Evie at 4 Years Old

Our Evie Doll is growing up and we want to remember what she's like at this very stage.  She has more personality than most people can imagine.  She's full of love, full of energy, has a stubborn streak, wants to play all of the time, and keeps us on our toes.  We embrace every aspect of her.

I found a little Birthday Interview questionnaire and decided it would be fun to get Evie's answers.

Birthday Interview - Evie at 4 Years Old
Mom's clarifications are in parentheses.

1. Who is your favorite person in the whole world?  Addie Bug.  (Love the relationship these two girls have!)
2. What is your favorite color?  Pink, purple, and yellow and sparkles.
3. What's your favorite television show?  Arthur.  Zootopia. (She really does love any show on PBS kids.  Her favorite changes from day-to-day or week-to-week.  Today Arthur wins.  And, since Zootopia just came out on DVD…..that wins in the movie department.)
4. What is your favorite outfit?  Parrot Pajamas.  (She loves to get her PJ's on at night.  She also loves to "match" her clothes now.  She'll put a blue shirt on with blue shorts or a striped shirt with striped pants.  Those combos are a "bit much" but she's working on the matching concept so I let her wear such outfits when she chooses them . . . most days.)
5. What sport do you like best?  Basketball.  (She loves to snuggle with Beau and watch sports.  They watched a lot of the NBA finals together.)
6. What song do you love?  "Shut Up & Dance With Me."  (She can about sing the whole song word-for-word.  She mostly loves up-beat pop hits.  She also loves children's songs too.)
7. What is your favorite cereal?  The square one.  (Life.  She's not a huge cereal fan though.)
8. Who is your best friend?  Mom  (This melts my heart.  One day we were driving in the car and she asked, "Mom, are you my best friend?"  Of course I am, sweet thing!  I always will be.  So many friends will come and go, but I will consistently and forever be your biggest fan and bestest friend.)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?  A Mom.  (I've asked her this question at random times and this is always the answer.  Love!)
10. What is your favorite book?  Petunia  (Thanks Grandma Polly!  We read it ALL of the time.  That being said, she has always loved reading and her favorite book also changes from day-to-day or week-to-week.  We read a lot.)
11. What are you really good at?  Being careful, being nice, not pooing or peeing in my pants.  (This made me laugh right out loud.  I suppose this gives you insight into what we continue to remind her on a daily basis.  She's not careful, she's crazy!  Thus, we're always reminding her to be careful.  And, she still has random potty accidents, so again, we continually remind her to get to the toilet before it ends up in her pants.  Oh, she's a funny one.  And, she truly is a nice and sweet girl a large majority of the time.  We just try to gently correct her behavior if it isn't quite up to par.  She's also VERY athletic, runs fast, has amazing upper body strength, talks incredibly well for her age, is starting to read, she is great with animals, she plays well with others.)
12. Where do you wish you could go on vacation?  To a hotel.   (Seriously!  What kid really cares about the destination so long as there is a hotel involved?  Ha!  She loves hotels.  Jumping on the bed, watching Disney Jr, and swimming in the pool are definitely highlights when staying over.)
13. What would you buy if you had $1000? Chicks, bunnies, and fishes to eat.  (Huh….no surprise that chicks made the list.  I'm guessing bunnies is coming from her new love of "Zootopia."  And, she just went fishing and learned the difference of getting fish for pets versus getting fish to eat.  Ha, ha!)
14. What vegetable do you love the most?  Broccoli and carrots.  (She is a great vegetable eater.  She prefers her veggies raw and will eat most of them.  She also loves cucumbers and bell peppers.)
15. If you could have a wish, what would it be?  To fly and I wish to be a cheetah.  (She does love to chase birds and she constantly tells me that she wishes she could fly like them.  She wishes she could be a Cheetah so she can run fast . . . .like Cheetah power.)
16. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?  The ice cream where you put candies on it.  (She's talking about going to a frozen yogurt place where we put the ice-cream in the cup and then she can put whatever toppings, in her case it's candy/cookies, on top.)
17. Who is your biggest hero?  Dad  (Shouldn't every little girl's dad be her hero???)
18. What do you like to do best with your friends?  Play at the park.  (For sure!  One of her most favorite things to do.)
19. What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday?  Skate.  (She keeps telling me she wants to try skating.  Oh dear!)
20. What is your best memory?  I don't know.  (She doesn't really know how to come up with a best memory.)

