After they each ran with the kite close to a dozen times, we decided to head over to the playground next to the fields, where my tiny girl decided she was ready to do this…

Tiny has been wanting to do the monkey bars by herself for a while now, and I’ve kept insisting that she wasn’t big enough to do them all by herself. I guess she proved me wrong!

Tiny: I love getting bigger!

Me: Oh yeah?

Tiny: Uh-huh. And do you know why I love getting bigger?

Me: Why?

Tiny: Because when I get big as you, then we can be best friends!

(I’ll definitely be pulling this out when she’s 13 and wants nothing to do with me.)

Last Wednesday, you turned four. This was the first year where I really saw you getting excited as you waited for your birthday to arrive, and you are so proud to be four years old now. You both tell everyone we see, “Do you know that I’m four now?” I know that it’s true, but still, I can hardly believe it myself.

In this last year, you’ve grown so much. You are taller (something you’re very, very proud about) and your vocabularies continue to grow and grow each week. It is truly amazing to see you coming up with your own ideas (“I have a plan!”) and expressing your thoughts and feelings with more clarity. Of course, we don’t always see eye to eye, and sometimes you get very upset as a result, but I still love that you’re learning to think for yourself and are willing to speak up about what you think and believe.

At home, you still love to play together, but will also go your separate ways sometimes. Although you have tons of toys, you still prefer to be involved in some kind of pretend play or made up game. Various fairy tales (as well as a morning out at Disney on Ice) have inspired lots of reenactments, and your collection of dress-up clothes has grown and grown this year.

In the evenings and sometimes on weekends, you love to play games with Daddy. Although we’ve recently begun to play some board games (Hi-Ho Cherry O! and Snail’s Pace Race), you love to play The Acting Game (similar to charades, but with some talking allowed), Hide and Seek, and Simon Says. You also enjoy watching little videos on You Tube (something we’ve just recently begun to allow) and dancing with Daddy and me to just about any kind of music out there.

You both could spend almost all day outside if it were possible. Over the summer, Daddy found replacement parts and spruced up our 15 year old swing set in the backyard. You love to play on it, as well as in both the front and back yards. The cemetery near our house has very smooth roads, and you’ve spent lots of afternoons there riding your bikes, pushing baby dolls in strollers, and even flying a kite.

Tiny, you have continued to grow into the strong-minded, independent little girl we’ve know for quite some time now. When it was time for your first day of preschool in September, you didn’t even want me to walk you in the door. You insisted that I just pull up in the drop-off lane and let your teachers take you from there. Of course, I insisted that I walk you in on the first day, but day two, I let you have it your way, and you were so thrilled.

You are adored by both of your preschool teachers. They say that having you in the front room is like having a third teacher. You’re always willing to help out when they need a hand. But you also love to play and act silly with Buba and your new friends. You play at the water table, cut, color, and tape with the art supplies, and snuggle up with your buddy M in the baby doll bed. You really enjoy music time, and have taught me many of the songs you have learned in school. And just recently, you have been very excited about making friends with a couple of older girls in the far room. You play with them outside before dismissal time and are always chatty about the things you’ve done together while we’re driving home.

At gymnastics, you have continued to make tremendous progress. In May, your coaches suggested that we place you in an advanced group with older children who also pick up new skills relatively easily and quickly. We tried that class when gymnastics started back up in September, but quickly decided that we preferred to keep you in a class with children closer to your own age. I have not once regretted that decision. Your coach is very skillful and caring, and has helped you learn to walk backward on the balance beam, do walking turns on the beam, and turn cartwheels on the open floor. You love going to gymnastics each week and are eager to learn some of the “hard tricks” you’ve seen a few of the older girls do.

Buba, you are our silly, kind-hearted little boy. You love to do funny things and make everyone around you laugh. From your silly voices to your cute and crazy dance moves, you bring so many smiles and so much joy to our house and everywhere you go. I often find you sitting in the living room with a pile of books around you or in the midst of putting together a challenging jigsaw puzzle, but you also really, really like to play outside. You love to climb high, run far, jump around, and throw rocks in puddles. You are curious about the world, and like to observe and explore nature.

You were excited to start preschool this fall and seem to really enjoy all of the activities you get to do there. You could spend all morning playing at the water table, but also love to paint, play in the moon sand, and build with the blocks. Your teachers love having you in their class and say that you especially enjoy singing silly songs and making your classmates laugh. When you’re not playing with Tiny, you prefer to do your own thing. But recently, you’ve started talking about playing with a few classmates and have enjoyed playing with some older girls on the playground.

