Natalie the 4 Year Old

True or False: We got Natalie's eyebrows waxed and colored for her birthday. 

Answer: False

But those stickers sure look awesome don't they?

Natalie's birthday was also the first day of school. We had done a little celebrating as a family on Saturday night with Natalie's choice of movie (Chicken Run) and choice of treats (M&Ms and chocolate ice cream). Since the kids wake up around 6, we ended up having plenty of time to open presents in the morning before walking to school. Emmy was helpful as always. 

Natalie, Emmy, and I had a fun little day together that included spending some birthday money at Toys R Us and a Happy Meal lunch. She also got to go play at her friend Jane's house in the afternoon. Once Nate was home from work, we had dinner and moved on to the cake and ice cream. Does Natalie love Hello Kitty? No. Did she request a Hello Kitty cake? No. I just thought it was a doable cake, so I chose it for her. :)

I might be "done" with the whole birthday cake thing. It's certainly not my strong point, as evidenced here, but mostly, we just don't get all that excited about cake. Here's my idea: sit down with each kid before their birthday and show them a ton of dessert ideas and pictures from the internet and they choose one for us to try on their birthday.

All day I wanted a nice little picture of Natalie with her hair done and her face clean. But that's not my Natalie. This is.

What else about our Natalie?

• Still completely and totally attached to her pink blanket. I have to do some thinking on this one...I am trying to decide how to continue to handle her love for it. Same with the thumb sucking.
• She is a really good eater for the most part. Her favorite snacks are string cheese, grape tomatoes, bananas and nutella, yogurt and granola, carrots with ranch, and milk. 
• Although Jansen was the early reader, I see Natalie possibly being the bookworm. She loves to make up the words to her books, have them read to her, or just look at the pictures.
• I am so lucky to have such an imaginative child. She plays incredibly well on her own. I rarely have her ask me to play with her. She loves Littlest Pet Shops and other small animals.
• She plays very messy though. Lots of nests, piles, scraps of paper, etc. 
• She loves to be outside. She asks all the time to go camping, and loves to hike, bird watch, and get dirty. 
• She wakes up between 6 and 6:30 and usually comes semi-running out of her room yelling Emmy's name...who is our early riser.
• She can be emotional and sensitive. She responds so well to positive words and needs hugs a lot. Hugs calm her down the quickest when she is upset.
• She loves to stuff odds and ends from around the house in envelopes and tells me who to send them to. I should probably really send them. Who wouldn't love a screw, a bead, a gum wrapper, and a bobby pin?
• She can get really annoyed with Emmy, but she is also so sweet with her. Oftentimes when we get in the car to run an errand, Natalie will bring a sippy a cup of water for Emmy, all on her own.