She can still be quite emotional and can get her feelings hurt really easily, but we talk her through it, reassure her of how much we love her and normally quickly get to a better place. She has such a tender heart and we truly love that about her!
I tell her all the time that she is such a joy and that God has given her a very special gift to share with the world. Her hugs are magic and we are just so proud of her!
Since most of our updates these past few months have been about Becca, I wanted to step back and focus on Brinley a bit and capture as much as I can about this sweet and spicy 4 1/2 year-old that we all adore!
This year she has done the mini-minds program at Four Square which is their kindergarten prep program and she has just blossomed. She went from struggling to write her name at the beginning of the year to being able to write her first name really well, last name fairly well along with most of her letters and numbers. She also knows how to spell a few words and can even read some site words (including many of her colors!). She can't quite recognize all of the alphabet yet but she knows how to recognize all of her numbers.
She also can count really high by 1's (up to 100 maybe?) and up to 100 by 10s as well.
But even more than all of that, it's been really cool watching what she's learned in terms of her understanding of the world, history, geography, etc. She comes home telling us stories about the rainforest, Eiffel Tower or Dr. Uffin King (Martin Luther King). She loves to tell us all about all that she knows and it's amazing seeing it all through her eyes and hearing her thoughts on things. She's really smart and insightful and picks up on a lot.
She's also become a bit interested in boys, which we don't really love... We talk to her a lot about how she's too young for boyfriends and girlfriends but it's good that we all have so many friends! This is definitely not a topic that Daddy is ready to deal with yet! LOL
She still enjoy activities and took dance this Fall through Sonlight, a school that operates in the new elementary school attached to her preschool. They were a bit more technical than Betty Jo's and they didn't include tap, which she loved, so she asked to take a little dance break for now. We will try again in the fall!
She did take swimming this past fall though and is getting much better about putting her face in the water and even went underwater a few different times.
She's still really into art still as well, especially painting, and her and Daddy have bonded over watching Bob Ross videos on YouTube. She likes to watch them before bed as she thinks his voice is very soothing (it really is!). Matt even caught her the other night still holding his phone, sound asleep, with the Bob Ross video still playing.
Then just the other day she pulled out her watercolors and brushes and proceeded to fill the page with "happy little trees." We hope this artistic side continues to develop!
She can be a bit timid in trying new things and we work with her about not saying "I can't" a lot (we say "I will try!" instead :)). But she's very coordinated, smart and capable and does pick-up on things very quickly. It's fun to watch her learn that she can do a lot herself and then see how proud she is of herself afterwards when she accomplishes it!
We are still debating on whether we should send her to kindergarten next year or if we should wait another year. Because her bday is in June, we get to make a choice and can send her either year. We are honestly leaning towards waiting another year just because we think she will be at more of an advantage in life by being the oldest in the class vs. one of the youngest. She's super smart and we know she'd do great, but thinking long term, having her be 18, almost 19 when she starts college may not be a bad thing. I've also heard it described as giving them one more year of childhood vs. one more year of adulthood. I like to think of it that way. It's truly a gift of time, and at daycare costs at more than $2k per month for both girls, it's a bit of an expensive gift, but hopefully worth it! So Brinley, if you're reading this later in life know that we loved you so much that we wanted to make sure you were set up well for success later in life, even if it was expensive at the time! ;)
We are working on listening at home a lot but have gotten feedback from her teachers that she is a great listener at school! We've heard that this is a sign of a well adjusted child, they know when they can get away with it and when they can't! We will just have to keep working on it at home then. ;)
She has taken to being a big sister so well. There are the jealousy moments when she says that we don't love her, just Becca or we don't play with her, just Becca or we don't spend time with her, just Becca, but we reassure her that that is not the case and it seems to help. Through all of this though she doesn't ever seem to blame Becca and honestly just adores here. She always wants to hug her, kiss her, talk to her, etc. Truly we spend more time telling her to stop bugging Becca and give her a bit of space than anything else. But Becca seems to enjoy all of the attention and she really delights in her big sister! I think these two will have a very special bond some day and that makes me really happy :)
We were also so proud of her the other day because she received the kindness award at school. Her teacher said that she always follows the rules, is the firs to help a friend in need and always uses her hands and words in a gentle, respectful way. I don't think we've ever been more proud of her as that is truly what we hope for her in life. To show the world God's love through her kind and respectful treatment of others. We pray that she will continue to let her very special light shine!
Brinley, we know you are an incredibly special little girl and there isn't a day that goes by that we don't talk about how blessed we are that God chose US as your mommy and daddy! You have a contagious, infectious joy about you and we know that the world is a better place because you are in it!
These 4 1/2 years have flown by and we can't wait to see what lies ahead for you. We just know God has big plans for you sweetheart and we are so happy that we have a front row seat to watch all of it unfold!
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