Happy Birthday Kiera!

With a March birthday, what kind of weather you have on your big day is a huge wild card here in Minnesota.  Amazingly, two years in a row Kiera has gotten sunny and unseasonably warm weather on her birthday.  And this year was even more amazing than last with temperatures that rose to the high 60s.

Grandma Nan and Grandpa Dan hosted Kiera's party this year and because her birthday was on a Saturday, we spent the whole afternoon there.  We started with lunch, had some cake, played outside, opened some presents and then played some more. It was a glorious way to celebrate our beautiful little girl.

The birthday girl is four!

Kiera and Celina

There are times when I worry Kiera could feel left out having a March birthday when her brothers and dad have fall birthdays, but if there's any advantage, it's that she gets tons of presents and none that she's sharing with a sibling. Her gifts really celebrated her interests and her style.  She got a book, hair bows, clothes, Legos and a giant dollhouse with Caucasian and Asian dolls.  

Only recently has it struck me how much Kiera has grown in this past year. She still looked much like a toddler last year and now she looks so grown up. I look at her picture and think that if I blink she'll be asking for the car keys or packing to move out on her own. 

Two pictures taken exactly a year apart: Kiera on her third birthday (left) and her fourth birthday (right)

Our Kiera has changed a lot.  She's a lot more confident and all us adults in her life work hard to make sure she feels safe and secure enough to let her personality shine.  One outward sign that she's more confident is that she smiles for photographs.  Until just a couple of months ago, the most we could usually get out of her was a smirk or a half smile. Now she will happily smile when she sees me with the camera, and often without me even asking.

She's also making some strides with talking.  Although she's still incredibly difficult to understand due to the multiple articulation errors at play, we're thrilled to hear her initiate speech more often.  If we ask her what she wants, we might, just might, get a (one-word) answer.  A few times she'll even tell us something without us asking first.  We clearly have a long, long way to go, but we've all noticed an uptick in her speech and it gives me hope that we're starting to make some progress.

Like most kids, Kiera loves being outside. Her favorite activity at the park is still the swings.  She's finally too big for the baby swing, but hasn't learned how to pump yet.  She also loves riding her bike.  She tools around on her strider bike like she owns the street.

Like her big brother Oliver, Kiera likes to paint and draw. However, you have to keep an eye on her though or she and Matteo will empty the entire art cabinet in our dining room onto the floor. And let's just say that she hasn't developed an interest in cleaning up after herself. 

She's also following in her brothers' footsteps with an interest in Legos and loves sitting at the Lego table Chris built for the kids and stacking Legos on top of each other.  Oliver had wanted to help Kiera so badly to put together the set she had gotten for her birthday, but we were afraid he would take over and she would end up in tears. He made us so proud with how so very sweet and patient he was with her. The only time he showed frustration was when they finished and Kiera prompted destroyed the whole creation they had built.  Sigh, she is only four and hasn't learned to appreciate the final product.

Despite her destructiveness with Legos, Kiera shows a maturity beyond her four years of age.  I can bring her so many places that most people cringe at the thought of bringing a four-year-old.  She doesn't whine or complain about going to Target or accompanying me on other errands.  She sticks by my side and mostly entertains herself without getting bored.

Kiera's best buddy at the moment is her brother Matteo.  They share a room, go to preschool together and generally spend a lot of time with each other since they're on the same page developmentally. They spend so much time together that their speech pathologist thinks they've developed their own language, or "twin speak".  It really does sound like they speak gibberish to each other.