewelry from Aunt Amy and often goes to school with great big rhinestone clip earrings and necklaces. We also got an eyeshadow palette from the $1 bin at Target, which has led to hours of carefully applying eyeshadow, first a phase of bright teal on her eyelids, followed by a phase of black shadow, inexplicably applied in her eyebrows. Cutest little Groucho Marx ever.
Turning four was a BIG milestone in Heidi's mind, and she counted down to her birthday with great anticipation. She totally gets the birthday thing, from the breakfast traditions to the planning of the friend party, so we had a great time planning this one together.
Heidi decided even before our Disney trip that she wanted a Cinderella birthday party. So, in what may be the single most ridiculous party we've ever hosted, I paid Cinderella to come to our house and entertain 20 little girls. She obviously has extensive experience managing a large household. Those little girls dutifully moved from activity to activity and were mesmerized the whole time. At one point they were all sitting quietly, coloring or getting their little faces painted, and Karl's mom said, "This never happened at birthday parties in our house." The contrast between this party and the last birthday party held in our home was almost comical.
Happy birthday, tiny sprite. I can't wait to see what four holds for you.
I also had a fantastic January with Heidi thanks to an impromptu trip to Disney World. Three days with just Heidi and no siblings to battle and nothing to be anxious about -- she was the BEST. I would never have thought she was capable of being endlessly cheerful, good-natured, eager, whine-free, and willing to walk miles upon miles. I'll photo dump that trip in another post, but it might be my favorite Heidi experience of her whole life.
Though she has mellowed out considerably in the past year, she still freaks out about tiny things. Her stress always manifests in 1) great volume and 2) the rending of garments. At this very moment she and Ingrid are arguing about some character in a movie and Heidi storms out while wailing loudly and yanking her skirt fabric through her fist.
School has been going well. Her new teacher seems to bring out the best in Heidi, so she is busy and focused all morning long. Heidi tells me all about what the other kids are doing but mysteriously never remembers her own work, but I'm pretty sure she's working on counting and adding into the teens, sandpaper letters, and hand-sewing. She loves to play the rhyming game, just like Henry did at this age, so she is definitely primed to hear letter sounds and start making words. At home, she loves to color, look at books, do puzzles, write long "stories" with semi-recognizable letters, and cook with me. Karl likes to do math with her at bedtime by having her add up fingers from two hands.
She just finished her first session of gymnastics and it was great! After twelve weeks of tagging along to Ingrid's class and spending 55 minutes crawling all over me and whining, she finally agreed to go to the super-fun-looking gym with the other preschoolers. Lo and behold, it's super fun! She pays close attention to her coaches and works really hard on all the skills and obstacles. Watching her bounce and leap is super fun because she does everything with such exuberance.
We also tried skating lessons. Alas, she despised them. Even though she was surprisingly good at it. She would remain upright and move around pretty competently while continuously weeping for the whole half hour. I made her go three times before letting her quit. Oh, well. Maybe next winter.
Heidi loves to dress up and sometimes changes her clothes multiple times a day (hear that sound? It's my mother laughing at karma's justice.). She loves the costume jewelry from Aunt Amy and often goes to school with great big rhinestone clip earrings and necklaces. We also got an eyeshadow palette from the $1 bin at Target, which has led to hours of carefully applying eyeshadow, first a phase of bright teal on her eyelids, followed by a phase of black shadow, inexplicably applied in her eyebrows. Cutest little Groucho Marx ever.
Turning four was a BIG milestone in Heidi's mind, and she counted down to her birthday with great anticipation. She totally gets the birthday thing, from the breakfast traditions to the planning of the friend party, so we had a great time planning this one together.
Heidi decided even before our Disney trip that she wanted a Cinderella birthday party. So, in what may be the single most ridiculous party we've ever hosted, I paid Cinderella to come to our house and entertain 20 little girls. She obviously has extensive experience managing a large household. Those little girls dutifully moved from activity to activity and were mesmerized the whole time. At one point they were all sitting quietly, coloring or getting their little faces painted, and Karl's mom said, "This never happened at birthday parties in our house." The contrast between this party and the last birthday party held in our home was almost comical.
Happy birthday, tiny sprite. I can't wait to see what four holds for you.
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