Johanna's Fourth Birthday

We celebrated Johanna's birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Kluesners where we were staying for the month.  Johanna was VERY excited to have THIRTY sleep overs!  And we also had a joint party with Cali at her house.

Johanna had a first this year - a skinned nose.  She was running at school and fell, catching herself with her nose.  It left quite the mark which Johanna was a bit self-conscious about but it seems to have healed fine.

Johanna recently had her school conferences. She is doing well in her school work and keeping up with the other kids even though she is younger.  She is working on her name which often has letters or the entire name backwards.  Her other goals were more social in nature as that is area where we can tell she is younger, like working to control emotions.  The teacher wants her to branch out and make more friends since right now she tends to just play with her best friend Naya (who she says she is going to marry) and they tend to end up fighting often!

 More about 4yo Johanna:

• Loves her little brother and makes sure she gives him a hug and kiss before he goes to bed each night.
• Does a great job of playing with Walter and encouraging him, teaching him, watching out for him, but also picks on him as one would expect (especially when she is bored) like taking away a toy for no reason.
• Is really interested in reading and letters since they have started that at school, likes to point out letters that she knows, has started "reading" during our evening book time using books that she knows by heart.
• Like to rough house with Daddy and knows the password "Daddy is the best" to get him to let her go.
• Is very attached to Mommy, wants to cuddle and go wherever Mommy goes.  
• Uses the word "redifficult" which is her combination of ridiculous and difficult.
• Likes to please people and gets upset when she is not at the top of the behavior board at school, for example.
• Gets a little cabin fever if we spend a whole weekend at home, wants to be around more people than just Mom, Dad, and Walter. 
• Is a very good helper, loves to help with things like dishes, laundry, getting things for us and does a very good job.
• Has an bit of independence and likes to prove she can do things, so we may tell her not to do something because we think it is out of reach or a bit dangerous, she will say "No, I can do it" and tries to do it anyway.
• Really looks forward to the weekend and would rather be at home than school (ironic considering the cabin fever thing) but seems to mainly like weekends because she gets to watch more TV and movies.
• Still loves to run, jump, bounce, and swing.
• Likes to say things like "I got you on that one" and tap her foot when waiting for Mommy (nice job teaching her that one Tony).
• Like to roll her eyes, especially at Daddy, which is either hilarious or infuriating depending on Daddy's mood (sorry for teaching her that one Tony)