4 Years Old!

 Brinley Jane,

You are 4 years old!  I am so proud of the little lady you are becoming each and every day. Your heart swells with love and happiness and watching you grow up is my honor and pleasure.  You are such a quirky, fun, smart, and sweet little gal.  Here are a few things (or alot) I don't want to forget about you at this age. 

 Your creativity astounds me.  You see things I just don't see.  You are constantly turning an ordinary something into your own idea.  On this day you took a bracelet and made a hula hoop for your lovey, Giraffe. That is just one example of many.

You love to be artistic and create things from scraps of paper, markers, glue, tape, scissors, and stickers.  You also love to color pictures or draw your own and many times you draw something, then make up an explanation of what it is.

 You are a social being and you love to have a playmate, but you are also content playing by yourself.  This playing is usually nararated to a tune, which is so fun to hear.  You still nap some days and on days that you don't want to sleep, you play alone in your room.  You play with your princess dolls, your doll house or read books. Some days you will just pull out the legos or your blocks and build or make up a game with them.

You absolutely love to play pretend.  Your favorite game to play with me is "Mommy game" where we just act out a normal day at home in your play room.  You like to pretend you are a Mommy or a doctor, or a princess, or a baby.  You have a great imagination.

Your vocabulary is so good but there are still some cute little slip ups.  Pineapple is Kineapple, Hershey Kisses are pershey kisses, innertubes are intertudes, and a traffic cone is a pine cone.  You are a big talker, much like me.  Here are a few quotes of yours I don't want to forget:
--At music friends you always get candy.  At our house the rule is that you cannot have your dessert until you eat all your vegetables.  When Mrs. Beth gave you candy, you said, "I can't have candy tonight because I didn't eat my vegetables.  But, I can take it home and have it for breakfast in the morning because we don't eat vegetables for breakfast!"
--Daddy got called in to see a patient. "Are you going to do cataracts, Daddy?"  "No, it's a different kind of patient"  "No, Daddy, you just do cataracts, you're not an ouchie doctor!"
--While discussing the days of the week, 
Brinley: "What does Tuesday mean?" Dad: "Well I don't know, its just a day of the week." Brinley: "Well my favorite day of the week is Friday because it sounds like fries and it makes me want to eat french fries!

You have started delving into the topic of God, Heaven, and Jesus much more.  This came about mostly after Pop died.  Here are some of the things you have said to me on that topic.
--"If food is in my belly, that's near my heart, and Jesus will eat it!"
--"Are God and Jesus best friends because they live up there together?"

--"Mommy, if Pop gets better can he come back out of heaven to his home?"
"No, sweetie, he will be there forever."
"But why can't he come back?  When I get really sick and go to heaven, I will want to come back.  I will miss you."
"Well, once you are in heaven you won't want to come back to earth and our family will all be there together one day.  Pop just got there first, he's waiting for us."
"I guess Jesus can play with Pop in Heaven.  Do you think they have toys in heaven?  I hope God makes a pallet for me to sleep on in Heaven."

-- "I spy with my little eye, something pink."  "Your shoes?" "no" "That flower?" "No" "What is it?"
"God (in a whisper voice)"
-- "I'll have to make sure and take hearts blankey and giraffe to Heaven so I can sleep with them"
-- "When I go underwater, and I'm alone, God will be with me...with goggles on...or Jesus."

 

 You are so observant to the world around you and you are always listening to gain new information.  This is a change your Daddy and I have had to remember because you listen to all conversations- even the ones you aren't supposed to!  You are very curious and ask lots of questions.  This can be very fun and sometimes exhausting for me because there are times I don't have the answers to your questions and you can be quite persistent!

 You have become very independent and like to express yourself through your appearance.  You love to wear dresses and have your hair down or in braids.  You want to choose what you wear each day and it almost always needs to have pink in it.  This can cause some tension between you and I because there are times I want you to wear what I want you to wear but we are both learning how to compromise.  And at the end of the day, it's not what you are wearing on the outside that really matters, its what your heart looks like that is most important!

Another aspect of your personality that has really come out this year is your sensitivity.  You get very attached to things and you get very sad if they are taken away.  We see this every day in your love for hearts blankey and giraffe.  They are your favorite loveys by far and you would take them everywhere with you if you had your way.

Two other incidences come to mind when I think about this.  We built a snowman this year and when you found out that it was going to melt, you had a meltdown.  You still talk about that snowman to this day, 6 months later.  You also had a breakdown about a sunflower that your Daddy picked for you because you realized that it would die now that it had been picked.  You were so saddened by this that you slept with the sunflower beside you on the bed and just about cried yourself to sleep.  Oh my.

It has been so much fun to see you getting involved in new things this year.  You took gymnastics, which you loved, and at the end of the year you performed in a program and earned a medal.  I have never seen you so proud of yourself.

 You were also a part of music friends choir at our church.  Mrs. Beth was your teacher and she always told me what a good singer you were.

 You had your first program and you did so great singing your songs and doing just what you were supposed to do.  I was so proud of you little butterfly!  I know you have a real gift with music because you memorize words to songs very quickly and you always get the correct tune and tempo. 

