Jane (4 years old)

Our little four year old is so aware of her age now.  For months leading up to turning four, she made all kinds of promises.
"When I am four, I won't wake up daddy, ever again."
"When I am four, I will like to eat my carrots."
"When I am four I will never hit Peter."
None of those have come true and I feel so betrayed.

In all fairness, she isn't hitting Peter near as much.  I really can see a difference in her 4 year old maturity.  She's a little more helpful (a little), mostly when it comes to Alice.  She pays so much attention to her and loves to make her laugh.  She keeps her occupied when I need it and that can be SO helpful.   She likes to feed her and get her toys and help her down from things when she stands up and panics because she can't get down.  I really love how much she genuinely loves her sister.
When I ever so gently comb Jane's hair, she cries and yells at me, but when Ali grabs a fistful and rips it out by the root, Jane just grimaces and then says with a smile, "She's a grabber!"  I guess that's just the relationship they have.
Jane is constantly writing lullabies for Alice.  "I just made a new song for Alice," she'll say and then launch into some off-key crooning.  "Alice it's ok, you don't have to feel so bad. It's ok, it's ok, it's ok Aaaaaaaaaaaliiiiiiiiiiiii...."

She's not always so sweet, though.  She's become a little more defiant also and she and I butt heads frequently.  She's started saying "No way!" or "Never!" in a stubborn four-year-old way that drives me nuts or she completely ignores me and that really gets my goat.

But our real struggle with Jane is that she is still waking up all through the night and wandering into our room to get daddy.  We are at a loss with what to do.  Sometimes it's bad dreams, sometimes needing to go potty and sometimes no reason but sleepy autopilot.  Peter wakes up occasionally to go to the bathroom too, so between the three of them, we are getting no sleep.

Jane loves to giggle and when something strikes her funny bone, she wants to recreate that moment over and over.  "Mom, let's play a game, it's called: Run around the table and slip on the towel and say 'Uh-Oh'.  Can we play that game?"  It's always forced laughs after that, but she still wants to do it over and over.

When we leave Church, we race daddy home and it's a BIG deal to Jane and Peter.  They always want to make sure we're going the "fastest way".  They count to the biggest numbers they can think of, (which for Peter, always ends in "twenty-one hundred").  They picked that trick up from one of their shows where counting makes the car go faster.  They want me to use "Blazing Speed" at strategic moments (another show), and ever since Chris managed to beat us by taking advantage of a left turn light, Jane always wants me to "turn left at the ice cream picture" even when it's not in our best interest to do so. (And yes, she gets left and right correct a surprising amount of the time).

Jane's getting pretty good on her bike with training wheels.  She loves to ride and goes pretty fast on the straightways, but is VERY cautious with curbs or hills.  She's the one that wants to be outside the most.

Jane needs sunglasses the way I do.  I get headaches if I'm in the sun without shades on.  I'm not sure if Jane get's headaches, but she complains that it's too bright even for a moment and keeps her sunglasses on whenever it's bright out.

We've had a pass the Children's Museum for the last year, but I haven't decided yet if I want to renew it, or go for another venue.  Jane asks all the time if we can go, and I've had to explain the situation several time.  Now when Chris goes to work, she says things like "Daddy can you go to work now, so you can make lots of money and that's a pass so we can go to the Children's Museum."

I sure love her and all of her quirks.  She's our little Jane.

We were having a fun little moment sharing cookies and chocolate milk while the others were taking naps, but when I gave her the go-ahead to blow bubbles as hard and long as she could, I may have achieved favorite parent status in that moment... just that little moment, though.