Kaitlyn's 4 Year Report

It is absolutely wonderful and amazing to think that Kaitlyn is FOUR years old. Four is such a wonderful age! I am savoring every moment of this time with her. I think that four years old may be my favorite children's age. I love the newness of a newborn baby, but that certainly doesn't last for long..the fatigue hits and then it is more work than pleasure....somewhere around 6 months it gets fun. So I think 6 months maybe be my 2nd most "fun" age also..until the crawling starts and their getting into everything! Two is hard and tiring for the parents, three is easier and fun, but FOUR... I LOVE IT! I think what I love most about the age is that they are starting to become independent and individuals, but also still very cute and small! It is really the best of both worlds. I love how a four year old talks...there is nothing cuter!!!

Kaitlyn at age four-
Appearance
On Friday we have Kaitlyn's 4 year pediatrian visit. I'm looking forward to seeing her stats..but I can say that she is smaller than Krista was at this age. Her feet are so tiny compared to where Krista was at this age. I pulled out a bag of Krista's old clothes that she wore at age 4, and most of it is too big. Kaitlyn is wearing size for age clothing 4T fits nicely...whereas Krista always seemed to wear a size higher than her age *(ie 5T at age 4).

Kaitlyn has the BLUEST eyes. I think her eyes are the most brilliant of all the children. Everyone has blue in the family but her eyes just glow. She has a very nice complexion..more towards Erik and Toomas' complexion, with a tendancy to be less sensitive in the sun. Krista has a lot of freckles, but Kaitlyn will probabally not have that skintype--although it is still a bit early to tell for sure. Her bangs have FINALLY grown out. We have been trying to get her hair one length for some time now and for about a year it was difficult and messy. I think we have rounded the hump now and she can get the back trimmed to the length of the front. It is much darker than Krista's hair. At this age Krista was very blonde, while Kaitlyn has a much darker color, although still with a lot of red and blonde highlights.

Socialization
Kaitlyn started French pre-school in September and in the last 8 months has made GREAT strides! In the last month she has started speaking more and more in French. I am abolutely astounded at how quickly the language has come for her. By far she has excelled in the communication front vs the older kids. She can use sentences already and has a good amount of words. She has managed to make friends already at school as well....and has been invited to a birthday party and a lunch date at another girl's house. For Erik and Krista the friendships and language skills were developed in the 2nd year of pre-school. I'm really happy to see her integrate so easily.

Language
Kaitlyn has definately had more exposure to French at this age than Krista did at this age (with the older children's activities and outings), but honestly she didn't speak a word of French before September. Toomas speaks exclusively Estonian to the children and I speak exclusively English. Our "dinnertable" language is English so that is by far the stronger of the the 2 languages. I would say that Kaitlyn is sligthly behind her age level for English perhaps...just due to the fact that her brain is already having to process and store words in 3 languages. It seems to me that for a few years the maternal language, although still very good...is slightly under par for the average "native" child for the same age. She still does very well but does make a number of grammatical mistakes.


Interests
Kaitlyn is a very active little girl. She loves riding her bike, swinging on the swingset, running in the yard and playing with the big kids. She is very coordinated and agile. She loves to dance and imitate Krista's gymnastics moves. She talks often about ballet and will most likely start taking ballet classes next year. This year she is involved in baby-gym which she loves. She is always so excited for Friday to roll around so she can go to her baby-gym class. Definately the highlight of the week for her. She loves drawing and playing with her dolls. She loves dressing up and doing her own hair. Recently she has had a passion for taking large shopping bags and filling them with various items around the house. I suppose this is in imitation of a shopping trip, but it sure is a tough job for me to put all of the items away! She goes from room to room putting in a few objects that strike her fancy. When I see one of these 30 pound "treasure bags" I cringe! It is sure cute to see what she decides to put inside though. I try my best to be patient!!! She loves playing with either Krista or Erik and tries her best to play what they want so that she can be included. This usually means she will dress up as a police officer if need be in order to play with Erik... or have her nails painted and hair braided when playing with Krista. Kaitlyn loves music and for her birtday received a kidi-zoom Vtech camera which also is a mp3 player. I've downloaded some of her favorite songs (Barbie princess songs and Alvin and the Chipmunks) and she LOVES it!

Personality
FUNNY! This is the one word for Kaitlyn. She is a CHARACTER!!! Definately has a strong willed personality. She loves to laugh and make others laugh. She is a true individual! Not a follower and definately not passive!!! We love Kaitlyn dearly, but she can be very very strong willed and opinionated at times....perhaps this will be an asset in life! I truly hope so!