Big Four Year Old Girl

Dear Lucie, our sweet, intelligent, funny, precocious, goofy and delightful girl — can you really be turning four on Saturday?

Like you, I have a difficult time imagining life before you entered the scene. When we talk about things that happened before you were born, you wonder, "But where were me and Ryan?" It's hard for you to fathom the pre-Lucie and Ryan days, and even more difficult for you to grasp that there were years when your mom and dad did not know each other. In your mind, we've always been together, from childhood to adulthood, just as you imagine marrying Ryan some day.

You've developed this funny practice of calling me "Mother". I'm not sure where it came from, but it's almost become habit for you now. I feel like I'm living in the days of Little Women, a book I can see you enjoying when you're older. In a silly mood, you'll make it sound goofy like "Mudder" and then abbreviate it to "Mud" — just what I've always dreamed of being called.



On the subject of books, I can see you writing your own someday. You narrate your life, bringing in phrases from books or favorite TV programs. Sometimes your narration is in the first person, other times you refer to yourself in third person, depending on your mood. When we ask you to get in your car seat, you might say, "And so Lucie climbed into her car seat, she grabbed her favorite kitty and smiled with delight". And then when crawling into bed that night, you might say, "I jumped into bed and nestled all snug as a bug in a rug. I kissed my mother on the cheek. Good night!"

Your vocabulary astounds us. You'll come up with delightful phrases, out of nowhere. When asked if you'd like some more fruit for dessert, you recently replied, "Oh yes, cherries make my heart melt!" You're always interested in what words mean, stopping us in the middle of a sentence for clarification. A visit to Target taught you the meaning of the word "tempting", during our summer heat wave you wanted to know what "scorching" meant. If you don't understand a word, you'll ask what it means, soak it in, and be ready to use it yourself.

Your imaginary creation, Lucieland, has taken on a life of its own. We learn more about it every day, and apparently you're able to sneak in quite a few visits, as we often hear stories started by, "When Ella and I were at Lucieland..." The language of its people, named appropriately "Lucie language", is quite extensive. You're always introducing us to new words, sometimes to be silly, other times to get yourself out of a jam, like when you try to convince me that your loud declaration of "No!" is actually Lucie language for "Yes, Mom, whatever you say". Sure.


Though you enjoy playing with fire trucks or reading about garbage trucks, you're a girlie-girl through and through. You love purple, sparkles, rainbows, flowers, fairies, and unicorns perched on purple rainbows. Play ponies and kittens are adored, as well as anything having to do with ballet or ballerinas. You've decided you want to be a "ballerina teacher" when you grow up, which I think is so interesting, that you'd chose to be the teacher instead of the dancer. Whatever you do, we know you'll be great at it.

Happy Birthday to our amazing four year old girl. We love you through and through.