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Dear Vera: 4 Years Old

By Dawn Sailors In Dear Vera

Dear Vera,

You turned four years old yesterday. It was snowing outside, just like the day you were born, and it doesn’t seem like it was all that long ago. In four years, you’ve grown into such a feisty little thing. You are smart and funny, animated and spirited, and you surprise me all the time. Your current favorite phrases are “I was wondering if…”, “I have a question for you…”, “Look at me…”, and “Is that a good idea?”. That last one is usually said after you explain something you plan on doing. As in, “Mom, I think I’m going to take my Barbie to daycare, but not her shoes, so the babies don’t try to eat them. Is that a good idea?”

You’re starting Preschool next week and are a little nervous about that, alternating between excitement about being a big girl, and anxiety about such a big change. We were very happy to get your sister into daycare a few weeks early, meaning that you got to help her get used to the place. You love having ‘your baby’ at daycare with you. I know once you start preschool you’ll love it there. I also know you’ll miss your friends and ‘teacher’ at daycare, especially when you see your sister get dropped off there every day without you. I’m hoping for the best.

Your favorite things include music and dancing. You also love to read books (be read to, since you can’t read on your own yet) and make art projects- anything from painting to play dough. Your current nicknames include Veer, Verie, V, and Vera Deara. You like to be in control of whatever you can, and therefore love the iPad, where you can pick your own games and videos to watch. In the mornings, you like to wake up early and lay quietly next to me in bed playing games until your sister forces me to really wake up for the day. As soon as we hear her on the monitor, you’re all over her. You love to be the first one in her room, opening her blinds and asking her how she slept. You talk to her and hold her hands through the crib slats until I come in to pick her up. Then you help me get her dressed by picking out her socks. You love to be my helper. Sometimes you’re still too rough with her, but nearly every time you make her whine or cry from playing too rough, you burst into tears yourself because you feel so bad about it. You’re learning what’s too much though, and getting better at playing with the baby. It helps that she’s getting older and more durable too. :)

Every night you have your own little bedtime routine too. You play with your dad while I put Juniper to bed. (Your two favorite games are tag and the copy game, where you just alternate repeating everything the other one says.) Then it’s time for jammies, teeth, water bottle filled up (you sleep with this by your bed), and you pick out a story for me to read to you. Then we say prayers and sing bedtime songs, and finally we take turns telling each other about our days. After that, you like your dad to come in and say goodnight to you before you’ll go to bed. Once all those things are done though, you’re an excellent sleeper, and we usually don’t see you again until the next morning.

You have your dad’s nose, dimple, hair, and eyebrows (sorry about that one, hun) and you have my mouth and eyes (although a different color- yours are still a very pretty hazel/gray). You’re getting taller all the time. You prefer to wear almost anything over jeans (because they’re hard for you to pull up and down alone), and you don’t like me to fix your hair. Although I can usually get around this by telling you that if you don’t take care of your hair, we will have to cut it short. It’s just finally started to get long, so the prospect of cutting it off is enough to persuade you to at least let me comb it before we leave the house. Speaking of cutting your hair, I’ve finally embraced the fact that your bangs still don’t grow, and just cut you some blunt bangs that actually look very adorable on your little face. You’ve still never been to a salon, as I’ve always just cut your hair at home, but it’s starting to grow longer now and feel I may soon be out of my depth.

You alternate between being very girly (wearing princess dresses and loving dolls) and being a bit of a tomboy (see the hair comment above). You also love playing outside whenever possible, and love anything to do with sports. We got you a Frozen bicycle (and matching helmet) for your birthday, and you absolutely cannot wait until it’s warm enough to go outside and ride it. I want to get you into some gymnastics and swimming lessons this spring to harness that energy. I think you would really love that.

We love you, my little Verie. Our lives are forever changed and are so much better with you in them. We can’t wait to see how you grow and change in the next year.

Love, Mom