Brooklyn turns 4!

Height: 41 inches

Weight: 35 lbs

4!!! It's like she's turned into a mini adult. The baby and toddler features are slowly disappearing and more and more "kid" is appearing. 3 was a whole new frontier in parenting as she learned to push every button and find and stretch every boundary imaginable. It was also super fun to watch her personality develop and see her learning to understand and communicate different emotions.

Here are just a few of the things she can now do that she couldn't one year ago:

• Hold her breath under water (for like 2 seconds)
• Ride and steer her tricycle alone (without crashing)
• Drive a powerwheels (only crashing minimally)
• Identify most sounds of the alphabet and is starting to sound out whole words (3 letter)
• Buckle herself in her carseat!
• Sleep without the bed rail
• Swing on the big swing without help
• Dress herself (minus zipping a jacket/hoodie)

Brooklyn is my firecracker. When she gets frustrated or mad it's, well, let's say a scene. She FEELS everything so strongly it's like she physically can't contain herself. The same when she's excited or happy. We are learning acceptable ways to express these big feelings without you know, throwing toys, or hugging a sibling to pieces. She wears her heart on her sleeve.

She's too smart for her own good. She's independent (well she desperately wants to be), she asks lots of questions and has learned to rephrase them if the answer isn't to her liking in hopes to hear what she wants.

She's such a helper. She gets upset if you take the trash or recycling out without her. She loves to help in the kitchen, rarely complains when it's time to clean up, and always is up for helping with feeding Dylan or helping Griffin with a puzzle. Lately she's been "cleaning" the bathroom mirror for me by smearing hand soap all over it and wiping it with a hand towel. I can't even be mad - she's so excited to show it off. 

Happy 4th birthday to our silly, kind, helpful, smart and beautiful Brooklyn!