Noelle (4)
Each year offers opportunities to watch Noelle develop her personality. In past years she has become increasingly vivacious, and this year was no different. As her big personality has gotten even bigger, so has her sass. While she demonstrates qualities that will undoubtedly serve her well in adulthood, they are currently a challenge for her exasperated parents. For example, she routinely spouts “the answer means yes”, which is her retort when Mommy tells her the answer is no. Another common exclamation is the simple but infamous, “NO!'“ (Send help)! She’s also a great bargainer and problem-solver. Her future is bright. Hopefully, Mommy and Daddy will survive to see it.
She has been attending half-day preschool three days out of the week, and is really excelling in her fine motor skills and creativity. She’s become increasingly imaginative and has many imaginary friends. Incidentally, they are all characters from shows she’s watched. As this is being written, the entire cast of Trash Truck is having a sleepover with her. The CDC she attends does a great job of incorporating a love for Jesus in their Reggio Emilia curriculum, and they live that out by loving their CDC families well. Though we do not attend the church affiliated with her preschool, the director of the school called and offered a meal train when Noelle was hospitalized. We are so grateful to have Noelle in a loving environment.
She continues to love on her little brother - sometimes a little too much. We have really been working on respecting personal space this year! However, she won’t miss the opportunity to help out with a diaper change, will run to join Mommy when baby brother wakes up, and insists on singing “Twinkle Little Star” to him before bed. She really does love him deeply.
She had a big year checking off 1 new state and 3 new countries, and several revisits to domestic destinations. As always, she’s a great traveler, and when mom left for Savannah, she started crying exclaiming it wasn’t because she was going to miss Mama, but rather that she was not going on a trip. Have we created a monster? She loves art and on any given day can be found with her watercolors and markers, which sometimes stay on the provided paper. Her most enjoyable activity this past year has been ballet and tap dancing. Her Winter Showcase was on her 4th birthday, and she demonstrated that she is made for the stage! Having just visited the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, she is making many comparisons, and now claims she wants to be a Rockett. Dream big, girl. She’s also recently become obsessed with ice skating after Daddy took her out during open ice. What we assumed would be one fall and done, was actually 30 minutes of falls with subsequent exclamations of, “Look, I’m doing it’!” Her bravery and persistence surprised us, and despite the cold rink, warmed our hearts.
Seeing her grow and develop is bittersweet. We eagerly anticipate and love the little girl she is becoming, but it’s so sad to see our baby fade away.
