Oh this girl. She’s grown so much. I remember when Olivia became a big sister, she just started looking and talking so differently—so much older. It’s like making her a big sister just made her grow up more all of a sudden.
Emelia was the same. These last six months since her brother was born, since her last 3.5-year update, she’s just gotten so much older. Her stubbornness? Nothing’s changed there. Still a spitfire. Still testing our patience daily.
And since she’s probably going to be reading this when she’s older—Baby Girl, you are going to do big things with this spicy personality you have. You are loud, you are opinionated. You fight back and you frustrate us—never stop taking up space in this world. Never stop being loud and telling everyone how you feel. You are a force and don’t ever apologize for it.
We celebrated her 4th birthday, by first going out for lunch, just the two of us at her favorite place. She loves the macaroni and cheese from Chick-fil-A, so it’s always a safe bet. I need to do this more with her—going out to spend one-on-one time with her. After that, she had her preschool evaluation because her teacher said she was concerned with her speech and recommended we get an evaluation.
She technically passed, but the evaluator said we could do a full evaluation and I thought it was a good idea. So we’ll see what comes of that.
This year, I asked both girls what they wanted for their birthdays—have a birthday party with our big families, have a day of fun, or get a really expensive present.
Obvi you know what both of them chose. In hindsight, probably wasn’t the smartest idea to ask a four-year-old these options because she really didn’t know how to pick out a “really expensive present” and eventually picked out the Bluey mall thing that comes with an elevator. $80 freaking dollars and I suspect she’s not going to play with it very much. But. Still cheaper and less stressful than throwing a party.
She loved her Baby Yoda card I found for her, and we had pizza (she definitely isn’t a pizza fan, but she’ll eat cheese pizza, so she was cool with it). Olivia got her a Disney princess set (a bunch of little dolls with removable skirts and tiny teacups, so that should be fun when the baby starts crawling everywhere and exploring).
The next evening we had my parents and sister over and Chris made his famous lasagna, garlic bread, tapioca, and strawberry cake (Emelia’s request). My sister got her this box of like 20 rings and I think it’s Emelia’s favorite present she’s ever gotten in her young life. (So I could have just spent $8 for the World’s Best Present and not this overpriced Bluey mall.)
Stats
Clothing size: 4T, size 8 shoe
Height and Weight: 3 feet 4 inches tall (58th percentile). She weighs 33.5 lbs (38th percentile). She’s gained 3.5 pounds and grew 3 inches this year.
Eating
Well. Let’s just start with the biggest category, huh? Emelia and eating… it’s been a trip. I last posted an update about her at 3.5 years old. I would say things have stayed very similar.
Her favorite foods are macaroni and cheese (Kraft and Chick-fil-A remain her favorite), peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, spaghetti and meatballs, sweet and sour meatballs, BBQ meatballs, fruits, especially berries, tomato soup, Honey Nut Cheerios, mini muffins, cheese rollups… I have to think long and hard about anything else. Oh, she does like the orange chicken we get from Costco. Won’t touch the rice or vegetables we put on the side, but the orange chicken she loves.
I don’t know. I still wonder if this is sensory or stubbornness. I know she has sensory issues. But Chris has a good point when she says that Emelia also won’t touch most foods—won’t even attempt to try anything. So…I don’t know. But she’s growing, and she loves berries and is always down for a snack, so I’m trying to just let it go.
Related note: she had her Spring Tea back in April, when I was still pregnant which is weird to write, but oh my gosh. I got to go to Olivia’s Tea when she was in kindergarten, and seeing tiny Emelia pouring punch and getting us puppy chow and berries was just too much to handle. They practice weeks in advance, learning to pour into a cup, use a ladle and tongs, balance a plate while walking (they actually have a little balance beam in the classroom to practice this), and have a conversation, especially asking their guest if they want more food or drink. Montessori school is just the best.
She even got a picture taken with her little buddy in class. The whole thing was just over-the-top adorable.
Sleep
This category will be a lot shorter. She’s a good sleeper. She loves and has adjusted wonderfully to her bottom bunk with her sister. She goes down to sleep at about 7:15 (both girls are up in the mornings at 6:45 to get ready for school, so they both are in bed early) and does a great job sleeping.
There’s been a few nights where I don’t know what’s wrong, but she wakes up repeatedly and cries, sometimes coming into our room. I have no idea what’s going on, but I know she has a history of night terrors. It makes it rough when there’s also a little baby in a bassinet by my bed. Chris is the one usually going in there, unless she’s relentless and keeps waking us up. One night, Chris gave up and slept on the floor next to her bed (bless is 41-year-old back and hips) and Olivia (and at one point Austin as well) were in bed with me the rest of the night, which meant I didn’t sleep at all. It. Was. Rough.
Health
Emelia’s been pretty healthy all this year. She’s had colds and coughs and the occasional fever, but has been doing really well.
Language
I understand about 75% of her speech. Chris understands less, but her teacher said she’s concerned with Emelia’s speech. She had speech therapy when she was two, so it doesn’t surprise me, but I was a little surprised because I thought Emelia was actually doing really well with her speech. But according to the preschool evaluation, she struggles when saying her P, M, G, C, and S sounds.
We just have to wait to see what happens with the full speech evaluation.
Milestones
She’s actually getting really into art stuff. Coloring and cutting and doing art stuff at school. It’s wild because the girl had zero interest in art, even with Olivia’s love of art and constantly seeing her doing it. I was concerned about her fine motor skills and brought it up at her 4-year check. But her doctor said she was on track and really, does a lot of fine motor stuff at school, beading and buttons and such. She just said, that if Emelia didn’t have an interest in art, then she’s just not going to do art, but it’s not concerning as far as her fine motor.
But she loves running and doesn’t fall as often lately as she was. She loves kicking her soccer ball and loves rolling across the floor, crashing into the couch, you know, just loves that big gross motor stuff. She’s so amazing at her balance bike, whereas early last spring, she could barely ride it.
Favorites
- Toys: She loves playing with her plethora of babies and their supplies, the Harry Potter toys of her sister’s, Legos (again, her sister’s Legos with the teeny pieces), my old Littlest Pet Shop, and she continues to love playing with balls, especially when we sit in the long hallway and roll it back and forth to each other.
- Books: Her Highlights High Five magazines, I am Anna, I am Elsa books
- TV shows/Movies: The live action Little Mermaid, Paw Patrol, Moana, My Little Pony, Cocomelon, Odd Squad, Work It Out Wombats
- Activities: Running, playing with Olivia, riding her balance bike, coloring in her coloring books, playing soccer, reading books, going to the library or bookstores, dressing up in dresses, and wearing as much jewelry and hair pieces as possible.
See more of Emelia’s monthly updates here.