You continue to enjoy gymnastics, and can do so much more this year than you could do last year. Your upper body is much stronger, and your confidence has grown tremendously. At home, you love to show off the “hard tricks” you can do, which often involve jumping, somersaults, and jumping up to front support. You’ve also enjoyed learning to ice skate this year. From the very beginning you wanted almost nothing to do with the crates available to help little ones. You didn’t even want me to hold your hand. You may not be fast, but you certainly know how to get yourself around and can get yourself up when you fall. And when Dynamite plays through the loud speakers, you dance and bop without falling or missing a beat.

Your fourth birthday was surprisingly hard for me. There have been so many moments in the last few weeks where I’ve wanted to wrap my arms around you both and somehow make you stay little forever. But there’s no denying that you’re growing up. It’s happening so fast, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it or even slow it down. So, I just remind myself that the older you get, the more fun we have. And I’m looking forward to lots and lots of fun things coming up this year.

Happy 4th Birthday! I love you with all my heart and to the moon and back!

Love,
Mommy

Buba: Why was everyone pretending that I was four?

Me: When?

Buba: Yestertime, when I had the yummy cake with the candles.

Me: When your friends were singing Happy Birthday to you?

Buba: Yes.

Me: Well, we were celebrating your 4th birthday a little early, because your birthday is on a Wednesday this year. So, everyone was saying that you were a 4 year-old boy because you’re about to turn four.

Buba (in a correcting tone): But really I’m still three.

Me: Yes Bub, you’re still three.

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After bath tonight, I snuggled a bit with Tiny, still wrapped in her hooded butterfly towel…

Me: Don’t be four. Please stay three.

Tiny: No. I’m going to be four soon.

Me (teasing): No, no, no. Don’t be four. Stay three. Please, please, please.

Tiny (getting upset): No, no, no! You’re making me very unhappy! I want to be four! I want to be a grown up!

Me: I know. I was just playing. I just want you to stay little.

Tiny: We’ll, four is still little, you know.

Me: It is?

Tiny: Yeah! Four is still a little kid! (with a huge grin, like she’s teaching me something I didn’t know)

Me: Okay, I guess you can be four.

Tiny: lots and lots of giggles

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To Buba just before bed tonight…

Me: Don’t be four. Please stay three.

Buba: Ok. I will.

If only it could be that simple.

Monday was our first day back at preschool after the week long winter break. I’d taken over the parent help day for another mom who couldn’t make it, so I got to spend the morning at school as well. I have photos to prove that there were some fun moments in our morning, but there was definitely a lot of whining and crying (something I’d never seen from my two!) going on. The teachers were kind and said that it happens sometimes, and that it being the first day back after break may have had something to do with the strange behavior. But still, I was embarrassed. Hopefully my next helping day (this coming Tuesday) will be much better than the last.

Tuesday night I went to a Korean BBQ restaurant for a Mom’s Night Out with some moms from our town. It was a great night- great food, great conversations. I was glad a dragged my tired self out the door that night.

Wednesday afternoon it started to snow and snowed all through the night and for most of Thursday as well. It seemed like forever since it had last snowed, and who knows when it will snow again (it’s supposed to be in the 60s by the end of this week), so I decided that we needed to go out and use our sleds on a real hill (usually T just pulls the kids on it down the street). Unfortunately, by the time we got to the hill, the snow had turned more to a rain and we got soaking wet fast. I got pretty cold and uncomfortable after about 10 minutes, but Buba and Tiny kept going, and going, and going for about 50 minutes. I took our camera, but was too afraid of it getting ruined in the rain, so I don’t have a single photo as proof. But those smiling faces zooming down (by themselves!) on our plastic, blue sled will be with me for quite a while.

On Friday, we went back to the ice rink. It was just Tiny, Buba, and me this time, but we met up with a couple of friends. Tiny took off and was well ahead of me and Buba for most of the time. I was proud of her for having both the confidence and skill to skate so well on her own, but I definitely missed having her by my side.

I laughed and explained that it wasn’t his birthday for several more weeks, but he could still have some cake if he wanted a piece. Of course, he did not refuse.

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Last night, we had some vanilla ice cream that needed to be finished up, so I made Buba and Tiny some ice cream sundaes with chocolate sauce and rainbow sprinkles. “Is it my birthday?” Buba asked with a huge smile on his face. “Not yet,” I told him. “But soon. Just one more week.”

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Tonight, after dinner, Buba and I had this conversation…

Me: What would you like for your birthday?

Buba: Is it my birthday tomorrow?

Me: No, but it’s just a week away, and I need to start getting ready. So, what would you like?

Buba: A balloon.

