SENSE OF HUMOR (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

S's sense of humor is still developing. She laughs at silly discrepancies, like calling a circle, a square, or when momma asks, if momma's a trashcan or not when S hands her trash. She laughs at silly faces.

She still laughs at the potty words and fart noises. One day during Monday's playgroup, the kids told knock-knock jokes and the ending was the word "Stinky" to all the jokes and all the kids thought it was hilarious. She's memorized the two knock-knock jokes that she knows and ask them often.

She's beginning to laugh at slap stick. Momma wonders when she's gonna get daddy's puns?

SMARTIE PANTS (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

- Momma asked daddy to see what was wrong with the mower. He came back; he asked momma to guess what was wrong. While momma was guessing and trying to get daddy to give her the answer, S replied, "She can't read your mind dad."

ICE CREAM AT MIMI AND POPPY'S (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

Momma was (pleasantly) surprised when S asked if she was going to go to Mimi and Poppy anytime soon. "No," said momma. S continued with, "Do you think I can get ice cream again when I go to Mimi and Poppy." "Yes, if they have it," momma replied. S retored with, "Can we ask them to buy ice cream when I go there again?" Momma laughed, "Yes, we can call them and ask them the next time."

As a three/four year older, S is consumed with asking for treats.

FRIENDSHIPS (ALMOST 4 MONTHS)

Friendships are still tricky subject to master for S. She loves her friends, especially Talia, and talks about them constantly. But, as any pre-schooler, she still has problems sharing and taking turns. Lately, when her friend doesn't do what she wants, she gets upset.

At the Easter party today, Talia didn't want to do what Sarah did so Sarah got so upset and ran crying to momma. She asked momma to go ask Talia to come play with her. Momma complied and Talia still wanted to do something else. Momma tried to encourage S to do something else or play with someone else, but S stubbornly only wanted Talia.

Similarly, S told momma that Scarlet wasn't her friend. When momma asked why, S response was when they play family, Scarlet wanted to be the momma and she also wanted to be the momma and Scarlet wouldn't let her.

Momma wonders how to help S with these skills. Momma presently just tries her best to ignore her crying in hopes that it encourages her to solve her own problems. This is a tough situation for all, because momma's personality and experiences were so different from S as a child.

DO WORMS HAVE A HEAVEN? (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

WHERE DO I COME FROM? (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

S often asks momma to tell her about when she was a baby in momma's belly. S likes to hear how she moved around and would eat the same things momma did. Sometimes, she asks where she was before she was a baby. Momma replies, "You were an egg in me" and the response satisfies S. Sometimes, she asks how she was made. Momma says that "daddy took a little bit of him and added it to me, and then you were made." She seems satisfied with this answer until recently. Recently, her question has been, "How did daddy add a little bit of him into you?"

Momma wasn't sure how to answer this and tried to go around the subject, but S was pretty persistent. Momma finally responded with daddy added his "sperm" into momma, hoping that a new vocabulary word would distract her. But, S kept asking, "How did he add his sperm into you?" Finally, momma responded with, "Well, let's ask daddy when he gets home. Daddy's better at explaining this."

Momma wonders when is the right time to explain about the birds and the bees?!

SWIMMING (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

S had a FIRST at the swimming pool today. She put her head in the water and kicked her legs to swim to daddy. Then she did it again, back to momma. Momma started to direct her to use her arms too. So, then S kicked and used her arms to swim to daddy, again with her head in the water. Daddy was caught by surprise that he asked momma, "How long has she been doing this?" Momma's response was, "Right now."

S swam the width of the pool several times, sticking her head out of the water to dog paddle when she needed to breathe and then put her head back in the water to swim. When she would get tired or struggled, she would just get on her back and float.

S can also do the elementary back stroke; she learned that a couple of weeks ago. Momma thinks this all started because she's been getting use to wearing goggles and holding her breathe to fetch things in the water. Whatever the reasons, what a great moment to share with S!

TV (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

S seemed extra clingy tonight while momma was trying to get dressed for bed. Momma plopped S down on momma's bed but S kept whining to be carried and started to cry. Momma asked her to please calm down and threatened her with "momma wouldn't pick her up until she calmed down..."

Momma disappeared for a little bit in her closet and when she came out S was jumping up and down and breathing deeply. S looked at momma and said, "I'm taking deep breaths to calm down." Momma congratulated her and asked her where she learned it. S answered, "Ni Hao Kai Lan."

FIRST BIKE (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

Daddy attached the training wheels to S's bike today and she went on her first bike ride around the neighborhood. S did a great job and peddled the entire time. She fell of a couple of times, but luckily daddy caught her.

Her new "big girl" bike is purple with Princesses all over it, but what attracted S to it was the baby seat in the back. She rode around the neighborhood with her baby (Minnie Mouse) in the back seat.

After getting off, she insisted that she was getting better and would practice again tomorrow.

P.S. Momma bought the bike at Good Will. S responded on her first ride that she knew why it was called "Good Will" because you can buy good "wheels" there.

ITCHIES AND EAR ACHE (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

S constantly complaines of itches and ear aches. Both are interlated. Unfortunately, she's inherited allergies from both momma and daddy's side of the family. S constantly struggles with ezema, skin rash, due to allergies. They cover her legs, back, arms, and tummy. So, momma is constantly slathering her with lotion or cortizoid cream.

