Inside the mind of an almost 4-year old

Fiona can't wait for her birthday.  Since right after Christmas she's been asking repeatedly about her birthday.  Yesterday the first thing she asked me in the morning was "Momma, is today my birthday?"  "No, Fiona it's still over a month away."  She's already declared, several times, that she's not going to play Play-doh on her birthday; she's going to make an art project.  Up until Saturday she was going to wear her Rapunzel dress, but now it's her Minnie Mouse dress.  We'll see if that sticks.  When asked about her birthday dinner, she said she's having salad and fruit (no complaints here about that) and when asked who she wants to spend her birthday with she said "Grama Carol!"

Fiona loves princesses.  Princess stories, princess dresses, princess toys, playing princess, princess movies, you name it.  She 'knows' that princesses wear dresses and princes wear pants.  When she's wearing a dress, especially if it's one of her princess dress-up ones, she is the princess and I'm the prince - because I'm in pants.  Nevermind that I'm not a boy!

Fiona also likes to keep track of who 'wins.'  She'll name off who is going to finish dinner in what order. Usually Sean is first, then it's a variation of me, her and Ava.  She also likes to win when going up and down the stairs, which means that we need to get to the top or the bottom at the same time.  Although, she's learning that she doesn't always win, like when playing Go Fish.

She's very creative.  She draws pictures of people (complete with arms, legs, faces) and some animals and simple outdoor scenery (like trees).  She also draws maps.  She's really good at coloring, staying inside the lines and finishing the whole picture.  She'll make up stories and likes to hear stories.  She also makes up words; I'll ask her what the word means in English and she'll tell me an English word.

Fiona is also smart (and yes, I'm her mother so I'm biased, but I stand by my statement).  She can count to 39, but instead of 40 she says 20 again.  She can write her name, Ava's name, and most of her letters without help.  She has a great memory and can recite almost verbatim an entire book.  She's also starting to understand how to sound out words.  Not a ton, and she needs help, but she's trying and getting some of them.  She knows what sounds the letters make and it starting to piece them together.

She understands some 'grown-up' concepts, but not others.  Like a week or so ago, her baby doll was hungry so she started feeding her doll milk from her boobie, which I love that she knows that babies don't always drink from a bottle.  However when Papa asked Fiona how her trip was up to MN for the baby shower, she said (in a serious manner) it was fun but the baby was still in Aunt Tracy's tummy so it didn't get a shower!