Keeping up on what's happening in the world.
It's spring! And that can only mean one thing: I'm way behind in everything once again.
February was a busy month -- Forever Family Day, Bryn's birthday, Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year, work, every day life -- it went by in a flash. As much as I was dreading winter this year it really wasn't that bad and it went by quickly. And we only had one big snow to speak of so even the shoveling wasn't that bad. Says me, who doesn't do any shoveling.
So it's time for an update on Bryn, who is now a grown-up 4-year-old. A 34 lb. almost 40 inch tall 4-year-old. And, I'm happy to be able to finally say, a potty-trained 4-year-old (yay!). That was a long time coming. Everyone said not to worry, that she'd be trained by the time she went to school, which gave me visions of her being the first 8-year-old in kindergarten. I was sure I'd be in diapers by the time she got out of hers.
I really should have known to just leave her alone and to stop trying to train her. She's a stubborn one and prefers to do things by her own clock so it shouldn't have been a surprise to me that the more I tried training her the less she wanted to do it. But finally, just after Christmas, she figured the time had come and in one day she had it mastered. Okay, it wasn't quite that easy. We started the day in agreement that she was going to learn to pee on the potty. By noon she'd changed her mind -- there was begging (me), defiance (her), bribing (me), hair pulling (ouch) and tears (both of us). By suppertime I'd given up and admitted defeat once again but about an hour later she came to me and said she wanted to use the potty. Sigh. She wasn't the only one putting her big girl panties on that day.
She did the same thing with printing her letters. I'd try to show her how to print her name but no way. "I can't, I can't, I don't know how!" She'd doodle circles and lines and squiggles but nothing resembled a letter. Then one day she was sitting on my knee as I was reading the paper and she picked up a pen and started doodling. "Mom, I wrote your name." Uh huh, that's great Bryn. "No, really mom, look!" And sure enough, she'd printed M-O-M as plain as can be. Now she's constantly asking how to spell things. One of her favorite things to do at bedtime is to ask me how to spell a word and then she traces the letters with her finger on her pillow. It's probably a stall tactic, but at least she's doing something productive with her time. :)
She's also trying to sound out words and recognizes quite a few words too. She can add and subtract her basic numbers and we're always chuckling over the things she says. She realizes this and prefers that and decides things and recognizes people. She looks forward to gym and mistakely asks me questions when I'm on the phone. The other day I said something about the stars and she told me they're constellations.
Bryn loves to play pretend. In one evening we can go from playing doctor ("your tempature is 98.6 - that's normal, Mom!") to hopping on a plane and flying to Heaven to visit her Nanny ("Mom, wouldn't you be shocked if Nanny came to visit us?!") to her putting on a concert ("Ladies and juggling men, here is my show!"). She still loves to sing but she's graduated from The Wiggles to The Black Eyed Peas (with guitar accompaniment), Lady Antebellum and Lady Gaga (with kid-friendly lyrics) and she can actually carry a pretty good tune.
She's her own color commentator -- "Goodbye! I exclaimed as I ran into the living room" -- and her own echo -- "Mom, mom, mom." Some days she makes me laugh til my stomach hurts. "Mom, can I tell you a story before bed?" Sure, Bryn, but it has to be short because it's late. "OK. Once upon a time. The end. That was short, wasn't it Mom?" At the supper table a few weeks ago she said "I care for you mom but I do not care for vegetables". The other day when we were driving home and were stuck behind some slow drivers she yelled "OK, people! GO!" I wonder where she got that from?
Bryn continues to be a terrible sleeper but I know someday I'll miss our middle of the night cuddles so I'll just go without sleep and enjoy the cuddling while I can. Her wet cloth continues to be her sleep-time security but she no longer has to take it everywhere we go. She's still a little shy but isn't terrified of strangers anymore. She surprised me the other day when she went up to someone in the store and said "Hi, I'm Bryn. What's your name?" She's a lot braver than she used to be physically and is having a blast in gym this year. She finally mastered a somersault and can do the rings and the balancing "bean". And she can actually do all of that with me sitting on the bench watching her instead of walking beside her for the whole class. She even lets the instructors help her. That's a huge step for our girl and we're so proud of her.
Books are still her best friends and she loves crafts and cutting paper and washing her dishes in the kitchen sink. She's back into the questions phase in a big way and spends a lot of time saying "Hmm, Mom? Hmm?" while I'm trying to figure out how to answer questions like "What does the mean?"
Life with a four-year-old is tons of fun.
Happy Birthday to me!
Adia, Caia, Bree and Bryn wait patiently for cake. It was a great party and Bryn had so much fun. Thanks to everyone for making her day extra special.
