Happy birthday to KATE!!

Kate this morning: "I was three for a LONG time!"

Well, Kate is officially a big girl (a FOUR year old!) -- and you better not try to tell her any different!! She is cute, she is cuddly, she makes messes and often times will help clean them up, and she's totally, completely potty-trained! (Well, still working on wiping.) She is officially way better than a puppy.

She is still extremely tall and extremely skinny. She is 35 lbs (finally!) and 42 inches tall. Her height is in the 95th percentile. Her BMI has gone up from 1 percent (in Sept) to 4 percent (in Nov). The doctor said that was way low, and they want kids to be at least in the 10th percentile, but she looked at Kate and said, "Well, she doesn't look sickly..." Great.

She has gone from being annoyed and sad about Christian to totally adoring him and getting mad at me when I put him down for a nap. She loves to roll over him, sing to him, squish him, kiss him, cuddle him, tickle him, feed him!, and clean up his spit up (without being asked!). She is a GREAT big sister, and Christian adores his big sis. She can get him to laugh and smile like no one else. He lights up when he sees her. I love to watch them together. I feel so grateful they will always have each other. Sometimes watching them together gets me all teary-eyed. I have to admit that after having two kids now it makes me feel like I want a lot more! I know that's probably (?) not in the cards, but I know their lives would be blessed with more siblings.

I love how she opens her mouth while she's feeding him. She is to the age now where she is actually helpful -- I love it!

Kate is the Queen of questions right now. EVERYTHING starts with a why around here. "Kate, can you take your toys upstairs?" "Why?" or "Why should I?" would be the standard response. The "Why should I?" response usually makes me a little grumpy, but I don't think she's intending to sound rude. Pretty much anything you say to her will elicit a "Why?" The other day she asked me who someone was. I said something like it was a little girl (cause I didn't know the kid). She then asked, "Why?" I was confused. "Why what?" Kate: "Why is she a little girl?" Anyway, it's exhausting, but I'm glad her mind is working!!

She is very curious about the body and all its many parts, like "What's inside your eyeball?" "What's inside your finger?" "What's inside your knee?" etc etc.

She loves talking about the "World" we live on and has many, many questions about that. And about other worlds (other planets) and what they're like. She watched Contact with us recently and that made her even more inquisitive.

Even though it can be quite draining at times to keep up with her questions, I keep getting the feeling that I am really going to miss this age. She is so fun.

Kate loves to dance, loves to play dress up, loves to eat hot dogs (usually two in a sitting), loves to "read," loves to count, loves to play computer games, and loves to go to preschool.

Kate is FUNNY. She really has a great sense of humor -- I love it. The other day I waited too long to use the restroom, and suddenly I had to RUN to the bathroom that's next to the kitchen. I got going too fast, and I totally smashed into the bathroom door. I was trying to open it as I slid into the bathroom. But it didn't work out. Kate was watching and was soon laughing uncontrollably. It's been a couple weeks since that happened, but she will still say, "I have to go potty" then run frantically into the bathroom door (on purpose), fall down, and laugh herself sick. It makes me laugh every time.

Speaking of bathrooms, she had a bit of a potty mouth at preschool at the beginning of the year and would get the other kids all saying poo and pee. We had a talk about it, and she now knows we can only say those words if we are talking about actually going poo or pee. Lately, every time she tells me she has to go poo, she will say, "We're talking about poop, right??"

Last night I took her to get her haircut, and as it was being cut, Kate was making the most hilarious faces in the mirror, seemingly oblivious to anyone watching her. It cracked the hairdresser up. It was almost as if she had never seen a mirror before, the way she was so into it.

This week Kate was singing her version of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Here are some of the lyrics: "Rudolph the other reindeer -- you're supposed to call him names!" and "Won't you drive my slave tonight?" :)

Kate is a great conversationalist. At dinner she'll ask how my food is and if I like it. She almost always tells me thank you for the food I get her.

One of my favorite things about Kate is that she NEVER whines or begs for things at stores. She does whine quite a lot at home, I have to say, but never has she EVER thrown a tantrum at a store. We'll go look at toys sometimes when we're at Walmart, and if she sees something she really loves, she'll show it to me, looking up at me with her big brown eyes and say, "Some other little kid is going to have this, huh, Mama?" I just say yes, someone else will get that, and that's the end of the conversation. I have to tell ya -- it makes me want to buy her whatever she wants!

She is generally a joy to be around and is really becoming a friend. She is so tender-hearted and also easy to please -- which makes pleasing her even more fun. She is always so grateful for the things we do give her.

Lately, Kate will ask, "Mommy. Guess what?" Then she'll come over and hug my leg and say, "I love you."

Well, guess what? I love her, too!!