Dear Abby (age 4)

Abby - you are a sweet, smart, little girl.  You've got so much personality and are so kind.  As always, you've got SO much to say and you crack me up every single day with the things you come up with.  The other day when I picked you up from daycare you told me that you got "wasted out" when you were playing outside.  I have no clue what that means, but it's a new phrase around our house and makes me laugh every. single. time.

Favorite color: Blue.  Nothing else to say here.  It's the only color you want to paint with.  The first crayon you pick out and the only marker you want to use.  It takes a lot of urging to get you to try something else.

You are an awesome big sister and Hazel is just getting old enough for you to start to see how fun having a little sister can be.  You try to teach her all kinds of things and I can tell already that the two of you will get into plenty of trouble together in the next few years.

Favorite Foods: Mac and Cheese or chicken nuggets but you prefer fruits and veggies over just about anything.  You are still a pretty picky eater but I have a feeling you eat much better at daycare than you do at home.  Maybe that's my fault.  How in the world will you ever grow if you don't eat protein?

We finally turned you front facing in your car seat.  You aren't quite at the max weight to flip you but you are four and taking a small bus to PRESCHOOL (how?!?!). On the bus, your car seat is front facing so we figured it was time to flip you in our cars as well.

You are very outgoing and your favorite thing to do is to have friends over to our house to play and swim.  But, you also have a shy streak, I saw it on the first day of school.  You stuck really close to me and spoke really softly.  You told me you were "sort of nervous" but, when I picked you up from daycare that night you were your normally bubbly self, telling me all about "the adorable potties and they have blue stuff in them that makes them really pretty!"

Favorite shirt/outfit:  Last year it was your "Greg shirt" hands down but this year this one is a little harder to answer.  I suppose the right way to answer it is that you don't have a specific favorite but you really want to pick out your own clothes each morning and will only let me choose once in a great while.  You also really love it when you can be "matchers" with your sister.  I suppose I should embrace that right now.  I have a feeling that phase won't last forever.

Favorite stuffed animal: Owie - always and forever.  He goes with you just about anywhere you go.  Though, you've done REALLY well with not being able to take him to pre-school.  I wasn't sure how you'd react when I told you that you couldn't take him to Ms. Shannon's room but you seemed unconcerned.  And, I'm noticing that Owie is getting the boot for your blanket at daycare these days.  Not every day, but once or twice a week you choose to bring your blanket and not Owie with you.  I've told you you can only take one (mostly because I can't keep track of remembering to bring them all back home at the end of the day).

It's clear to me after a few weeks in preschool that you are a little sponge for everything that happens there.  The other night we sat down in your room to read your bedtime story and I said "The Bearenstein Bears Forget Their Manners" - reading the title - and you responded "Psalm 40, verse one".  You literally made me laugh out loud kid - you are something!

Height and Weight:  You've grown an inch since we measured you on your birthday so I'm pretty sure we're in the throws of a growth spurt.  You weigh just over 30 lbs and are 39 inches tall.  You're in the 0-10% range for both height and weight.  You've always been on the teeny side.

Favorite TV shows:  Again - I'm not sure if I can pick a single favorite right now.  You're channel is definitely Disney Jr. but you'll watch just about anything that comes on there.  We've gotten away from the DVR for you because it's too much work for me to always be coming over to reset or restart something so you're pretty much stuck with whatever is on that time.

Bears or Packers?: You love the "Go Pack, Go".  There's not very much else to say here.  I think the Green and Gold have won your heart.  You swear up and down that Hazel likes the Go Pack, Go too which is NOT what Daddy wants to hear.  We'll see where she ends up falling.  She's not quite old enough to have an opinion yet.

Fears: One of your biggest fears these days is public restrooms.  Not the restroom so much as the automatic flushers and automatic hand dryers.  It's literally the first thing you check out as soon as we walk into public restrooms.  If there are auto flushers you rarely relax enough to go pee...and all bets are off if you hear someone next to us flush or the hand dryers start!  You say you're all done - even though you aren't and we're inevitably stopping to pee again 10 minutes down the road. 

Favorite Movies:  You saw your very first movie theater movie this summer with Grandma and Finding Dory is now your favorite toys (outside of Owie of course...he's your number one guy).