Kate 4.5

(I'm a bit late with this, but the picture was taken on June 27th.)

Kate at four-and-a-half:

Likes her hot dog with ketchup, mustard, and sauerkraut. And then extra ketchup and more extra ketchup.

Can be persuaded to eat green beans or peas with a little bribery, but will eat broccoli with no urging at all.

Likes to pretend to be a dog (usually Clifford) and do tricks and beg for a cookie.

She's strong-willed and opinionated, as usual, though her arguing technique mostly consists of insisting loudly and repeatedly that things are other than they are. ("I don't know how to do that, dear." "Nooo! You do! You DO!")

Lately we've been playing some two-player games like Square Meal on nitrome.com. She likes being able to play with someone. Square Meal is right about her speed.

She's finding that playing with other kids is different from playing with Mom and Dad, where she pretty much gets to tell us what to do ("Let's play shark and octopus. Okay, you be the shark.") There's a bit more give-and-take required with people closer to her own age.

We've introduced her to some fun songs lately, like "I know an old lady who swallowed a fly," and "On top of spaghetti," and "It's been a looooooong winter." Sometimes she asks for one or two of these along with her bedtime books and stories. She also likes me to sing "Stay Awake" once she's all tucked in and ready to go to sleep.

She still has trouble with "sh" and "ch" sounds--they both come out as hard S's.

She's discovered the hilarity of playing with words--like reading Danny and the Dinosaur and changing it to "Banny and the Binosaur". (This is, apparently, a real crack-up when you're four.)

She's reading quite a bit. My mom got her a subscription to Highlights High Five magazine, which she loves. It's so exciting when a new one comes. She'll sit down and look through it and sound things out all by herself.

Kate is an enthusiastic and expressive artist!



Here's a shark that she drew a few weeks ago. I love it. (I'm thinking I should have her draw a bunch of sea creatures for me and then I can get them made into vinyl wall decals for the bathroom.)

She's also getting a little more critical of her own drawing. One day when she was having trouble getting something just the way she wanted it, she called, "Mom! I need help! I can't draw a triceratops!"

So I looked at what she had and said, "Oh! That's a great triceratops!"

"Nooooo!" She wailed, "It looks like a BUG!"

Kate is learning to be a good big sister. I hope she and Andy will enjoy playing together as they grow up.

We love you sweetie!