Dear Carolyn,
Today you are 3 and 3/4 years old! To say that a lot has changed in your life this month would be a little bit of an understatement. You’ve gone from being an only child to being a great big sister – and while we haven’t gotten all the details sorted out about that, you’re adapting better than anyone could have predicted. But you haven’t only become a big sister this month, let’s see what else has happened…
You amazed me the other day when I pulled out a deck of sight word flash cards for ages 6 and up, and you read all but maybe 15 of the 150+ words. You didn’t sound them out, you just read them. I don’t know why I found it so incredible, since you were practically reading all of “One Fish, Two Fish” a couple of weeks ago, but I guess I’d talked myself into believing you’d memorized the book after we read it to you a couple of times. Not so. You are officially reading, and acting like it’s the most normal thing in the world for you to be doing.
Lately everything has been about you turning four. I think it’s because you’ve been to a couple of birthday parties over the past few weeks, but you’re obsessed with turning four. When we ask you if you want to try a new food, you say “no thank you, but when I’m four I will like it!” You somehow got it into your head that you have to be four before you start preschool in the fall – although you don’t, and won’t, but we’ll have to deal with that closer to when school starts. Oh, and at the moment, you want an alligator cake for your birthday. I’m kind of hoping you change your mind, since I’m not quite sure how to make an alligator cake, but if you insist we’ll figure it out!
So about this big sister gig. I have to admit, when we first got home with Anna, your exuberance and energy was overwhelming to me. It took a few days for me to realize that you were just trying very hard to make sure you still had an important place in our family. It’s going to take us all a little while to figure out how to be a family of four instead of a family of three, but you will always be as special and important as you were before Anna joined us. I promise.
Love, Mommy