Stats:
Weight: 40# exactly
Height: 40 1/2"
Clothing sizes: Depends on the store/brand... 4T/5T shirts usually, 4T shorts/pants/dresses
Shoe size: 9/10
Milestones: Just finished up her first year of preschool!
Language: Sophie has begun to master the art of polite responses and conversation etiquette. I'm not saying everything that comes out of her mouth is nice. But in conversation, she has definitely improved her back-and-forth rhythm of polite responses. Her manners are better and she has suddenly amazed us at her improvement in phone conversation skills. She is talking more clearly and, though she is still lispy with some of the letter sounds (for example, she sticks her tongue between her teeth like a /th/ sound when she's saying an /s/ sound), I spoke with a friend of mine who is a speech therapist and she reassured me that those are self-repairing problems that will disappear over the next couple/few years on their own. So it doesn't sound like any speech therapy will be in order. My concern was that the thumb sucking and gap between her top, front teeth were the culprits.
Sleep: As I've said before, bedtime goes in phases for Sophie. Sometimes, she'll stay awake in her bed for hours and other times she'll get to sleep reasonably quickly. Depends on how active she is that day and how well her nap went. Bedtime is usually 8-8:30 though we've had some later nights recently and I'm afraid they're going to be more frequent with summer upon us. I'm really going to try not to let that happen too often, but we all kind of catch the "carefree" bug when the days start getting longer and we lose track of time outside and then dinner is later, yada yada yada.
Wake time varies quite a bit, usually ranging from 7-8:30. And she naps daily for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours still.
Eating: Still a slow poke. And LAZY about getting the food to her mouth. Of all people, I should know better than to try to feed her (for crying out loud, she's FOUR!), but I often fall into the trap of picking the food up and then she'll take bites. This only happens once we've all been sitting there and finished ALL of our own meals and still there sits Sophie talking and singing and playing with her utensils, but not doing much eating. I'm really trying not to cave, because I'm just being an enabler and I know that. Handheld foods (tacos, wraps, bigger quesadillas, sometimes sandwiches) tend to fall apart when she picks them up and then she freaks out. And sometimes she struggles with getting foods like salads on her fork. So instead, she'll just sit there and play. On my good nights, I just leave her there (she doesn't fight to get down) and let her go on and take an hour and a half to eat while I clean up the table/kitchen and start Will's bath. I know that length of time is normal for some cultures... maybe Sophie was meant to be European? And all of this crazy behavior is really only occurring at dinner time. Breakfast and lunch are much better. Soooo... I think mommy has more to work on than Sophie, 'cause it really annoys me to watch adults feed their fully-capable children. Same goes for 6/7/8 year olds in strollers or toddlers carried around in infant car seats, but that's a whole other topic. ;)
Behaviors: I have nothing unusual to attribute this to, but Sophie has been extremely clingy to me lately. She wants to be near me and tag along with me all the time. She asks to snuggle nearly every night and she gets very upset if goodbyes are not thorough enough when we have to separate.
Other challenging behaviors recently include LOTS of whining and tantrums. Again, not sure what to attribute this to, other than it just being a phase... we hope. She's difficult to reason with and can be very bratty when she doesn't get her way or something she wants. We just continue to do our best with consistency and firmness, which can be difficult in public at times. I'm thinking we just need to use our lazier summer schedule to get some laid back family time, so that maybe a little more relaxed attention will help relieve some of her antics.
Other random updates: Since reaching 40# and four years, we've switched Sophie to a booster seat in our cars and now both kids are in them. Sooooo much easier than five-point-harnesses, and easier to get seats in and out of the cars too.
Sophie still wears a pull-up to bed at night. Not ever for nap time and there are actually many nights that she stays dry. But washing all of her bedding has been a frequent occurrence lately between all of the times she does wet in her underwear overnight and the recent stomach bug she seemed to have. Ugh.
Some of Sophie's favorite activities include: playing games (especially as a whole family), dressing up and playing pretend, playing with her fairies and dolls, practicing yoga, grappling with her brother and using some of the MMA moves her daddy taught her, mimicking people and saying "jinx" whenever she realizes someone has just said the same thing as her.
She has a newfound love for the color pink and has also become very interested in Barbie, which I strongly reject at every turn. The whole princess-culture makes me want to vomit and my daughter has been fully sucked into it. :(
Hard to believe Sophie is four now! I so wish I had the power to make time stand still on occasion, that I might freeze this age of innocence and wonder and enjoy it longer.
This photo shoot with the birthday signs turned rather silly towards the end, since smiling on command does not come easily to Sophie at this age. The goofy pics are always my favorite anyway. :)
Current fave:
Happy Birthday, sweet girl. We love you so very much!!
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