 We are trying our hand at swim lessons this summer and they aren't going so well.  With the many positive qualities you possess, one of the more difficult ones to handle is your fear and lack of desire to try new things.  Swimming is one of these things.  Everything is fine and dandy when you are wearing your life jacket and keeping your head above water, but once someone asks you to do the opposite, things go south real quick.  You have shown me a very stubborn side of you with this activity.  I guess we will just try again next year!

 You had a great semester at Beltway CDC.  It was your first real school experience and you loved every minute.  Your teacher Miss Katie always told me how sweet you are to her and all your classmates.  This makes me so happy.  I want you to be a good friend and a good student! 

 Speaking of friends, you are a girl with many of them- old and new!  Here in Abilene your best friends are Callie and Lucy Jane.  You enjoyed being in gymnastics and BSF with Callie and playing at one another's houses.

 Lucy Jane just moved into our neighborhood and you have loved playing at one another's houses on the weekends and after naps.

 She likes to dress up or play kitchen with you and you love to swing or jump on the bounce house together.

 Sutton is our next door neighbor and you love to play outside with him in the afternoons.  He is a boys boy and you are a girly girl so sometimes he is a little rough, but you both love to play pretend and ride your scooters together.   You also love our big girl neighbors, Trinity, Faith and London, and Samantha.  They are so sweet to let you play with them outside on bikes or scooters and they even come and play with you at our house sometimes.  We have a great neighborhood and I look forward to watching you grow up with these kiddos!

Your other good friends here are Clara and Charlotte.  Their mommies are my friends so we have lots of playdates to the museum, the zoo, chick fil a, the splash park and many more.  Clara is moving and we will miss her but we know that miles don't matter when it comes to friends!

 Even though we have moved away, your best friend is still Ava. Her Mommy and I have made it a point to not let the miles get in the way of your friendship and we have done a great job so far!  They have come to visit us and we have gone to visit them and you were even both present at each other's birthday parties!

You love to face time or send videos back and forth to one another.  One of your favorite things to do with her is tell knock knock jokes.  Yall come up with some really good ones!  Of course you also love to play princess dress up and dance around at the royal ball any time you are together.

Your other good friend that has been far away for a while is Bekah.  You love to spend time with her at the ranch or when they come to Texas to visit. You have all the same interests so every time you are together it's like nothing has ever changed!  She is moving back to Texas this year so I know you will see alot more of her in the future.

 Another special group of friends that you talk about alot are the Louis kids- Henry, Margaret, and Simon.  We are so blessed to have so many friends that are like family and they are some of them!  You and Henry are cut from the same cloth and have alot in common and Margaret is getting on the princess dress up pretend play bandwagon.  Luke and Audrey Warminski are also some of your favorites in this group.  I know all these out of town friends will be your friends for life.

 

Another set of friends that are like family are the Hughes girls- Katelyn and Adelyn.  We went to college with their parents so we get together a few times a year and you love every minute of it.

 

You are such a friendly little girl and even when you don't know people you have no problem introducing yourself to the nearest little girl and making new friends.  Its so fun for me to watch.  I continually pray that God would place sweet, good, christian friends in your life, and that you would have a heart for the friendless.  So far he has answered that prayer!

When we aren't playing with friends or out and about, you love to be home.  Luckily, one of your other best friends is there with you- Cason!

You are the best best best big sister in the whole world!  Seriously, I am amazed every day at how much you love that little guy, and he loves you right back.  Today I heard you consoling him in your high pitched baby talking voice when he was crying.  You always make sure he has toys or a lovey to keep him entertained.  You care for him more than I ever expected and it makes my heart so happy.

You love to snuggle with him in the mornings.  You cannot wait to get him from his bed the minute you get up.  You are actually a snuggle bug with all of us!

 Another best friend under our roof is your Daddy.  You have developed quite the relationship with him over the past year.  I am so thankful for all the time he has to be home with us now!

You hide any time he is coming in from the garage so you can surprise him.  You go get the mail together and look for monsters, you wrestle on the bed, you read book after book, and you come up with all sorts of make believe scenarios and he plays them out just as you tell him to.

His favorite activity is taking Sunday afternoon naps with you.  He usually falls asleep first but you are never too far behind.

He is the best playmate for you and you love it!  Another special thing for you to do together is to play golf.  You love to load up your backpack with snacks and drinks and ride in the golf cart with him.  You putt a little and he helps you hit the driver.  It is a special time for both of you.  Sometimes Ree gets in on the golfing too and he is equally fond of your company on the course!

 I love spending my days with you too.  Our favorite things to do together are cooking, playing Memory or other board games, coloring, working puzzles, and riding our bikes.  We also love some snuggling on the couch to read or watch a show together.  Your favorite shows currently are Pinky Dinky Doo, Bo on the Go, Busytown, and Frannie's Feet.

 We had alot of fun attending all the children's musicals at the Paramount this year.  I hope we can keep doing this for years to come!

Well, I really think I should stop my bragging now.  Seriously, I could go on and on about you sweet girl!  You are a bright little light in our life and God has blessed us so much as your parents.  You are my best girl always and forever and I love you more that words can express!

XOXO, Your Momma