Life with The Snyders: Kinsley Faith: 4 Years Old

How Kinsley is already 4, I'm not really sure, but here we are with our full of life, feisty, go non-stop, Kinsley Faith.

We transitioned you to your big girl bed last January and moved you into Chloe's room so Haddon could have the nursery. You were excited about your big girl bed at first. You woke up at 3 am the first night and never went back to sleep! Thankfully that was the only night you did that. Then, you decided you wanted your crib back. You kept calling the nursery your room. "Look my fan still in there" (pointing to the ceiling fan). You still like to climb in the crib with Haddon, but you don't ask for your crib back anymore.

We had dropped naps, but then you started back when school started. If you're at home all day, you don't nap, but if we go somewhere in the car late in the afternoon, it's almost a guarantee you will fall asleep in your car seat.

You are a good little snuggler! Sometimes you still come in to my room in the middle of the night just to snuggle. You let me take you back to bed without a fight after a few minutes of snuggles.

You are still an avid finger sucker. We tried to get you to stop once and made it through 2.5 nights. We bought elbow guards and had fun rewards each morning you woke up with them still on. On the third night, you woke up crying in the middle of the night. I was nursing Haddon so daddy came to take care of you. You were not fully awake and you were unconsolable. I knew what you wanted, but couldn't come in there. Finally I heard daddy say, "do you want these off?" You said yes and he took them off. You popped those fingers in your mouth and went right back to sleep. We have not successfully gotten you to wear your elbow guards again. However, you and your teachers say you do not suck your fingers at school unless it is nap time. So I count that as a small victory.

One day we were at CVS and you wanted some stick on nails. I told you that you would not be able to suck your fingers if you put those on. You said, "Well let's put those back."

Your quality of eating is still hit or miss. You still love to snack and will tell me "I want to eat junk!" You loved getting churros at Costco.

We potty trained you right after Christmas last year. It was a very smooth and quick transition. You have impressed us with your bladder of steel. You were very picky about who you would go potty for at first. You didn't have accidents, but you would hold it for hours because you didn't want to use an unfamiliar bathroom or have someone else help you. You got a UTI this year and this could have played a role in that. You are much better about it now. A few weeks into starting Pre-K at Mangum you came home and said "Mommy I went potty at school today FOR REAL!" I asked if you had been pretending to go before that and you said yes.

You got your first hair cut.

You decided the day we were getting family pictures done that you didn't want to wear your hair up anymore. That was that. You will still sometimes let me put it up or braid it, but usually you ask to have it down.

Your outfit choices are quite eclectic. You love to wear PJs. When I'm doing laundry, your PJ pile is always the highest! You also love to put on dress up clothes and you ask to wear a dress to school everyday. You insist on wearing socks with sandals. You refuse to wear anything that is "wiggly!" So if it is not fitted, you take it off immediately.

You still love animals. When the weather is nice, it is not unusual for us to look out at you chasing a squirrel.

If the weather is nice, you love to be outside and are not afraid of any wildlife. You do not like being out in the cold though! You got Impetigo this past year. I had never heard of it, but apparently you can get it from bacteria in the dirt. A quick round of antibiotics and the doctor said to keep letting you play; it was good for you!

You can see your main Impetigo sore in these two pictures. You had sores in your ears and on your fingers too.

Your imagination is so creative. You love playing Barbie's and you love playing babies. You like playing these with Chloe, but you will also play by yourself. Listening to you have a two person conversation with your babies is the cutest. You also love real babies!

You love to be silly!

You and Haddon have the sweetest little relationship and are going to be trouble together one day!

I love watching your relationship with Chloe too; you're a great sister!

You started doing speech with Lisa several months ago and your speech has improved so much. I already miss the way you would mispronounce things.

Transitioning to pre-k at Mangum was a little bumpy, but not terrible. At first, you wouldn't really eat lunch and weren't a fan of going potty at school. It was so nice that Mrs. Stacey was your teacher because you had her last year at Crossroads. That helped so much! Now, you love school and will tell me "I'm so excited to go to school! I don't cry anymore!"

You are forming the sweetest little friendships!

You started Awana and really enjoy it. You really like that daddy is one of your teachers.

You did a week of summer camp at gymnastics and loved that.

You started dance, but decided this year you wanted to do Tap and Ballet. Last year you did Hip Hop and Acro and it was great. You love Tap and Ballet though.

Daddy took you and Chloe to a Father Daughter Valentine's Day Dance. You had a blast!

Unfortunately you had to learn about death this past year as we lost Debbie, Chuck, and Mama Barb. You will say every once in a while that you miss one of them if you see their picture, but otherwise you accepted that they're in Heaven and that's that.