Other things that Evie is up to at this age.

• Loves playing with friends.  She is always asking if a friend can come over or if she can go over to one of her friend's houses.
• She always wants to be doing something.  Every day she asks, "Mom, where are we going today?"  And, it's not too uncommon for her to ask me at night when I lay her down to bed, "Mom, where are we going tomorrow?"  That girl's always wanting to have a plan.  
• She loves to pretend.  We are constantly pretending as we play.  "Mom, pretend that we are at the swimming pool."  "Pretend that you own a pet shot and I bring my sick animals to you." "Pretend that you are the kid and I am the mom."  You get the idea.
• She is still very athletic.  She's been in gymnastics and athletically, blows most of the kids out-of-the-water.  She also has been doing swim lessons and has more endurance that most of us dream of and can actually swim.  She loves climbing . . . especially in trees.  And, she is constantly running all over the place during the day.  When the doctor gave did her 4-year-old wellness exam he turned to me and said, "she's going to be an athlete, isn't she?"  She's built so tough and muscular.  
• She is getting much better at riding horses.  She's advancing to a full-size horse that she can almost ride all by herself.  She sits in the saddle and rides while Beau helps lead the horse.  However, the goal is to have her riding all by herself with the reins by the end of the summer.  
• She has LOVED hatching baby chicks the last few months.  She absolutely adores the baby chicks and would sit and hold them all the day long if she could.  They just might be her favorite animal.
• She loves fry sauce.  She'll dip anything in that stuff.  She would eat it plain if I would let her.
• She loves to "sneak into mom and dad's bed" in the middle of the night.  A lot of times when we put her to bed she'll say, "I'm going to come sneak into your bed during the night."  When she gets up to go potty, she'll do just that.  I know some parents absolutely do not allow this.  But, we do.  Time goes by so fast and this won't last forever.  So, we're taking these snuggles and cuddles while she is freely giving them to us.  
• She loves to say "last night" when she refers to anything in the past.  "Mom, I got an owie last night."  "Dad, It was my Birthday last night."  These things could have happened last month, but she still says, "last night."
• She is the 2nd mom around our house. She's always watching Adeline, telling her what she can and can't do, and making up all the rules.  This is very helpful at times and not so helpful at others. This trait just comes from being the oldest girl in a family.  Right?  (I suppose I know a little about that.  Ha!)
• She is starting to read. She can sound out words and usually gets the phonics right (man, watching her sound out words reminds me how hard our language is and how many exceptions to letters/sounds we have!).  She's not quite sure how to smoosh it all together once she has sounded it out, but that'll come soon enough.
• She loves to chase birds and butterflies.  She has high hopes that she's actually going to catch them and is slightly disappointed every time when they fly away from her, but she still loves the thrill of the chase.
• She loves to sing and to lip sync.  Her mind is incredible in that it memorizes stuff SO fast.  She picks up on songs almost instantly.  She'll lip sync and dance for us and we LOVE it.
• She always wants my hair to be down.  She's slightly obsessed with this.  She will sometimes have a small meltdown if I refuse to wear my hair down (you know . . . those days when you just don't have time to wash it and you have to pull your dirty hair up into a messy bun or a ponytail?).  She's even been known to be concerned about my hairstyle during potty breaks at 4am.  Oh, she's funny!
• She loves to have her hair down and lately she wants it straightened with the "hot thing."  She's learned that straight hair = less snarls.  So, we see her hair straight more often than naturally curly these days.

This girl is growing up fast.  Way too fast! Oh, how I love her so.