Reese: Almost Four

The count down to Reese's 4th birthday has begun. And for anyone curious, as of today there are 73 days left until she is officially a four year old.

Reese finished up her second year of mother's day out a much more confident girl than the one I dropped off in Septemeber. On the first day of school her teacher took a picture of each child and their parent during drop off time. They used the photos to create a class book. On the last day of school Reese's teacher dismantled the book and returned all the photos and pages to the students. In Reese's first day picture you can't even see her face--she's burying it in my shoulder. When she saw the picture come home she told me, "I was so silly! School's not scary!"

While Reese enjoyed school, I think she needed a break this summer. Since our summer "routine" has begun, Reese has made a return to napping. (Cue angelic choirs!) She still doesn't nap every day, but more days than not she takes a quick cat nap. The change in her behavior has been magical. She's more empathetic, helps her sister, plays independently, whines less, and may finally  be entering the "I want to please" stage of childhood. From a parent's perspective, it's a joy and infinitely better than the Terrible 2/3s.

During Reese's playtime at home she has begun constructing VERY imaginative and detailed scenarios. One of her favorite things to do is to play store. "Maybe when I'm twenty-five I can be a checker at HEB." she tells me. Playing store requires no less than forty minutes of preparation, and once she's ready Reese would glady play all day--if only her customers had the same patience. To begin playing store Reese gathers ojects from her room and all over the house, then she must create price tags. She is VERY particular about how much items cost. Ice cream, for example, costs "$10 because that's expensive, and it's only a special treat. If you eat too much it will make your tummy hurt and it's bad for your body." Once her items are priced she lays them out--not on a single table, though. Her items are spread out all over the kitchen and dining room because her store "must have aisles." She runs the cash box (full of pretend money from mommy's old classroom) and checks to make sure you give her "just the right amount" of money.

Reese takes a similarly thorough approach to cooking in her kitchen. In order to cook she must now have recipes. I have made her no less than six or seven recipe cards this week with pictures and words so that she can make things like popcorn, spaghetti, muffins, and chicken pot pie. The cooking materials in her play kitchen are no longer realistic enough either--she is constantly stealing  borrowing items from my kitchen cabinets. If ever I can't find my whisk, muffin tins, or baking sheets, I immediately make a visit to Reese's room.

Reese is very anxious to start reading. She knows some books by memory and easily "reads the pictures" in many others, but she realizes that she doesn't know how to read "all the words." Today in the car she was looking at a book she checked out from the library. She asked me, "Mommy, what is the word w-h-a-t?" And so our game of "Who's on First" Began:
Me: what
Reese: No, what does w-h-a-t say!
Me: It says what
Reese: No, no, no! w-h-a-t. What word is that?
Me: Reese, w-h-a-t spells 'what.' The word is 'what.'
Reese: Really?
Me: Yes, really.
Reese: oh, ok.