happy birthday, baby girl

After what seemed like a celebration of Sophia for almost a week, Sophia officially turned four today. And while she reminds me that she is no longer a baby girl, I can't help but still call her that sometimes. I had always hoped and wished that I would have a daughter when I had children, and I was over the moon when we found out we were having a girl when I was pregnant with Sophia.

At four, she is the consummate girly girl--she loves twirly dresses, sparkly and strappy shoes, purses, painted nails, and lip gloss. She believes in fairy tales (although she does not like the bad guys in them, especially Rasputin, Maleficent, and evil stepmothers) and that mommy and daddy kisses and My Little Pony bandaids (and bandaids in general) are magical and cures all things. She still loves all things pink and purple and is genuinely surprised when someone gives her something that is pink and purple ("how in the world did they know pink and purple are my favorite colors??"). She's still our sleep superstar who tells us that she's tired and needs to take a nap (if Naomi would only take her lead...). And like her dad, Sophia truly believes there is a dessert space in her stomach that must be attended to and filled up after every meal, including breakfast. She still sleeps with Bear and looks for him whenever she is sad, tired, sleepy, and everything in between.

Since her birthday party on Saturday, Sophia has enjoyed quite the week of celebrating. On Sunday, Greg's family came over for dinner and the kids got to play with their cousins. Among her presents--violin lessons, which Sophia has been asking for for months. On Monday, we went out to Naperville and spent the day with my brother and his family, and celebrated Sophia's birthday and Ethan's birthdays with a delicious lunch and more presents. Of course, we also got rear-ended on our way there, but that's actually not that exciting. On Tuesday, Barbie was sweet and brought Sophia a fabulous art kit, which the kids have used to make some super cute pictures. Barbie is great about doing lots of art projects with the kids and they love to draw, color and paint! And today, Sophia received a package from Halmoni and Harabuji.

See the row of baby clothes hanging on the bulletin board behind Sophia and Christine? The Upstairs Green Room had a week about their life as babies and everyone brought in a baby photo and a baby outfit. Sophia's picture is above the little purple dress just above the blue chair.

A bunch of little preschool cobras

Greg and I took the morning off and we celebrated the day by taking treats to her preschool class--chocolate donuts--and staying for their yoga class. There are few things cuter than a bunch of three- and four-year olds doing yoga. Sophia's choice for dinner that evening was pizza bagels, strawberries, and blueberries.

Sophia has been looking forward to this day for months and months. It must be so hard to look forward to something when you don't quite grasp the concept of days and months. We are so lucky to have her as a part of our family--she is fiercely loyal to her family and friends and when she tells us that she loves us and gives us a smile and a hug, it just makes you want to squeeze her and eat her up. It's hard to ever imagine our lives without her.