The Crandall News Update: Kayla 4 years old!

Our little Kayla is 4 years old! I couldn't help but remembering every moment from the day she was born. She has taken me on this journey of motherhood and taught me so much. I wanted to write down a few things about Kayla this age.

Kayla has a very strong personality. She is loud, bossy, loves to be in charge, sweet, loving and loves being a mommy figure to others. She is very affectionate and cuddly. During dinner, she'll want to sit and hold my arm or be as close to me as she can be. When Brett leaves in the morning to go to the gym, Kayla comes right in our room, climbs in bed with me and cuddles until Brett gets back. She still sucks her thumb and twirls her hair. She also LOVES to twirl my hair. She also still doesn't have much hair, but its always adorable and she loves finding new styles for us to try in her hair.

Speaking of hair, Kayla cut her own hair a few months ago! I asked her to find some socks for Tyson so we could go run errands. She is so great at being helpful with things like that. She ran upstairs and took a little longer than normal. When she came down, I immediately saw the damage. She calmly declared, "Mom, I cut my hair to get my bangs out of my eyes. I know you've wanted to do that for awhile now." That sweet girl was just trying to be helpful! She found some scissors in a nail manicure kit in Tyson's drawer that I didn't even know existed. I was pretty sad because her hair grows so slowly. I tried to fix it myself, without any luck, so we headed over to my friend and hair girl's house. While there, Kayla stared solemnly into the mirror the whole time. I tried to talk up the whole thing and gush over how cute she looked and she wouldn't respond much. Brittany had to cut more bangs and they ended up pretty short. When we got into the car, Kayla started to cry hard. She wailed that her bangs didn't get fixed. She was so brave to hold it together in front of Brittany. Its safe to say that she learned her lesson. Her short bangs grew on me quickly and they're growing back pretty well too.

Kayla loves adventures and having fun. Every day, she asks me what we're doing tomorrow. She likes to have plans and know about them well in advance. She has an excellent memory, so I can't make any promises that won't happen.

Kayla loves preschool and her teachers all love her! She's been attending the preschool at BYU-Idaho so its on the semester schedule. I didn't think she got into this current semester because we signed her up late and she was on the waiting list. The program director loves Kayla and I ran into her. She told me she would do her best to get Kayla in. This last week, I got a call that a spot opened up. I was relieved because she's been begging to go back since before Christmas. She loves having her own thing to do and even two days a week gives her the social exposure she needs. When I went to parent orientation on her birthday, the director pulled me aside and told me she personally put Kayla in this class. She said they needed Kayla because she is such a good speaker and makes friends with every other child and has wonderful relationships with her teachers. I couldn't help but be proud of her when I learned that. I love my social butterfly!

Kayla and Tyson have a great relationship. They fight, of course, but they get along really well a lot of the time. I can now send them up to the playroom and trust they'll play together pretty well for awhile. Especially lately, Kayla loves to be the one that calms Tyson down if he's upset. She gets the sweetest voice and reassures him and finds a solution to his crying. If I'm getting stressed or busy making dinner, she'll bring Tyson to the couch and 'read' him books. She has an amazing memory with books! I can read a book once and then she'll read it back to Tyson and get almost every word right. Its a bit mind blowing.

Kayla loves being outside in nature. We've gone sledding a few times and she could always stay out longer. This summer and fall, she begged to be outside all day long. She loves playing with other kids and I'm excited to see what friends she makes in our new neighborhood when it warms up outside.

Kayla loves singing and dancing. I don't know any other kid that can twirl as long as Kayla can without any side affects! She loves dressing up like a princess and wearing her princess shoes and crowns and jewelry. She loves playing with babies and being a mom to them. She loves making food in her toy kitchen. Her favorite show to watch lately is Tinker Bell. She also loves Care Bears, Doc McStuffins, and Sofia the first. She actually doesn't love watching many princess movies because there's always a villain and she doesn't like that.

Kayla has become pretty opinionated in her clothes lately. Its hard for me to get her to wear something unless I can show her a picture of her cousin Carly wearing the same outfit. She has a mind of her own in a lot of things, and while its frustrating, its also rewarding because I love that she's an independent thinker. Kayla became a Sunbeam at church this January and has loved it! It means a whole new level of independence for her. If I try to help her out of the van, she'll say, 'No mom, I don't need help. I'm a primary kid now.' Her prayers have also become very detailed and sweet lately. She never uses the phrase 'please bless us' but rather says, "Thank you that we can have fun tomorrow, thank you that we can be sweet to each other tomorrow, thank you that we can make good choices tomorrow." She also makes sure to say thank you for the Holy Ghost, the Gospel, and Jesus Christ. She loves to set goals for herself too, like I'm four years old now, so I don't scream anymore, Every night, she asks to lay out her clothes for the next day.

Kayla got to be a flower girl for my best friend's wedding this fall. She loved every second of it. Right before the ceremony, she ran out and said she was scared. I reminded her that she got a surprise at the end if she did it all by herself and I saw her resolves in her eyes that she could do it. She was perfect and I felt like she grew up a little more that night. She loves her dress from the wedding and would wear it every Sunday if I let her.

Kayla loves to help me cook and clean. She pulls chairs up and wants to pour in all the ingredients for me. She's good at picking up her toys and knows where everything goes, according to my own OCD organization habits. Sometimes I worry I'm turning her into a little OCD person, but I love that she likes things to be nice like I do.

Kayla loves her daddy and can't wait for him to come home everyday but she's still a momma's girl. I think I understand her emotional nature better than Brett does because I can relate to it. She does get easily worked up and still cries a lot. I'm working hard with her about thinking of solutions rather than getting upset and crying. Its rough for me, but I think its hard for her when she gets so upset too. She also has become a bit of a tattle tale and we're working on that as well.

Kayla loves weddings. We drove past a dress shop today, and she asked if she could have one of those dresses for her wedding. She then talked all about who she would marry. For quite awhile, she wanted to marry Tyson because they loved each other so much. :) She's also so excited about the new baby! She talks to the baby in my stomach and is very confident the baby is a girl. She tells me I forgot that its a girl if I try to tell her we don't know for sure yet (we're not finding out the gender for this one). She also loves telling Tyson about their little sister that will be coming soon.

Kayla is obsessed with how tall/ big she is. She wants to be like the big kids so badly that she talks about it constantly. She loves that she is now four and a big kid. Poor girl thinks that she is going to grow taller than all the older kids soon and be bigger than them. She also loves to tell Tyson what he can't do yet because he isn't tall enough. I think he'll catch up to her before we know it though and may already weigh more than her. :)

Every time someone has said, "Happy Birthday" to her, she says it right back to them. She is such a sweet girl. I woke up with a cold this morning, and she kept covering me with a blanket when I was laying down and bringing me things to cuddle with or play with while I rested.

Every night before bed, I ask Kayla is she knows how much I love her. She answers, "to the moon and back" and then says, "tell me...." and I proceed to ask her some questions. I ask her if she knows she is sweet, smart, funny, a good helper, a good dancer, etc. She loves this little ritual of ours and won't let me forget to do it. I cherish these moments between us as well.