Who You Are Right Now

Dear Rachel,

Today you are 4 years, 4 weeks, and 1 day old. 

You have long caramel coloured hair that goes halfway down your back in thin, unbrushed locks and big blue eyes.  Your favourite things to say are: "Well..." and "But it takes a long time, mommy..." because I'm constantly having to tell you to wait for things. 

Right now as I type this, you are in the bathtub with your sister. The bathtub is ugly grey in your grey bathroom.  You are putting bubbles all over Mermaid Dora and then washing them off with a little yellow plastic watering can. You have a running commentary for Dora about what you are doing to her. Your sister is in the tub, back-to-back with you. She's about to fight you for Dora, which is actually her doll. 

You are in preschool at The Performing Arts Preschool two mornings a week and you also go to Creative Movement dance lessons at Dance Extreme on Sunday mornings. The class is ridiculously slow and  you do the same thing every week. Your friend Molly (whose mom is my friend Gail, from when I was little) is in the class with you, but she doesn't like it either and doesn't always show up. 

People are always commenting on how sweet you are. You have the sweetest, softest little voice a lot of the time.  You are very sensitive and always asking for hugs and kisses. You tell everyone that you love them (you just told Cordelia that in the bath right now) about a hundred times a day. Whenever you do something you know you shouldn't have, you will look at me with sad eyes and a pouty lip and say, "Mommy... I love you."  I am a sucker for this, although you're going to realize this soon so I have to be more firm. 

You and Cordelia are fighting over the cups right now and you are sulking because I've told you that you cannot have the orange cup that you swiped out of her hand.  She's oblivious and tryng to get you to splash with her. I can see the start of a smile in your sulking face as she wins you over.

You talk a lot, as you always have. Your language is great, although you are going through that phase where you overgeneralize the -ed's on your words. You tell me that you ranned, or moveded, or wented somewhere.  You're starting to correct yourself now and use the correct tenses. It always saddens me a bit when you lose these little Rachel-isms about your language, although you would seem silly if you never did learn it. You still say 'vitaminin' for vitamin, which I make you say about 3 times every morning because it's so cute. Daddy tries to tell me that I have to prompt you to say it correctly, but I don't want to.

Rachel, you are the sweetest little four year old I have ever met. At every stage and phase you go through, I think "THIS is the best age! I want her to stay this age forever." and then you will grow and learn something new and enter a new stage and I will think it again. You just keep getting more delightful.  I love you so so so so so so much (which is something you tell me all the time). 

Love Mommy