Signing Her Own Artwork

Yes, here it is. Sydney's almost-4-year-old signature, which she is beginning to insist go on everything.


Sydney first wrote her name at the Children's Museum when we were there on February 7th. Then she did it again (shown here) on the 8th.

I have been dreaming, wondering of the day when she would be confident enough to write on her own. At the beginning of September, when I began homeschooling her, we began tracing capital and lowercase letters. At that time, it was hard to get her to trace a letter 20 times, much less try to do it by herself. But alas, how she has gained confidence.

I find it funny that the sole purpose for us doing those worksheets was not even to learn to write letters, but simply to repeat top to bottom, left to write hand strokes for writing and reading excellence. It is ironic that she learned to make the letters in her name, but most of them she draws bottom to top.


Sydney will be 4 on Sunday, and I thought this would be a good time to reflect on her accomplishments in the past year. She is certainly a little girl instead of an older toddler. Her speech has improved. Last year she had just learned the "s" sound before she turned 3. This summer she finally learned the "sh" sound. Or rather, just learned that she could say it, and trained herself to say it all the time.

Although she often doesn't want to take a nap, and sometimes refuses to let her body settle down, she does still need an hour or two in addition to her 10 hours at night. It is obvious when she doesn't get it. I think in a few months, naps will become history.

Sydney can get dressed and undressed by herself for the most part. She is still working on socks, turtlenecks, and getting buttons in the right holes, but other than that, she is pretty reliable. It has been nice just telling her to go get ready for bed and see her come out all ready about 5 minutes later.

For the most part, potty training is over. Her bladder is still working on being reliable for 10 hours overnight, but even that is coming along nicely. It's looking like she'll beat her 17/31 night record this month. During the day, I don't have to tell her to go, unless she is really caught up in playing. That just doesn't happen very often. Besides, she knows when she's dancing around that it's time to go. :)


Playtime is imaginative for her. She does think of some scenarios for her and Isaiah to play out. She does the typical girl things - kitchen cooking, baby caring, and mothering (toward dolls and Isaiah). She also watches Thomas the Train Engine and remembers those scenarios to reenact with the train set.


She has a bit of the first child "bossiness" about her. She also strives toward perfection...maybe as a result of being encouraged toward perfection by her parents.


Sydney has learned to love movies this year. And not just cartoons anymore. Recently, she sat through Mary Poppins, and she also looks forward to the nights we watch Little House on the Prairie together. She doesn't understand everything, but she does sit during the length of time and tries to understand.


Sydney loves dressing up and looking beautiful, just like the Disney princesses she admires so much. We have already had lessons about beauty of the heart and not gazing on her outward appearance, but I'm sure these will be repeated many times in coming months. But even in her loving girly things - jewelry, dresses, makeup, shoes, baking - she loves her time with Daddy when he reads to her at night. And she is always so excited when she dresses up and gets her hair done on Sunday mornings, to then go out to the living room and show Daddy how pretty she is.


I got Sydney her own knife last night. I was at a Pampered Chef party, and they had a child's knife, with a rounded end on it. Sydney loves watching me cook and bake, and I think there will only be more of this to come. I think she will love helping me.


I love watching Sydney grow up. Each year, I find new things to teach her in light of what she's learned. I hope that I can continue to keep up with her and fan the flame of her interests so that she can bring glory to God.