Livi's 4!

My baby is 4 years old! How did that happen? I feel so lucky to be her mom. She is truly an awesome kid. I don't know what I did to deserve such a smart, confident, fearless, imaginative, vivacious, funny, dramatic, articulate little girl. She keeps us on our toes! I love being a mom to my Goober. She is such a gift.

Good Morning Birthday Girl!

How old are you?

Livi is knows all her letters and she knows most of the sounds for the letters too. She recognizes some words like 'Stop' and 'Happy Birthday' (surprisingly). She is starting to sound out a few small two and three letter words too, like Mom, No, and Dad. Livi can count to 30. She does skip a few of the numbers in the teens though. She has begun to add and subtract too! It started with bites at dinner but now she is playing math games online with Curious George!

Livi has a amazing imagination and actually has an imaginary friend named Monster. He is blue and a good monster. He does, however, have friends, some of which are bad. Monster protects her and teaches her things... like Spanish. Not sure if he is the best teacher but I like his effort :) 

Livi is a sponge. She can tell you about things like how it rains, echolocation, camouflage, and how to grow things. Her memory is amazing too. She finds things better than us. She remembers things vividly from over a year ago. While at Metrotown for the second time in her life she told her Marmee all about how she went to Build-A-Bear to make bunnies for herself and Sofie, then had a tea party with them that Mrs. Jenn took pictures of. That was last July and September... how did she remember that? 

Livi is officially night trained now too! Day training was so easy over two years ago I expected night training to be just as simple. It has been a bit of a process but no more diapers for her! She rarely wakes up herself to go pee but we just take her to the bathroom before we go to sleep and she is good until morning. I'm still a little scared to remove the soaker pad that I have under her sheet though. She does have the odd accident, usually before we go to sleep though. 

Livi is now 40.5 inches tall and weighs 39 pounds. We switched her to a booster seat just a few months before she turned 4, which was a little early but she was tall enough for it and it is just so much more convenient! She didn't like it at first but I let her choose a princess one and that helped with the process. She is a healthy, active little girl sitting nicely in a large size 4T or very small size 5T. I keep thinking it is time to take out her size 5 stuff but it is all just swimming on her. 

Livi is rather controlling and bossy which we are working on it. I think she comes by it naturally with me as her mom though and her being the big sister. She doesn't like to admit that she is wrong and covers it by saying "It's my choice to do (it) my way." Cheeky little smart ass... who I love to bits. I think we've given her too many choices! She has also taken to not liking her picture taken. I think this is common for this ago though because I've noticed a few of her friends being the same way occasionally. There was a lot of bribing needed for her 4th year photo shoot.

She comes out with some awesome sayings too... which of course I can't remember half of them right now. I need to write them all down! 

After getting her hair cut in to a short little bob she spent the evening walking around with a little head turn saying, "I'm so fashionable."

While being allowed to play in the water fountain at the PNE she ran around screaming "This is the best day ever! It is fun to get wet and make mistakes!"

The doll house we had been given broke a few weeks before her birthday. 

Since both girl played with it EVERY day we had to get them another one :) 

Good thing it fell under as a birthday gift!

Things Livi Likes:

Kraft Dinner with peas in it - I am thankful she likes vegetables.

Conquering new accomplishments - She just beams. I love it. 

Dirt - She loves to play hard and doesn't mind getting dirtty.

Imagination - Livi loves making up stories and tells us tales of mermaids, monsters, pirates, caterpillars and giants. It is kind of awesome.
Cartoons - She loves her veg time. I love it too because then I get a break :)
Collecting - Livi likes to have little bowls, teapots and jars of her collections consisting of bobby pins, coins, and random little things she finds.
Roller coasters! - Her new favorite thing.

Things Livi Doesn't Like:

Being told "No" - She is vary articulate and can make very compelling arguments for why the answer should be yes. 

Sofie taking her toys - Oh the hardships of a first child.
Being pushed in to things - Livi is generally a daredevil, but the odd time she doesn't want to try something she needs her own space and time to figure it out or she will bunker down and freak on you.
Tomatoes - This is pretty much the one food Livi consistently doesn't like. I'm fine with that since she is such a good eater. Not generally picky at all.

On her actual birthday Gramma and Marmee came over for some cake. She was very excited :) I don't have the cake making skills of my sister but I think Livi was just as impressed with my number 4 as with her aunties Hello Kitty cake :)

We had a little party for her a few days later. Just a few friends with some games. I had read some where that Pin the Tail on the Donkey and musical chairs was a good game for 4 year olds. Musical Chairs worked well, but Pin the Tail on the Donkey didn't go over so well. Only one boy was willing to put the blindfold on. We also decorated cupcakes which was fun with four year olds. I completely understand why people hire business or entertainers to host their kids birthday parties!