Piper Turns 4

On Saturday, Piper turned 4 and we had her party on the same day (blog post to follow on that).  It's just so hard to believe that she's 4, since it seems just like the other day that she was little bitty.
I know I'm a bit late posting this, but Piper had her 4 year well check yesterday, so I wanted to wait for her stats before posting.

Waiting for the bird show to start at the Dallas Zoo

Piper loves to go and do fun things, especially if her brother is involved, which is most of the time.  I didn't grow up with siblings in my house, so this relationship they have, while baffling to me at times, is really everything I ever wanted for them.  They do fight and they are totally normal kids, but they are happiest when they are together. When I was growing up, I always wanted to grow up and have 2 kids, the first being a boy to help take care of his younger sister.  I never knew that they would be such a team and makes me so happy that they are so close!
Most of the time, when we play with other kids, Piper is the youngest and sometimes the only girl.  But, Piper is super athletic, so most of the time she can hang with all the older boys and what they are doing.  We are starting to have friends that are just hers (meaning her age), though, so she's got her own little posse of kids that she runs with too!

Dinner at La Madeleine with Mama after seeing a local middle school rendition of her favorite book, Pinkalicious

Piper is all girl and one of her favorite things to do is hang out with Mama, which is always a good excuse to get chocolate somewhere.  She loves to shop and she loves to have her toes painted, but only by me.  This girl also loves to dig in the dirt and climb rock walls and run as fast as she can.  She's a well rounded girl, that one!

Modeling her new sunglasses 

One of Piper's weaknesses that I have no trouble indulging is her love for accessories.  This girl always has a bow or clip in her hair, a bracelet on, or one of her many pairs of sunglasses.  Like I said above, she's a girly girl!

Participating in a one room school house with a homeschool group at Log Cabin Village in Fort Worth

Piper has been growing in leaps and bounds in learning and has started recognizing and reading sight words.  However, Piper is full of attitude and sass, so sometimes when I ask her what a word is, she'll say she doesn't know, even when she does.  Then she'll tell us what something says, completely out of the blue, and surprise us all.  She's silly, that girl.  At this point, Piper can write her name and all the other basic stuff that she's been able to do for some time (letter, number, shape, etc recognition).  I have some homeschooling moms who have kids Piper's age and are pushing their kids to read and such, but I have decided not to do that at this time.  She has one more year before we start Kindergarten, so I'm just going to let her have her last year and do fun things with her while Caleb is working on his school work.

Posing for photos before her dance recital

This year was Piper's second year of dance and she moved up to the 3/4 year old class.  Last year's class was more about having fun and if the girls learned some skills then we were coming out ahead.  This year, it was all about teaching serious skills in preparation for them continuing on in their dance careers.  At the end of this year, all of the girls were evaluated to determine what class they should move up to and Piper was chosen to move to the 5 year old class due to her skill level.  She loves dance and looks forward to it each and every week, so we will be continuing it for as long as she chooses to participate.

Her first introduction to sponge rollers

Piper is just in love with all things that breathe and move.  She is super fascinated by animals and would do just about anything to help one, including bugs.  My mom watched the kids for me one Saturday while I was at a work thing and Jes was working, and when I picked them up Piper was full of stories that my mom told her about how she used to keep doodle bugs (roly polys, pill bugs, whatever you call them) as pets.  You can guess what I've been finding all throughout my house since then.
Piper also has a great propensity and interest and love for all things about the human body.  Granted, she comes by it honestly, but I have to say that she was given to the right Mama since that's my specialty.  She wastes no time reading about or talking about all the things she knows about the body, continually baffling normal people and impressing medical professionals.  One of my earliest memories is reading medical encyclopedias that my mom and dad bought for me, so I'm guessing I'm going to have to get this kid reading faster so that I can do the same for her!

Riding the carousel after a water ride (obvs) at Six Flags 

Yesterday, at her appointment, we found that Piper weighs 40 pounds and is 41 inches tall.  She's on the higher end of the chart, but is still smaller than where her brother was at this point.  Her blood pressure and heart rate were good, but just like one of our kids, there was something else that popped up.  She failed her vision test.  So, we have a visit to our favorite eye doctor in our near future for a more thorough exam and determination if she needs corrective lenses.
Piper is growing and maturing and is just the sweetest little girl that I've ever met!  I tell her everyday that she's my favorite girl and there are no truer words spoken!  She brings so much joy and light to our worlds and we are blessed to have her in our family!