Me: Really? Tell me about the kind of balloon you’d like (thinking he’d like a fancy mylar balloon like he got for Valentine’s Day).

Buba: The kind like you blow up with your mouth (regular old ballon).

Me: Okay. Anything else?

Buba: (thinks a little bit) And some cake.

Me: Is that all?

Buba: Yep.

Then Buba threw his arms around my neck, and I gave him a big squeeze right back- not wanting to let go. Not wanting to let him grow up.

sales woman (sw): Oh my goodness! It looks like a princess has just walked into our store.

(Tiny giggles while beaming.)

sw: Your crown is so beautiful. Does it hurt your head to wear it all day?

Tiny: No. (Still giggling and beaming.)

sw: Oh, well you must be a real princess then. Only a real princess could wear a beautiful crown all day without it hurting her head.

Tiny: Uh-huh. (Just as happy as she could possibly be).

I’ll admit, we waited longer than most of Tiny’s friends to get involved with the princess stuff. At the time when I was telling people, “No princess gifts please”- meaning no dresses, crowns, books, dolls, etc.- it seemed like the right thing to do. My daughter is a beautiful, independent, and headstrong little girl. She doesn’t need to dress like a princess to receive a compliment or hear that she needs a prince to rescue or protect her. It made sense that we would just avoid all things princess-like, and our lives would be just fine.

But the princess culture is way to big too be avoided entirely. Even without anything princess in the house, my kids were learning the names of all the Disney princesses and developing an interested in wearing the pretty princess dress up outfits that were just their size. And so, at some point, it no longer seemed right to avoid it all completely. We bought some dresses at a yard sale, got Disney princess figurines at Christmas, and saw Disney on Ice during the holiday break. Princess dress-up and toys have not consumed my children, but they are a regular part of their play. And I’m okay with that.

I’m okay with that, because it makes them (yes, Buba too!) so very, very happy. And because I know it’s a little kid phase. One day it will all be over and they’ll be onto the next phase, be it teen pop stars or vampire books. And we’ll ride that out too.

All went really well for about an hour. Then we ran out of tickets, and I held firm that we would not buy any more. There were plenty of animals- both ordinary and unusual- that we could walk around and see, but even with a tasty popcorn snack Tiny and Buba couldn’t last much longer. We left in an extra loud, 3-year-old tantrum kind of style, but we had the pictures to prove that we did in fact have a good time.

But in the days that followed, I could see that they were definitely ready to move on to more challenging puzzles than the wooden ones wit the chunky pegs. I just wasn’t sure how I could help with the transition.

And then, over the summer, I picked up some Infantino puzzles at a tag sale that seemed like the perfect next step. They were color/shape puzzles that had just 2 to 4 pieces per jigsaw puzzle. I left them out for Buba and Tiny to experiment with, and it wasn’t long before they were doing a great job fitting the pieces together.

Still, it was a bit of a struggle moving from 4-piece puzzles to 12-piece puzzles. The 12-piece ones were frustrating for Buba and Tiny. The kids wanted lots of help doing them and really needed me to sit with them in order for the puzzles to be fully completed. I kept the Infantio puzzles out for them to use whenever they liked, but put the 12 and 24-piece puzzles that we’d picked up at yard sales away for times when T or I could sit down and help Tiny and Buba work on them.

But then in November, we started quiet time in place of nap time. The kids each have a bag of quiet things to do and spend their quiet time in separate rooms. I filled Tiny and Buba’s bags with books, color wonder books, and 12-piece puzzles. Without an adult to help them, I wasn’t sure how Buba and Tiny would do with the puzzles. But in no time at all, they learned to master the 12-piece puzzles all on their own, and we were moving on to 24-piece jigsaw puzzles.

December came, and Tiny and Buba received a number of 24-piece puzzles as Christmas gifts. They were in puzzle heaven! But Tiny also received a 48-piece princess puzzle. I was sure that would be too much for her, but she put the whole thing together like it was nothing. It was clear that they were both ready and hungry for more.

T and I spent the next six weeks scouring the clearance racks at Target, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx looking for new puzzles for Tiny and Buba to tackle. And then one day, T decided that it was time to bring in some 100-piece puzzles. No way! I thought. It was such a big jump from 48 to 100 pieces. Surely 100 pieces would be too much for them.

And it was. At first. But now they’ve got it.

It’s incredible to see such fast growth from my children. It reminds me just how smart little kids are, and how quickly they can pick up something new when the desire is there and the time is right. Both Tiny and Buba are so proud of themselves and what great puzzlemasters they’ve become. And, of course, T and I are very proud of them too.