Emily's 4th Birthday

She's 4! The wonderful things about being 4. She's been quite a good helper. This is very different from the 2-year-old kind of help. 2-year-olds can "help" more than it's worth. 4-year-olds (or almost 4) can actually help. When I tell her a friend is coming she'll pick up the living room or other little chores I can give her. Her newest favorite is rinsing off the dishes, which actually presents more of a problem because then Meredith insists and 3 people at the sink does NOT work.

She also helps out by tattling on Meredith. I know I'll need to explain that tattling isn't very nice, but it has really helped me out during Meredith's terrible two's. So, maybe after that? "Mommy, Meredith's being naughty!" I hear this a TON.

Emily loves preschool! She sort of had a rough start and didn't want to go, but now she loves it. My only complaint is that when she gets in the car she asks to go play with friends. Preschool isn't enough anymore. Meredith and Emily really miss each other when Emily is at preschool. They are very happy to see each other after those two hours. I love seeing them help each other out and be nice and share.

When I went to the parent day at preschool we did an art project together and they asked the parents to write the child's name on top of the paper. Emily wanted to do it herself! The letters might have been a little crooked, and maybe one of them was 90^ the wrong way, but it was very legible. (Great! Maybe she'll have better handwriting then me! :) I was super excited. She's learned a lot.

Our newest favorite game is to figure out what letter something starts with. (Door starts with "D", Piano starts with "P".) Sometimes I give out bigger hints and sometimes I don't have to give any hint at all.

I have loved being Emily's Mommy. It has been the fastest and best 4 years! I love you, Emily. You are such a sweet, loving, little girl.