I have to say that 4 year olds make
for endless stories. Especially, a 4
year old like Megan.
Megan is the youngest around and it is a good thing (I
think) that she is feisty because she has had to learn to stick up for herself. The other day when Erik was mad at her he told her she was a “BAD girl.” That fired Megan up and she told Erik,
“No! YOU are a BAD girl.” Erik got all defensive and said, “I’m not a
girl I’m a BOY!” It ended with Megan
singing, “You are a bad girl. You are a bad
girl” and Erik shouting, “NOOOO!”
One problem (common to probably
every 4 year old) is Megan has become a picky eater to the point where she will
announce that she doesn’t like something before even seeing what it is.
We maintain the rule that if you
don’t eat dessert then you don’t get dinner.
Oh wait…REVERSE THAT… if you don’t eat dinner then you don’t get dessert. It was much to Megan’s dismay when she didn’t
qualify for the cookies n’ cream pie by ignoring dinner. When everyone else finished dessert and was
clearing the dishes I caught her licking the leftover chocolate pie crust
crumbs off of the table. But don’t go feeling
sorry for her, this little chica gets plenty of sweets.
I really do like having a 4 year
around. They are quirky, curious, imagination
galore, enthusiastic, silly and a whole lot of fun.
To be honest I don’t think I was as
patient with 4 year old Erik as I am with Megan. He had (has?) the oldest child curse. You know the one where the parent expects
the child to behave older than he/she is. I was probably more relaxed with Claire. After having had a couple more children I think
I have a better understanding what age typical behavior is. I wrote him a note last month saying
“Over
the years you have heard me say to you, “You should know better.” I was thinking that I don’t like that phrase
much. There are more important things
that you should know. First, know that I
love you! I also want you to know some
things I admire about you are: ”
(and I listed 10 things)
Now he is 9 and I try to let him be
9.
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| Erik working on his science fair project- he loves this stuff. |
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| Claire |
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| Megan |
