Happy 4th Birthday, Rebecca!!!

Our little girl turned 4 on Tuesday!  Happy Birthday, Rebecca.  We enjoyed a fun day and a low key celebration at home as a family.

In the morning we had Kindermusik.  Rebecca brought treats to class, and everyone sang to her.  She felt very special :)

In the afternoon we made ice cream.  Then Daddy came home a little early so we could do presents before dinner.  Rebecca was so excited about everything she received - a Snow White doll with all of the dwarfs, a mini etch-a-sketch, a mini computer, a Playmobil hospital set and a Lego Friends beauty shop.

For dinner we had Rebecca's request - pizza balls (she came up with the idea and told me exactly how she wanted them made :) with peppers, onions and bacon (again her ideas).  After dinner we had cake and homemade vanilla ice cream.  Rebecca had a Lego Friends cake this year.

We had a fun time celebrating with our sweet girl.  She truly enjoyed her special day and is very excited to be a "big four year old" now :)  Rebecca has been getting a lot of use out of all of her presents already.

Yesterday was Rebecca's four year check up.  She did great!  Rebecca weighs 37 1/2 lbs. (50-60%) and is 39 1/2" tall (50%).  Right in the middle :)  The doctor was very impressed with all of Rebecca's skills in terms of writing, spelling, drawing, counting, etc.  She has a lot of 5 year old skills.  She also is doing great physically.  She is a smart, healthy girl.  Rebecca was very well behaved and cooperative during the check up.  And of course she was her usual chatter box self, telling the doctor all about her presents and that she's four now.

We did discuss a few concerns as well, regarding Rebecca's ability to focus and her eating issues.  The doctor confirmed our thoughts on the subjects, which was reassuring.  For now we will take note of her focus/attention span.  It very well could just be a maturity thing.  She is obviously very bright, but her mind is going a mile a minute and never stops.  Hopefully as she matures she will be able to slow her thinking process and have more control.  We'll see how she does in preschool and talk more at her next check up.  For now we need to do our part to control her environment a little bit so that things aren't overstimulating for her (i.e. too many toys out at once, too many distractions, etc.).  The doctor also said her chewing issues are fairly common.  A lot of kids are sensitive to certain textures in foods.  They simply can't chew/swallow things.  Rebecca has been this way ever since she started solid foods.  Unfortunately it can last well into the teenage years!  So we need to really notice which foods are problematic and avoid them or figure out how to change their texture to make them more palatable for her.  She has made great progress in the last year with things like pea soup, squash, etc. (thick foods), with foods that are squishy (like scrambled eggs) and with foods that are "stringy" (beans, bananas).  One food that Rebecca still really struggles with is oats...in any form (granola, granola bars, oatmeal, etc.).  She just hold them in her mouth until they are a pile of mush and she literally can't swallow them without gagging.  So for now we are avoiding those.  But at least we're making progress, and we know she can eat most foods just fine.  Now if we could get her to focus long enough to actually take bites of her food and it didn't take her an hour to eat 1/3 of her meal we'd be all set :)

Overall Rebecca is doing great.  She still loves to read and learn.  She asks what seems like a million questions a day.  If we ask her why she asks so many questions she says it's because there is just so much to learn!  Rebecca has a great imagination.  She is always coming up with new stories and scenarios for her dolls and toys.  Rebecca is very musically inclined.  She loves to dance, sing and play instruments.  She even knows how to play Hot Cross Buns on the piano while singing along.  She loves Kindermusik.  And we are considering trying a dance class at some point.

Rebecca really enjoys playing outside.  She's making great progress with riding her bike, and she likes to practice her soccer skills.  We've had one class so far, and she really likes it.  Rebecca also has her own garden this year.  She loves helping Daddy in the garden, and likes to check the progress of her vegetables frequently.

Rebecca is really doing well with her letters, counting, writing, drawing, coloring, etc.  She enjoys making crafts, drawing pictures of people and writing words.  Rebecca is also starting to "read" some sight words.  She knows how to spell a handful of words and is starting to recognize them when she sees them on a page.  Rebecca will often point to words (when she knows what something says...like a book title) and go syllable by syllable point at the words, acting like she's reading.  She still devours books and can read an entire chapter book in one sitting with you if you have the time :)

It's hard to capture everything in words.  Rebecca is our smart, silly, creative, non-stop energy girl.  She loves to make her brother laugh.  And she loves to snuggle.  We thank God for this precious gift.   Happy Birthday, sweet four year old :)