Four is awesome

Four can also be a giant pain in my you-know-what and I did wake up this morning soaked in someone else's pee (it wasn't Mr. H) but let's focus on the positive. This is going to be a long post because four has been extra awesome this week and I don't want to forget.

Four did NOT want to wear her Christmas dress to the Nutcracker. I agreed on "the purple dress" only to discover she meant the sequined, too long purple dress up dress (thanks, mom). We compromised on this lovely green affair better suited for a summer wedding with a pink pajama shirt underneath.

 

She got a surprising number of compliments on the get up and was SUCH a lady during the Nutcracker. The flower dance in act two (is that the name?) got a bit long and fidgety but she held it together. As we were leaving we happened upon a cast interview and she was rapt in the front row listening to the dancers. For the record, Clara was 12 and Fritz was 11. You have to be 6 to try out for the Sacramento production.

 

Ignore the post-Christmas mess and focus on "Clara" dancing along with the Bolshoi Ballet tonight. She chose to watch the Nutcracker over Word World and even the Tom and Jerry dvd Santa brought her! Then she got dressed in her most Clara-like dress and danced along.

 

Backing up a few days--Christmas morning was hilarious. My parents and sister spent the night for what turned out to be a very anticlimactic morning. This shot of dumping the stocking was as crazy as it got. She was thrilled to receive a pack of gum and expressed general pleasure about everything she received but she was so....controlled. It was almost weird but we were able to enjoy a relaxed morning trading off gift opening and pausing to make and then eat cranberry lemon scones.

 

Another cute thing. We're currently enjoying 2 weeks (!!) off as a family. Gotta love teacher schedules and budget furloughs. Biscuit has taken up the habit of checking for eggs first thing in pajamas and, adorably, red rain boots.

 

Speaking of chickens, Four came up with a joke today. You should know that she is REALLY into potty words and "poopy" is pretty much the funniest word known to human kind. So here goes:

Why did the chicken cross the road? Because he had to poop! (insert laughter)

 

And tonight totally made up for getting peed on this morning (for the record, she has a cold and apparently that makes her a much deeper sleeper than normal. She's snuck into our bed for months with nary a scare of an accident and then I woke up drenched).

 

My mom got Biscuit a second hand kids sewing machine for Christmas and the kid was surprisingly enthusiastic to try it. She even wrote three thank you notes after dinner so she could give it a whirl.

After a test run on cotton, we got to her project of choice, a doll dress for the doll were were supposed to make for her school. (In October. Oops).

 

I helped guide the fabric but she followed the white crayon line surprisingly well and completely controlled the foot pedal.

 

I was so proud but I think she was even prouder. "Look what I made all by myself!" "My doll's dress is perfect!"

Tomorrow we have to give this overdue doll a face and hair. And then I'll make Biscuit a matching dress because I have a lot of that gray, striped knit and her favorite summer dress (oddly) is made from that fabric. Time for a long sleeve winter version.

Yay for four. Yay for vacation!

Comments

[Swistle]

Yay for four!

[nanann]

My 4 year old is asking me to learn to sew -- has even spotted the kid machines at Joann's but not really in the budget. I'm a little nervous to relinquish control of my machine but your post gives me hope!

(btw, hi! long-time reader. Maybe found you through Swistle initially? I'm pretty sure that's it, but it was a long time ago!)

[Melissa Haworth]

Nanann, thanks for reading and saying hi. Biscuits little machine is really loud but goes reasonably slow and only does a forward straight stitch. If your real machine has a speed control and youre right there ready to step in I bet your four year old could give it a try. Good luck!