Happy 4th birthday to the girl who made me a mama! Nicole is 1/3rd sassy, 2/3rds sweet, and 100% a blessing and joy to us. I've learned many valuable lessons (and grown in many ways) from being her mom. But this post isn't about my mama journey, so let's talk all about the birthday girl!
Nicole at 4 years old:
- Let's get the obvious out of the way first: homegirl loves to sing. Not only does she love to sing, but she also has a looooud singing voice and she has quite the memory for lyrics. Favorite styles include anything Disney (including live action films such as Newsies), anything Christmas-related, and anything dramatic/boisterous/catchy.
- She loves wearing necklaces.
- She is SO pumped to get the mail every day.
- She enjoys hot showers. The warmer the water, the better. The longer the shower, the better. I guess she's preparing me for the teenage years already.
- Her sass level is also very "teenager-esque" sometimes. She talks back to me a bit more often now, and I'm torn between annoyance at her attitude and pride at her learning to stand up for herself and speak her mind. Other times, the sass is just straight up funny. A recent example (I might be remembering the details incorrectly though) occurred when my brothers were staying with us for Thanksgiving. Nicole was eating something and I think she asked someone to fill up her water cup. One of my brothers told her she could go fill it herself, and she responded with, "Well, I don't see YOU eating anything..." because he was just sitting at the table on his computer (therefore he was available to go fill her cup). Oh man, we were dying.
- She does NOT put up with (for lack of a better word) crap from me or Doug. She does not hesitate to let me know if she finds my emotions or actions unappealing. "Mommy, do NOT hurt my arm! I DON'T like that!" if I snatch her by the arm too tightly when I'm exasperated, for example. Once again, I'm proud of her for taking charge of her own feelings, body, and personal space. It's important for a girl to learn the power of a strongly-worded "No!" in this day and age.
- Currently, we can hardly get through a day without her requesting to watch one of us play a game from the "The Legend of Zelda" franchise. Breath of the Wild is her favorite, but I've heard her request Ocarina of Time before (I played through it earlier this year) and she seems to really be enjoying Twilight Princess, which both Doug and I are playing through right now. We almost did Zelda-themed family costumes for Halloween instead of Peter Pan... but I decided it would be too much work, especially without a sewing machine.
- She will pick dresses over shirts/pants ANY day. Even now when it's snowy outside, she prefers to go around the house in short-sleeved, knee-length dresses.
- Just like Austin, Nicole will gladly eat a whole avocado by herself in one sitting. She also enjoys snacking on frozen fruits and veggies (particularly pineapple, mango, berries, peas, and green beans) and has an ever-enduring love for German Pancakes (aka Dutch babies).
- I usually put a hairbow in her hair when we leave the house, and she gets very annoyed if anything bumps her bow. She will claim that her bow "got messed up" even if it looks like it hasn't budged.
- She enjoys putting stickers all over herself and Austin. She's currently in the habit of taking any stickers she gets (from grocery stores, doctor offices, etc) and putting them on her back. Yes, on her back.
- Books are still one of her main obsessions. I'm excited for her to start learning to read. Meanwhile, she takes any opportunity she can to have Doug or me read to her.
- Coloring is another obsession. She prefers blank paper over coloring books.
- She has grown very proficient at writing her name. She enjoys practicing her letters on our magnetic drawing board. She is obsessed with writing the letter "H" for some reason.
- When she wakes up in the morning, she always gets out of bed and peeks her head in my room to see if I'm up yet (and to see if Doug is there). If it's a weekday and Doug isn't there, then she returns to her room, turns the light on, and "reads" books for a while until she hears me get up or hears Austin start chatting to himself. If Doug is there, then she comes on in and wakes him up because... Daddy.
- She's a huge Daddy's girl, in case you didn't get that impression from the previous point. She'll pick Doug over me any day, honestly.
- She has high levels of empathy when it comes to people being in pain. If one of us gets an "owie" and needs a bandage, she's right there fussing over us and telling us it will be okay, saying, "Ooooh, I'm SO sorry that happened!" She actually held my hand when I had to get a shot a few weeks back.
- She went through a phase for a few months where she asked almost daily if we could go through the car wash. She still loves the car wash (but asks about it less often now) and so we went through one today for her birthday. She was pumped!
- She's been obsessed with The Greatest Showman for most of the year (it was the 2nd movie she ever saw in theaters). She has all the songs memorized, and often sings them to herself when she's trying to fall asleep at night.
- This has been a big year for Nicole to get over some of her fears! At the beginning of the summer she freaked out over being in water any deeper than her belly button; now she'll go vaulting over the side of the pool into the lazy river without even informing me first (while wearing floatie wings). She also finally got over her fear of the foam pits at gymnastics places. Her increased bravery lets her climb to new heights (literally) and try things she wouldn't have even half a year ago.
- If you ask her who her best friends are, she'll respond with her cousins Eric and Claire.
- She likes playing "house", which mostly consists of eating pretend meals at the little play table and going to bed while she turns the playroom light off and closes the door.
- She's very "schedule minded" -- in other words, she appreciates knowing what's on the agenda for the day/week/month. She'll recite what events are happening during the week, along with which days they're happening on. She loves to anticipate big holidays or events.
- She also appreciates procedures. Bedtime routines. Keeping track of whose turn it is to hand the receipt to the lady at the exit of Costco. Making sure we all take our multivitamins every morning. Stuff like that.
I could go on and on, I'm sure, but we'll stop there. We love our little preschooler! And, just out of tradition, here are pictures of her from each of her birthdays. So big, so fast!
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