Happy 4 to Rebecca Dawn

Wow - today Beca turned 4 years old! She was so tiny when I first held her. And fairly quiet! But that has changed tremendously!! She has learned so many words and paragraphs and makes up the funniest stories! I'm constantly amazed by what she understands and knows. She can work on 50 to 100 piece puzzles now and is starting to really recognize her letters and get higher in her counting. We have a few weeks until her yearly check but she's already pretty tall and weighs about 40 pounds. Beca loves nightgowns and princesses, dress-up and dolls. She likes clothes and books too. Her favorite breakfast is either a chocolate pop-tart or chocolate chip pancakes, generally served with pink milk. Her very favorite TV show is Charlie and Lola right now, which causes our entire family to speak with a British accent and commonly use the words "actually" and "extremely". But she also is less afraid of things after watching this show. Rebecca also worries a lot about other people when she hears someone is sick. She asks about them a lot. She's been saying things about dying and being sad, asking questions and saying that she would be sad if someone died. Of course, she also says that if she eats the piece of meat we told her to eat that she will be so sad that she has to eat it. We also don't share properly (another Charlie and Lola word, enunciated such that it is clear that we are not doing whatever it is that she wants us to do). But she loves us soooo much. And we adore her. Here's our princess growing up:

Beca just a few hours old - June 9, 2005

Beca at her first birthday party - June 10, 2006

Beca at her 2nd birthday party - June 9, 2007

June 8, 2008 - Beca's 3rd birthday party

June 6, 2009 - Beca's 4th birthday party

We're excited for 4 - there are swim lessons already in progress (although thunder and lightning kept us from having them tonight and she was sad but understood), Beca wants to learn how to ride her bike and she wants Ballerina lessons. We're hoping her poodle blanket can become less of a permanent fixture and confine it to her room and work on sleeping through the night without wearing a pull up. All goals for this year, along with some fun surprises!