My little Brookie Bear is growing up way too fast. :(

I am so proud of the little girl she is turning into though.

Brookie is our little artist. She LOVES to draw and is quite good at it. You can tell what most of the things are that she is drawing and she gets the biggest grin when you guess right what is in the picture she has given you. If you get it wrong, she will make you guess over and over until you get it right. She won't let you give up easily either.

Last week she came over to me with a Princess Letters book of hers and said "Look what I did Mom!" She had copied the letter S and written it all by herself. No tracing or help at all. She has gotten really good at just copying what she sees. She can write MOM without any help or even seeing the word now. If you write her name, she can copy all of the letters and write it out.

We are still working on her recognizing what all the letters are, but I think she is on to a really good start.

Her new favorite thing to do is model for pictures. She will have me take pictures of her in certain outfits and she will strike different poses. It is SO adorable.

.Yes Mommy!.

Ah, the two words that you feel like you NEVER hear as a Mommy.

I told Brookie we needed to take a shower. Her response "No, not right now."

So instead of fighting with her, I went upstairs and made us a snack.

I came down the stairs, snack in hand, to find Brookie undressed and all ready to get in the shower.

I hope one day her favorite thing to surprise me with is cleaning the house...

or maybe just her room. :)

.4 Year Old Check-Up.

Last week, Brookie had her 4 year old check up at the Dr.

She is definitely not the shy little girl that she used to be. It was almost impossible for me to talk to the Doctor because she had so much she wanted to say. 

She weighs 33lbs and is 39 inches tall. She is right at the 30th percentile for both height and weight. 

She didn't pass her eye test...but I am not too worried about it at this point. The reason she didn't pass is because the very bottom line she said was "too small". Knowing Brookie, had she not been able to actually see it, she would have said that it was blurry or something. Things are always "too hard, too small, or too complicated" for Brookie. Classic excuses of hers to get out of doing things. When it's time for her to start school I will get her eyes checked just to make sure.

.The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

This morning we were invited by our neighbor Ashley, who has 2 kids the same age as Brookie and Lily, to go to friend day at the kids gym that they go to once a week. I knew the girls would enjoy, so of course we accepted.

The girls loved it. Brookie had so much fun and kept yelling out in class "Hey! Everyone! Look at me!" while she did what she had just learned. That was DEFINITELY an hour well spent...and an hour that clearly wore her out.

Then we ran some quick errands and grabbed some lunch. I took the girls in to JoAnn's with me so I could get some yarn. While we were in there, Brookie found this ball that was rubber and had gold sparkles in it that was kind of like a snow globe when you shake it up. She kept telling me she wanted to get it and I kept telling her that we were not going to buy anything except yarn. When we got up to the register we waited in line for a few minutes and the girls played with all the dollar stuff on the way up to the register. This next part caught me SO off guard, I reacted the best way that I could...

As we walked up to the register, Brookie must have thought we were leaving and heading out the door, she yells out just as I get up to the register, "Mom! Look what I stoleded!" as she opens up her jacket pocket to reveal the ball I had told her she could not get. I wish the store had been empty and that 5 other people had not seen and heard that moment, but sadly, they did. I quickly rushed over to her, took the ball and walked back to the register asking the cashier how much the ball was. She looked at it and said "I don't think we even carry these in the store. Someone must have left it. You can just have it." 

At least my child wasn't stealing something that they were actually selling???

I didn't even know she was old enough to know what stealing was OR where she learned it!!

After dinner I realized we needed a few things from the store and figured we could just make a quick trip over there before Aaron got home from working late. I got the girls in the car and we headed to Walmart. Brookie loves the carts they have with the extra seat that are insanely big and ridiculous to steer. I will only get them for the girls to sit on if we have a large shopping trip ahead of us. So, when we walked into Walmart, Brookie insisted that we get one of those carts. I told her no and got another cart and put Lily in it. She demanded again and I just ignored her and started to push the cart towards the produce section. Brooklyn RUNS in front of the cart and starts pushing it back screaming at me that she wants the other cart. I push back and tell her no and that we are in a hurry. She CONTINUES and starts having a MELTDOWN!! I have NEVER had anything like this happen in my life...or even seen it happen. I did the only thing I really could do at that point...I grabbed Brooklyn by the hand, left the cart sitting in the middle of the walkway and marched out of the store with her crying and screaming the ENTIRE way to the car saying "I'll listen Mom! Go back to the store!" over and over. People stared, which I can't blame them for, I would have probably stared too. She continued to do this the whole way home. As soon as we parked the car at home, Brooklyn unbuckled her seatbelt and CLIMBED over the front seat and climbed on my back still crying and screaming BEGGING me to go back to the store. I sat there stunned for almost 30 seconds before I just climbed out of the car with her hanging on my back like a little monkey.

I honestly can't help but just laugh about it. What else can you do?

.Since When?!.

When did 4 become the magical age that my little girl started doing

 "EVERYTHING" for herself??

Brookie can now brush her teeth perfectly and do "spits" (mouthwash) all by herself.

She dresses and undresses herself like a pro (no backwards pants, shirts or panties here!)

She helps clear and set the table.

It definitely comes with it's perks...

like the small amount of extra time it adds to my daily routine.

The downfall??

It reminds me that my little girl is growing up faster than I would like. 

Thank goodness she still loves to cuddle with her Mommy every chance she gets.

Don't you DARE tell me that is going to end soon!

.A Princess Party.

I am doing my best to catch up on some things that have happened that I haven't had the chance to blog about. 

The first one on the list...

Brooklyn's 4th Birthday Party!

When I asked Brooklyn what she wanted her birthday party to be about, she chose "A Princess Party".

It ended up being VERY easy to plan and put together, which I was grateful for. My energy level had JUST started to come back. The biggest thing she wanted was a castle cake. That took me a few hours to do, but I enjoyed doing it.

We just did a family party, as we have every year in the past. I think once Brooklyn starts school, she will probably want to invite her friends. For now, I will enjoy my sanity. :)

Princess Brooklyn in her special Princess dress

Brookie & her cousin Emily

Brookie & her cousin Vanessa

Lily taking off her Princess crown

As you can tell, this was Brookie's favorite gift. 

An airplane from Daddy.

Her castle cake

Overall, her party went great. I was extremely exhausted afterwards, but it was all worth it. She loved all of her gifts and didn't make fun of my cake making skills TOO much. 

.My Favorite 4 Year Old.

It is hard to believe that my little Brookie Bear is now 4. It makes me so happy and a little sad too. She is only getting closer to not being my little girl anymore. 

I was thinking about the relationship that I have with Brooklyn and the one that I have always wanted to have with my children. I can honestly say, I have formed a very strong bond with Brooklyn. She is still defiant, like most children her age, but still is the biggest sweetheart. She is always thinking of others. She hates to see other people sad or upset. She is usually willing to help, if she isn't already busy in her own little world.

February 3rd, 2007 

My little Princess was born

I had already fallen in love with this little girl long before seeing her face. The moment I held her for the first time and looked at her beautiful little face...that was one of the best moments of my life.

The love I have for her has grown more than I could express as I have watched her grow and seen her personality shine.

7 Months Old and making silly faces

My little 1 year old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

My 4 Year Old Princess

I feel so lucky to be able to have this little girl in my life. She brings me so much happiness and teaches me so much every day. She will always be my little girl and my little Princess. 

I LOVE  YOU BROOKIE BEAR!!!