Sweetheart

We have the cutest Valentine around! At 3 1/2, Lydia is spunkier than ever. She wears her heart on her sleeve. She has developed an empathy for others. She is enjoying checking on the status of the building of our new home each day. She insists we drive by after I pick her up from school to see if the "workers" have done any work. Despite her interest in the house, I think the only thing she really cares about is that she gets a play set in the backyard. 

Until our home is completed in May, Lydia is enjoying the rental house that we are currently living in. It is a cozy ranch with three bedrooms and Lydia makes the living room her personal toy room. We pick it up each night, but the mess finds its way out the next day. Fortunately, the unfinished basement in the rental provides ample space to ride scooters and bikes in the winter. It is a luxury at this point to have that space due to the cold. We haven't been able to go out and play much in the frigid temperatures. The basement, gymnastics, swimming class, and daily preschool gym visits, Lydia is maintaining her active status. She does have a new game that she insists we play almost nightly. Zingo is a bingo game for preschoolers. After her initial first loss, she is developing into a competitive game player that doesn't like to lose. Modeling appropriate responses to losing has been something we are working on with her!

She continues to learn at a rapid pace. She writes letter like forms now and just the other day, wrote the word "lord." I attribute that to her "godly play" sessions at preschool. She also can sight read the words, "mom, dad, cat, dog, lord, and Lydia." I am amazed at new things she learns daily. Her conversations with me this week included information about hibernation and the plethora of animals that hibernate in the winter. I had no idea that foxes hibernate- but Lydia sure does now!

I recognize I haven't updated the blog in a while, and I need to improve on that. I am finally settling into a routine with my new principal position and  feel like I can devote some time back to capturing all the wonderful milestones Lydia continues to meet. I capture many of these on my camera and phone and continue to scrapbook with Shutterfly to maintain memories for her. One project I started over winter break was to create a book that details the stories and importance of each of Lydia's special ornaments. I will add to that book as new ornaments are added to her box. Each one tells a story.