She also has alot of runny nose and sinus headaches. They often lead to her complaining about ear aches. After taking her to the doctor for the last couple of complaints of ear aches, the doctors have suggested it to be related to her runny nose and sinus, i.e. allergies.

Poor little girl! She will have to live with this for the rest of her life.

YARD WORK (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

Momma decided to kick off spring break week by a weekend of yard work, both to daddy and S's dismay. After alot of hard work, finally, the rose bed is gone. Daddy did a good job of tearing it down and digging it out. S mostly played by herself on the swing but near the end, she helped dig out some of the dirt herself and helped pull the lumber from the flower bed to the curb.

Momma and daddy are so lucky that S is at an age where she can mostly entertain herself. It's made a weekend dedicated to yard work, less grueling.

P.S. Despite all the work, there was some fun over the weekend too. Daddy, momma, and S went to the crawfish festival at the Nutty Brown and the Kite festival at Zilker park. Both are must do again next year!

LISTENING EARS (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

Where are S's listening ears? Momma gets so frustrated that S ignores her. Momma admits, often S is busily engaged in something: playing family, watching a video, or doing one of her projects.

On the other hand, if momma does something without consulting S, the decision can throw S into a conniption.

MAZES (ALMOST 4 YEARS OLD)

Mama started S on the Kumon workbooks at 3 years old. The first one was cutting and tracing. It was amazing how entertained she was with them. Now, she's working on the Easy Mazes book and she really enjoys it. It's amazing how quickly she's caught onto them. Daddy can't believe a three year old is into mazes!

DORA DORA (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

S has always had a love/hate relationship with the TV show Dora Dora. As she gets older, she finds the show more entertaining. Unfortunately, she's also scared of the Troll and Swiper. She often hides behind the couch when Swiper comes or asks someone to watch it with her. She refuses to watch the Troll completely. Luckily for her, there's still Dora's cousin, Diego.

I CAN DO BY MYSELF (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

Sarah has started doing many things by herself. Here is a list of some of them.
- Put on her shoes correctly
- Take on and off her clothes (sometimes a shirt gets stuck)
- Go to the potty by herself (most of the time)
- Wipe herself (most of the time)
- Brush her own teeth (just started)
- Buckle up her seatbelt
- Open and close the car door
- Select her own clothes (typically by color)
- Wash her hands

- Write her name (with help on the S)

Here's a list of the chores that she can do by herself (sometimes with prompting)
- Put her dishes in the sink
- Put her clothes in the laundry hamper
- Put away her toys (LOL)

DRAWINGS (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

S's drawings have become more representational. At first, she was drawing stick trees: circles with sticks underneath for the trunks. A green line underneath the tree represented the ground and a blue line above reprented the sky. Her stick trees are hard to distinguish from her lollipops. Next, came rainbows: multiple colored semi-circles drawn on each other. She recently started to draw people, mostly stick people with lop-sided bodies. All the effort is in the face: two eyes, nose, mouth and sometimes cheeks.

Today, she drew a house for the first time. It was a simple box house, with a door and window. Over the house was a rainbow and by the house was a tree. In addition to the green line, representing the ground, she drew short green strokes to represent grass. Of course, she added a large swab of blue above to represent the sky and a yellow happy sun.

Momma has been pleasantly pleased by S's artistic effort. She's not sure if this is normal self-progression for S or if this has been the influence of her pre-school. Never-the-less, it is amazing to see how S draws her world.

RUIDOSO (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

Daddy wanted to take S to play in the snow so everyone headed up to Ruidoso, New Mexico for a long weekend. One of the favorite parts of the trip was "Winter Park," a sledding park. S's favorite ride was through a tunnel carved out in snow. Momma's favorite part was the super high rides and daddy's favorite part was probably the conveyer belt that make sledding more fun and less work. He probably thought he would end up carrying everyone's tube up and down.

Momma and daddy enjoyed sharing this experience with S. When it snowed for the first time, S walked around with her mouth open and tongue out trying to catch the snow. She wanted to know if she could eat the snow and insisted several times in making a snow man. The most memorable time was the snow ball fight. S struggled to make a snow man with the powder but laughed and ran around throwing snow balls at both momma and daddy. Momma got a good throw in and got a snow ball right into daddy's open jacket.

All in all, everyone had fun and this may be the beginning of a new family tradition!

P.S. S had a couple of funny comments on the way to Ruidoso.

-- When driving to Ruidoso on Friday night, S commented on the empty road with, "no one is going where we are going."

-- When momma announced that she forgot to pack the bathing suits and there was an indoor pool, S responded with "I told you so." Earlier, she tried to convince daddy to pack her bathing suit.

ADORABLE (ALMOST 4 YRS OLD)

S is a natural early riser. Often, she's the one the comes to get momma up. Momma's typical response to a three year old prodding her to get up is to ask for five more minutes of sleep.

Last week, S was taking an exceptionally long nap. Momma tried to wake S up at 4:15 pm so they could meet friends at the pool by 5 pm. S woke up to momma's prodding and asked for "five more minutes please." Then, she snuggled back in the blanket and fell asleep. Momma gave her fifteen more minutes; afterall, S did get the habit from momma.

When momma related the story back to daddy, he called it, "adorable."