J at four and a half

It's hard to believe J turned 4 and half in July!



At 4 and half she is... 



- Talking non-stop. And I mean non-stop.



- Has known all her shapes forever



- Has known all her colors forever



- Can recite the alphabet and can identify almost every letter



- Learning to write letters



- Learning to write her name. (I'll just stop here and say we have never focused much on teaching letters, shapes, numbers, counting or writing at home. What she's learned she's pretty much picked up on her own or from day to day life and I think she's doing really well.)



 - She can count pretty well



- Is learning to add



- Has been potty trained for over a year and a half



- Loves to sing and dance



- Has a huge imagination. Her and C spent a good part of the day in "pretend play". The will spend hours playing house, school, church, camping.. you name it. It's so cute to hear them play together and listen to the funny things they come up with. :)



- Loves to help bake and clean.



- She already loves to shop! I'm so glad. :) I know we'll have tons of great times shopping together as she's growing up.



- Loves playing outside, loves to swing, loves riding her bicycle and swimming. Swings are always the first thing she'll run to at the playground although she hasn't quite mastered swinging by herself. She learned to ride her bicycle, with training wheels, right after she got for her 4th birthday.



- She's very active and is pretty much in perpetual motion a good part of the day (someone described me that way as a kid and it seems to describe her as well).



- Although she will sit still and quietly draw, read books, play with play dough, etc at different times as well.



- She LOVES drawing and art and is really into cutting up paper and/or folding it and taping it up and handing it out to different family members. :)



- We bought a little stuffed giraffe before she was born. She ignored it for the first few years of her life but in the last several months she has become really attached to it. She has to have the giraffe to go to sleep, wants to cuddle it when she's tired, etc. It's really sweet. She has always gone through phases with her other dolls and animals.. has a favorite for awhile, then switches to something else.



- She stopped taking naps several months ago and now spends C's nap time having quiet time on the couch and watching a movie. I'm not sure if she was quite ready to stop taking naps since she gets pretty cranky every evening but at least she goes to sleep quickly every night without a fuss.





And in her words:



- Favorite toys: baby dolls and doll [accessories], stuffed animals, tools, playing kitchen



- Favorite books: "Danny & The Dinosaur" and "Berenstein Bears & The Slumber Party"



- Favorite movies: "Danny & The Dinosaur, Richard Scary's Busy Town, Miffy, Barney, Angelina



- Favorite color: all colors (She definitely favors pink and purple though.)