Thoughts on Meredith at 4

We're all sick. I'm not well enough to finesse these sentences, so just roll with it and don't leave any comments telling me I missed a comma. This is just a collection of thoughts on my firstborn.

The birthday cupcake.

Mer says thank you for things that I wouldn't even mind if she took for granted. Like when she saw the birthday cake I made her...or when I switched out her summer for fall clothes, and put more clothes within her reach (watch out world). She said thank you many times, in many ways, and then (to be sure I was listening), grabbed my face and said "thank you so much for doing all this." I find this impressive, considering I'm pretty sure I was under the impression that my parents were my servants 'til I was about 18.

I love the way kids her age latch on to words and phrases. First, I love it from a learning standpoint. We could be half listening to NPR on the in the car, and she'll call from the back, "Mom, what in the WORLD is 'Minnesota'?" Or any other unfamiliar word that she hears. Then she makes it her own. I'm not sure where she picked this one up, but when I asked her to hand me some clean onesies yesterday, she clasped her hands to her heart and said, "Mother, I would be HONORED, I would be HONORED to hand you those onesies." Well, alright.

Surprise bike!

She's sick right now. I was busy helping Chris and Madeline with various things. I walked by the living room to check on her. She was sitting quietly, throwing up into bowl, watching her show. Not a peep. Tough. Sorry--gross story--but it broke my heart the way she was just coping.

I'm starting to see her as a peer, of sorts. I really love talking with her. Granted, she insists that many of our conversations focus on her favorite topics: firefighters and their jobs, what happens when you go to the doctor, what happens when we go to the airport. But still, they're always pleasant and insightful exchanges.

First ride, with wardrobe change.

She has some strongly held opinions about fashion (she hates it when I wear black). In the above picture, you'll notice the ensemble is quite different from the previous picture, when she received the bike (10 minutes before). All we told her to do was to go put some shoes on so she could ride. She came down in the dress. She also wears the helmet as frequently as possible.

She loves her sister and her cousin so much. And her helmet.

Meredith is a huge fan of Taco Bell. When we're running errands, she's always angling for a cheese roll-up. She'll also still eat anything else we give her. Last night I convinced her that four is the age at which you eat soup, so she ate spicy white bean soup with us. Weird. While I will continue my nonchalant attitude towards trying new foods and hope for the best, I do not expect Madeline to continue in this vein. In fact, she threw up on Chris when we introduced pureed green beans last night. But that's another kid.

Another new word: I finally introduced "tacky" the other day. While I generally avoid judgmental words, I felt that we needed some clarity on the issue of socks with sandles. So a few hours later, I plopped myself down on the floor next to Madeline. We were eye to eye, and my rear was in the air - I'm just silly sometimes. Meredith promptly looked me up and down and said, "Mom, that's tacky." True, true.

Sometimes, out of the blue, she says how much she likes to be with her family. Couldn't agree more, babe.