IVY

Dear Ivy,

Happy 4th Birthday to you! We are all home celebrating with you today because there's no work or school in Canada for Remembrance Day! It's hard to believe my baby is 4 already! You told me recently that I can "holdie" (which is what you say when you want me to pick you up) until you're 10, so thankfully, I have a few more years of that. I have lots and lots to say about you so I better get started. You are a complex little girl:)

There are times that I think you're closer to 10 than to 3...like when you say "I'm quite busy today" or "I don't want to go downstairs because I'll be a bit lonely" but then there are other times when you're still little to me. You call paper towels "wiper towels", frost on the roof "frosting", hand sanitizer "hanitizer", and instead of saying shoo-fly you say YELL "shoot-fly". I want to remember these things because I know they won't last much longer! You are starting to be more interested in letters and numbers, but you HATE being "teach-ded." You can write your name, but lately it has been upside down and backwards. You hold the pencil correctly 25% of the time, but that's a huge accomplishment in my book because it was just a short while ago you told me your kindergarten teacher didn't care if you held it right. You can count to 29 on your own and then you can get to 50 if I help you with 30. You mix up yellow and blue a lot and I keep meaning to google that to see if there's some reason, but it's probably just a random mix up.

You love snakes, but hate bugs. You refuse to go to the bathroom in a toilet that hasn't been flushed, but you also don't flush, so 99% of the time, it's from you. When I asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up you said a teenager. (lord help me) You refer to Max and Mya as "the kids" and you are not a fan of them getting in the car after school and talking my ear off. You are used to having me all to yourself all day long and then when they start to take over, you are not a happy camper and try to talk over everyone. Speaking of car...you are also not a fan of how much we have to drive Max and Mya around to their various activities! I have to bribe you a lot with Starbucks hot chocolate, a free kiddie cone at McDonalds and a cookie at Tim Hortons. Okay...most of those stops are for me to get a coffee, but I can't really say no to you! Your favorite shows on TV are still Peppa Pig (almost as bad as Caillou), Little Charmers, Sofia the First and Dora and Friends. You prefer to watch those shows on the couch with snack and a drink (half water/half oj) in a sippy cup. And if the fire alarm ever goes off during a show, you will not hear it guaranteed.

Other stats...38 pounds, 41 inches, size 5 shirts and 4/5 pants. You are wearing a size 10 shoe and absolutely hate getting your hair combed. You start to squirm and yell before I even touch a strand on your head. Your favorite food is dessert, favorite snack is whipped cream in a bowl, you are a horrible breakfast eater, but love Subway salads for lunch. You can stay dry through the night and wake up once or twice a week to go to the bathroom (with assistance of course. I'm not counting on that ending anytime soon...Mya still needs assistance in the night!) Your favorite thing to play is whatever Mya is playing. Shopkins, American Girl Dolls, Barbie, play-doh, horses, puppy game, arts and crafts, gymnastics, school and pretty much whatever else Mya wants you to play. You and Max have a good relationship too, but mostly it involves chasing, pulling, tugging, hitting, etc. Between you and me, I think Max and Mya are a little afraid of you!

Your patience could use some work. When something is taking longer than you'd like, you say "this is taking boring". It would be nice if you would stop screaming when you don't get your way with Max and Mya. You play pretty well with your friends. Best friends are Haylee and Cali. You love to have them over, but when you're done playing, you're done playing and you don't have much tact at that point! You are not afraid of strangers in the least. We got Chinese food delivered last week and you ran to the door and yelled "Hi Chinese Man!" I was mortified, but I don't think he understood. You go to school MWF mornings from 9-11 and you have gymnastics on Monday afternoons and art class on Tuesday afternoons. You love all of it!

Today for your special day we are going to the indoor trampoline park and having cake that you picked out from Costco and told everyone in the store who would make eye contact with you about it. I feel very lucky to be your mommy and I know daddy feels the same. When you go running to him after work, his heart melts. May you always have this same spunky spirit and sparkle in those gorgeous dark brown eyes:)

Love you tons Baby Ives, Ivster, Ives, Freddie and Ivers!

Mommy

11/11/11

11/11/12

11/11/13

11/11/14

11/11/15