Tuesday, August 13, 2013

I can't believe Abbi is 4 years old. It truly seems like she just turned 3, and 2. It seems like just the other day she was starting to talk in multiple word groups, and now she just talks, incredibly well I will say too.

I suppose I'll stick with Abbi's speech as the first mark of the past year. She is incredibly articulate, and has a fantastic vocabulary. Jenn and I often look at each other when Abbi uses new words and I'm always amazed at how well she's able to incorporate them into her daily life. She truly is a sponge for words, and is just soaking it all up.

Jenn says that Abbi seems to have a head for numbers. She doesn't care to much about learning to recognize the alphabet, but numbers is a different thing. She gravitates towards them. She finds patterns and math in everyday life, and we of course infer she's got a "mind for math". Which I suppose is only fitting for our kid given our backgrounds.

The past year brought quite a few new social aspects to Abbi's life with her beginning a kids program at church and joining dance. She's done fantastic in both. Of course Jenn makes sure she has perfect attendance for these things, but once she's there, she does great. Abbi is a fantastic listener, and rule follower. She's not quite a taddle tale, but she'll come home and tell us about people who broke the rules, and you can clearly see that its pissed her off. Which I like. She likes people to follow the rules, and thats a good thing.

Much like last year, there has been a lot of adjustment for Abbi with Cole. Cole keeps getting bigger and bigger, and with that comes more strength. Which means he is slowly learning to fight back against Abbi. To which Jenn and I have had to become much more vigilant in watching them to make sure they don't explode at each other. But for the most part, Abbi is a very caring, loving big sister to Cole. She wants to play with him and include him in a lot of things, and I can truly see that she loves him deeply.

As for me, as her father, its been hard sometimes. As she's continued to grow, the past year has been tough with the addition of Cole. They both want Jenn. Abbi rarely accepts me as the consolation prize to wanting Jenn, which often results in tears. Abbi and I though have a very special relationship, one that I truly treasure. There are a few things that are special to us, and I love that about her and I. I think I've finally ingrained in her the idea of "bone crusher" and "butt crusher" hugs, in such a way that one day I hope they are passed on to her children.

Abbi is extremely special and smart in ways Jenn and I could have never imagined. She has such a playful personality that is extremely infections and great to have around. Just like I could imagine life with kids four years ago, I can't imagine my life without Abbi at this point either. She's just that special.

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1 comment:

  1. Abbi is a special little girl and I'm so glad she is our granddaughter. It seems like only yesterday she was an infant and we were wondering what she would be like when she got a little older. She is so beautiful!

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