This is a summary for Brinley for her first month as a 4.5 year old (so 4.5 plus one month).
SLEEP
Sleep is great! She rarely naps these days, but has rest time pretty much daily. An interesting thing is that she must have rest time if I want a happy child in the evening and the next day. Even though she doesn’t sleep, that rest time is super important for her.
EATING
Eating is great. She eats well overall. She doesn’t like everything she ever eats, which is fine. There are many days (especially soup days) when she declares that she does not want to eat what we are having for dinner. We tell her that is fine but this is the only option for eating.
My way of handling this situation is to be calm. “That’s fine. You don’t have to eat it. You will get hungry, but you will be okay.”
She doesn’t want to be hungry. She always eats at least enough to keep the hunger at bay. She often finds it easier to eat foods she doesn’t like if someone spoon feeds her. So she at times asks for help, and either my husband or I help her get that food in her tummy.
EMOTIONS
Four year olds are emotional beings. This first month past 4.5 has been the calmest yet! There has been a lot more giggling and steady happiness rather than the roller coaster of emotions I have grown accustomed to.
PRESCHOOL
Brinley is still loving preschool, and she is dying to go to Kindergarten. I have actually been able to jump some hurdles with her with the idea of Kindergarten in her future.
She has never, until this month, been willing to use a public toilet unless I held her in place. This stems from a fear of heights. I told her she had to be able to use a public toilet if she wanted to go to Kindergarten. That motivated her! She now uses it no problem. Kindergarten has been a great motivational tool.
TECHNOLOGY FAST
It became apparent to me that there was too much affinity for technology in our home. Because of this, we did a week-long technology fast. Brinley was the most attached to technology of any of the kids. I gave them a week warning about the fast and it went really well! I think we will do that more often, perhaps even monthly.
DENTIST
Brinley had a dentist appointment this month. She did great and had no issues. Back to her fear of heights, her biggest difficulty with the dentist is always having to lay on the seat, high off the ground. I always have to stay right by her and hold her hand.
TOO MANY FREEDOMS
One day as we were choosing her clothes, she had a major fit over the shirt I wanted her to wear. I realized she had too many freedoms. Because of that, I took her right to choose what she wore away for a week. That was a few weeks ago. She hasn’t had a fit about a shirt at all. The other day, she asked me for permission to wear a certain shirt. It is the first time she participated in the choosing of what she wore. I was happy she asked and didn’t demand.
SCHEDULE
Here is what was pretty consistent for non-school days:
8:30 or 9:00–wake up/get ready/eat breakfast
9:30–play with siblings
usually independent play for an hour in between now and lunch
12:00 –lunch. Then play.
2:30–Rest Time
4:00ish–Get up up. Play PBS Kids on the computer. Then dinner and family time.
8:00–Get ready for bedtime
8:30 or 9:00–Bedtime
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