On Tessa's birthday, I woke up and said to David, "Can you believe it, we have a four year old!" The words sounded so weird to me coming out of my mouth. At four, Tessa is increasingly strong willed and independent. She loves to stretch her growing independence with simple things like wanting to wait on her own outside the children's museum while I go back to the car on my own to retrieve our lunch or wait outside the bathroom stall instead of come in with me.
As Tessa has gotten older over the years I have thought it was fun to think about if she still had the personality she has now as an adult what would she pick for her profession. When she was younger I thought of silly things like streaker because she loved to run away during diaper changes. Or skydiver/stuntman because she liked jumping off the couch. Or artist since she liked coloring. They were all just kind of kids things though not really unique to her personality. But at four, her little personality has grown and individualized enough to make the little game more interesting. At four, she loves flower arranging so if she were to pick her profession based on her current interests, I think she'd pick, florist. At the children's museum, she got the flowers from the grocery store section and brought them to the house section and carefully arranged the them in a teapot and carefully selected where in the house to display them. She was so proud of her work; it was so sweet.
Then with her Walmart gift card her great grandma Hein gave her, she picked out a flower stand toy.
Tessa loves playing with friends still. She is particularly close to her cousin Tait. The other day, she asked if we could watch him for a lot of days and if he could sleep with her in her bed. I've been trying to prep the kids with the idea of mom and dad going on a few day long date night where they'll be watched by a babysitter for a few days as David and I may go on a trip for our 10 year anniversary next year so that is where she got the idea. I thought it was sweet though.
At four, her favorite colors are still pink and purple. Her favorite activity is probably playing pretend. She loves dressing up in one of her many princess outfits and pretending to be a princess. She is obsessed with princesses, mermaids, and fairies. She loves going to the fairytale festival at Thanksgiving Point and the princess party put on by the city. The both happen over the Summer. The last few months after attending them, she keeps asking when they'll happen again.
We always have to make sure to get some mermaid, princess, or fairy books whenever we go to the library. When you ask Tessa what she wants to be when she grows up, she'll tell you princess. She has been saying that for about a year now. She wants to be grown up. When we ask her why, she says it's because she wants to be able to do adult things like us. The other reason she'll give is because she wants to "push a lot of lot of babies out of my bum". She was curious about where babies come from maybe 6 months ago and we answered all her questions as she asked them and she became quite fascinated with the whole thing. Silly girl!
She loves preschool and has been really missing it over the summer break. She keeps asking me if Summer is almost over and asking why Summer break is so long. She loves doing art projects and science experiments.
She likes going to the swimming pool and splash pad. And she likes going to playgrounds still. She just recently mastered climbing high on the tall webs all on her own and she was really proud of herself.
She likes riding on the bus and on airplanes and likes going to new places. She absolutely loves to go to the children's museums. We have memberships for the one in Lehi and the one in Salt Lake City.
We went to a museum when on vacation in San Jose, CA and Tessa loved that museum too. We even went to The Tech - a science/technology museum; it has a lot of kid friendly exhibits. We spent 8 hours there and the kids could have kept enjoying it for longer even if we had the time. Since returning home, she's asked me many times if we can go back to The Tech.
At four, Tessa gets along well with Jenny. They love to play together. They'll occasionally fight, but for the most part, they really enjoy each other's company.
For Tessa's fourth birthday, she requested her first themed birthday cake - a pizza cake, which was fun. She's already told me that next year, when she turns 5, she wants a Little Mermaid cake. This is the cake image she saw when we were just killing time at a cake store that inspired her.
Yikes!!! I only have a year to vastly improve my cake decorating skills! Either that or start praying that ordering a Little Mermaid cake from that cake shop doesn't cost an arm and a leg - fat chance of that though!
Tessa is super fun at 4. She is my little buddy for sure. We are so lucky to have her.
