Naomi, 4 Year-Old

Last week, Naomi turned 4!! I suppose at this point its a given, but WOW, my girl is growing up. We celebrated sufficiently - with a trip to the children's museum and lunch on her actual birthday, and then encouraging she and her friends to hit a butterfly (pinata) with a stick and fed them all breakfast and cake. She had a blast, and loved seeing family and friends.

So, her cake. This year, she wanted face-painting at her party (thank you Sunny!!) and "a face painting cake". At first, we thought we'd let the kids decorate cupcakes...but soon realized Naomi had a different idea: "I want a mama painting the face of a child." On the cake. What Naomi dreams, Mark executes!! Actually, they worked on it together, and it turned out pretty amazing.

(Here Naomi and Mark are decorating her cake the night before -- Carrot Cake, by the way)

To think about all that has gone on in the last year for Naomi is pretty big - she has gone from full time school, to two mornings a week, to home full time. She has aquired a brother. A year ago we were dealing with sleep issues (as in sleeping on our floor for 5 months), but she has been back in her own room for over 6 months now. Her thoughts and questions and problem solving are becoming more and more complex. And she is learning so much, and so much of it seems spontaneous. A few days ago she was sitting at her table, looked up at me and held up a hand, "this is left!", then she held up the other hand, "This is right!" And she was right! Tonight she asked us if we wanted to see "a new letter" she'd been learning in her room, and then wrote a "P". Her current love is Playmobil, and she will play that for a long time on her own. She wants to help with everything from mopping to cooking to gardening to feeding Micah (more on that later). She makes up songs and dances and stories all day. Happy Birthday Naomi!! Your mama and daddy love you so much!!