We've reached a new level of independence in our house. Having a four year old has been so neat - along with her new found freedom to do things on her own, we've enjoyed having very cool conversations and tonight, we actually played a board game to completion that she played on her own. Candy Land is GREAT for four year olds! We also started learning about good sportsmanship. She lost a turn and went off a sulked and pouted. We told her people don't like to play with people who aren't good sports! Her dad, to prove a point, got "upset" when he didn't get his way and threw his cards on the ground. She said, "Why did you do that, dad? We don't act that way!" and picked his cards up off the ground. She said, "Don't worry, you'll win next time!" It was so good to see that she was getting it.
Not super sure why she felt the need to bundle up, but she did.
Avery is at an age where she can change her clothes completely by herself. This is amazing - as long as I set her clothes out, she cleans up her dirty clothes and puts on her new ones. I can't tell you how liberating this stage is for a parent! Well, I guess you if you have kids, you know. She is also brushing her hair completely by herself and does a good job. She can't put her hair in a ponytail, but she does brush it.
The other amazing thing she is doing on her own - brushing her teeth! Santa brought her a new electric toothbrush that helps her with this. We still supervise, but she can squeeze the toothpaste and brush completely on her own and usually does a great job!
Avery went to her four year check up and had a great visit. She is 3'8 (100th percentile for height, not surprising!) and 48 pounds (97th percentile. I am pretty sure she weighs more than my 9 year old). Avery is currently wearing 6x clothes and size 12 shoes. She is my tall girl, for sure! She is learning how to spell and write her name in school. She can identify letters and some numbers very well. She LOVES to play make believe. Right now, her favorite toys are any that she can make interact with each other, like dolls, Barbies, or her Disney princesses. She loves to dress up and does it all the time. In fact, I think it was a motivation for her to learn to dress herself when we told her we weren't going to help her change her clothes 14 times a day, that she needed to learn to do it herself! Avery loves music and just loves to sing. She will learn songs all the time and request them when we listen in the car. Her favorite thing to watch right now is Ella Enchanted. She loves this movie. It seems like she wouldn't be interested in it, since it's not animated, but she loves it. She is starting to learn to control herself better - we talk a lot about controlling your outbursts in a positive way instead of throwing a fit. She's not perfect, but is getting so much better.
We also had an interesting thing happen over the weekend. I've mentioned on my blog before that I've kept pictures and scrapbooks from when Jason and his ex were together. I don't think they have those things at their moms and it just didn't seem fair to me that the kids would never get to see pictures of when their parents were married and happy. Sophia especially has been asking questions lately, so I asked if she wanted to see pictures of her parents on a trip? Of course, she loved looking at this! I love that she gets to see this because she doesn't remember her parents together. I've always been prepared for the kids to ask questions about it, but never really prepared for how Avery would feel when she realized her dad had been married to someone else. I don't think she really understood why Bubba and Sissy were only here sometimes instead of all the time. But after Soph was done looking at the scrapbook, Avery picked it up, and with a look of disgust said, "Dad, why were you with that lady?" We both smiled and Jason said, "That's Sophia and Jordan's mommy. I was married to her before I was married to mommy." She closed the book and literally slid it across the room and told us she didn't like that one bit. That's was pretty unexpected and kind of funny to watch.
Life is never boring in our house!
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