Dear Carolyn,
Today you are four-and-a-quarter. You wanted to know if that was almost like four-and-a-half, but it’s not. You should still tell people you’re four. Really, you only get to be four once, please try to enjoy it!
So, sleep. We talked about this last month. I thought maybe we’d found a solution with the sleep fairy CD, but after I posted about it last, you absolutely refused to listen to it that night. And the night after. And pretty much ever since then. But sometimes you do manage to sleep, except of course on those nights when you don’t.
You’re dealing with a slight (OK, maybe more than slight) bug phobia right now. To the point where we have to go upstairs and do “bug checks” multiple times before you’ll fall asleep, and you’ve woken me up out of a sound sleep several times screaming that there’s a bug crawling on you – in your hair, on your leg, wherever, and I have to check you all over (including getting out the comb and picking through your hair) to assure you that there are no bugs. From what I’ve read, this is quite normal at your age, to have a fear and have it be all-consuming. That doesn’t make the reality of it any easier – for either of us! No amount of reassurance that January is not a terribly bug-friendly month, or that bugs are so much smaller than us that we terrify them, or any such thing has worked so far.
But aside from that, things are great. You’re loving school, loving being a big sister, loving life in general. You really enjoy playing Animal Crossing on the Wii – actually, as games go it’s probably a great thing for you to play: there’s a lot of reading, some money management skills, and plenty of virtual gardening.
I’m still getting used to your short hair. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but I do look back at pictures of your long hair (especially in braids) and kind of miss it. But neither of us miss the tangles and the twice daily battle to try to get a brush through it. Daddy thinks your short hair makes you look younger, but I think it makes you look older. You definitely could pass for a kindergartner now. ;)
And speaking of kindergarten…I can’t believe I’m even starting to think about kindergarten for my baby girl, but here we are. Registration is just six weeks away, and I bet before I can say “my cute kindergartner” three times fast I’ll be putting you on the bus for your first day of school. I’m going to pretend I didn’t just type that, and go back to living in denial for the next few months of preschool. You know, the days can seem really long, but these years are flying by so fast it takes my breath away sometimes.
Love, Mommy
