This was supposed to be Kaitlyn's four-year annual update, but I'm so late it's embarrassing. I should have just given up, but I have all these photos sitting in my computer that I've been meaning to post. Kaitlyn has about three months to go before she turns five(!), so here's what the fours have been like.
Stats:
At her four year appointment, she weighed 32 lbs and measured 3 ft, 2 in. Not much has changed since then. She's always been on the small side, but did go through quite a growth spurt before she turned four, especially height-wise. One day all her pants suddenly seemed shorter! She's always been a size behind, so can still fit into size 3T clothing. Her feet are another story. I took her shopping in the fall for some new shoes for preschool, and discovered that her shoe size had jumped from size 7 to size 9! Who knows how long she had been cramming her feet into all those tight shoes?
Kaitlyn loves going to preschool and always runs eagerly into the classroom. She's come such a long way from her first year, when she used to cling to me and cry every time I left. Now she's so eager to hug and kiss me goodbye. Her teachers tell us that she is outgoing, funny, and always participates in class. She loves to learn and looks forward to talking about the calendar, weather, and show-and-tell during each class.
She started being able to write her own name early on in the school year. She knows all her (capital) letters and can write out words as I spell them out. She can also do simple math problems as long as she can count them on her fingers (ie. she can't go past 5+5).
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| At music class. She was proud that she could write her own name tag. |
Activities:
Since preschool started in the fall, Kaitlyn had stints in soccer, ballet, and music class. Although she enjoyed them all, she didn't love them enough to want to continue. She enjoyed soccer up until they started playing actual games, then realized it was not so fun when she didn't have her own ball to kick. I guess she's not very competitive. Music class got boring after a ten week session - she was so excited to take a class with Colin, but it got old pretty quickly after doing the same routines every week (I don't blame her, I got bored too). And I'm not sure why she didn't love ballet class, but after a few weeks she asked to stop going. So now, we're left with her good ol' swim classes, which have been part of her Saturday morning routine for over three years now!
Interests:
If there's one thing Kaitlyn loves, it's her animals. She has such a giant collection of stuffed animals and rarely leaves home without bringing one with her. Her animals are her friends, and are almost always involved with her play, whether it's playing school, throwing a pretend birthday party, or having a picnic. She loves all real animals too and never passes up an opportunity to pet a dog walking down the street, visit a petting zoo, or ride a pony.
Although a lot of girls at preschool are into princesses, she was never really into them. She shows interest and asks for princess toys once in awhile, but then rarely plays with the few that she gets. I was happy when she said she wanted to dress up as a doctor for Halloween, while every other girl was dressing up as a princess. But then, when she saw most of the preschool girls dressed up as Elsa at a Halloween party, she had to jump on the bandwagon too (by the way, that costume has not been worn since).
Kaitlyn also loves her play-doh and arts and crafts - anything that involves scissors, tape, or glue. She plays at her art table almost daily and it's pretty amazing to see some of the creations she comes up with. Other interests include baking, riding her scooter and bicycle, singing and dancing to music videos and, of course, iPad.
Favorite Things:
- TV shows: Caillou, Paw Patrol, Blue's Clues
- YouTube videos: Nerdy Nummies, Disney Collector, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift music videos, What Does the Fox Say?
- Color: purple (probably because I buy purple everything for her)
- Foods: mac and cheese, pesto pasta, strawberries, hot dogs, eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles
- Songs: anything by Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and Kelly Clarkson (they're all so catchy!); Animal and Sugar (Maroon 5); Try (Colbie Caillat); All About the Bass (Meagan Trainor), Uptown Funk (Bruno Mars)
- Number: "ten hundred" (she really does use that number all the time!)
- Words/Phrases: butt, stinky feet, poo poo (do you see a theme here?); omigosh (she picked it up from me)
Personality:
Best word to describe her? Silly. Kaitlyn is fun loving and just downright silly most times. She loves to laugh and make other people laugh, even over the smallest things. She is very easy going and gets along with almost everyone.
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| That time she took my iPhone and took all these selfies. |
Big Sister:
Kaitlyn enjoys being a big sister, but only really shows it for about five minutes at a time. She greets Colin excitedly in the mornings when she wakes up, when we pick her up at preschool, and when he wakes up from his naps. But after that initial excitement wears off, she's back to ignoring him and doing her own thing. Colin is at a stage right now where all he wants to do is pull her hair and mess up her things, so I can't blame her for not wanting to play with him more. She does love the fact that she can do certain things that he can't just because she's older, like eat ice cream.
It's been a tough year for me trying to balance a kid and a baby at the same time. My biggest challenge has been figuring out ways to entertain Kaitlyn in the afternoons after preschool, while having limited mobility because of Colin (she's still at daycare all day on non-preschool days). Colin is pretty high maintenance and constantly demands my attention. At the same time, as soon as my hands are free of him and I have a moment to myself, Kaitlyn will jump into my lap and want my attention too. She probably watches more TV and iPad than she should, but we gotta do whatever works. She's definitely not complaining about too much TV or iPad.
Most of all, she is amazingly patient with him. She knows when I need time alone with him to feed him or put him down, she understands when we can't go out because he's napping, and she has the ability to completely tune him out when he's crying/screaming at the top of his lungs. I know she loves her little brother and I can't wait until he's old enough so they can play together. Although there is a big age gap between them, I hope they'll still be close.
He's still her sidekick and she loves telling him what to do. She loves to climb into his bed while he's sleeping and snuggle with him, and Brady is extremely patient with her. He adores her as well, most likely because she loves to give him treats, and she's usually the only one playing with him first thing in the mornings when he most wants attention. There were a couple times when Kaitlyn asked if we could give Brady away so we could get a cat. I'm hoping she wasn't serious.
I can't believe she will be five soon and entering kindergarten! She is growing up too fast!
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