Annie, four-and-a-half

Annie is spunky and silly these days, but as sweet as ever. She asks me every day how much I love her, and she'll always respond with more love. I'll say, "to the moon and back," and she'll say, "to the end of the solar system." I'm not even sure how she knows what the solar system is.

In many ways, Annie hasn't changed much. She still loves her blankie, anything purple, anything girly, and her family. She's kind of a homebody, like her mom. I think that halfway through the school year, she's still not sure what she thinks about preschool. She's nervous about going every day, though of course she has a great time and loves it when she's there. Luckily, her MWF a.m. class is made up completely of little boys and girls who are just as quiet as she is. Seriously, I went to volunteer one day and it was almost silent during play time. It was a little strange, actually. The teacher said they're just a sweet, quiet class.

Annie was invited to her first birthday party last weekend--it was a winter luau! She wasn't crazy about the idea of going without the rest of the fam, and DJ sobbed after we dropped her off as if we'd never see her again. Here's a video of her doing the hula!

Annie's favorites these days are My Little Pony and playing "Elsa" from Disney's Frozen, which the girls saw twice in the theaters! They dress up as Elsa nearly every day and act out the entire movie, including singing all of "Let it Go" with dramatic motions. She's also very crafty, and loves to color, draw, paint, etc. Her signature picture is a rainbow (with all the colors in the right order) with a sun, raincloud, and her and I standing under the rainbow drawn in our respective favorite colors--purple and yellow.

Wearing her "Elsa dress" and her half-birthday crown from school. Nellie is being Nellie.

Annie is a marvelous helper (aren't four-year-olds great) and is very caring. Whenever any of us gets hurt, she runs to the freezer for an ice pack. If we're sick, she loves to deliver cough drops and medicine and play doctor. One of her quirks is that she loves to sit by a heat source. She actually carries a small space heater around the house with her and plugs it in wherever she's playing, eating, or sleeping. It's probably costing us a fortune in electric bills and a huge fire hazard.

Christmas morning, very excited about her gum and opening the first presents.  Note the space heater and blankie.

She's given us a bit of a scare, lately. About three weeks ago, now, we noticed a strange rash on her legs. We tried to find something similar online and everything we read basically said, "if it's this kind of rash [doesn't temporarily fade when you press on it], call the doctor immediately." Kevin and I aren't the type to run our kids to the doctor, but we called the next day. Long story short, Annie was diagnosed with Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP), which is some kind of faulty immune system response that causes capillaries to swell and leak. In her case, we found out she had the flu, but with no symptoms of that. Just the rash and temporary arthritis in her knees, ankles, and wrists. Several doctors appointments later, we've learned that she doesn't have any of the more serious complications at this point, which we are immensely thankful for. There's no treatment, and it could still last for weeks. The rash comes and goes consistently. It's so weird! Only one person I've talked to (other than the doctors, who said they see one case every few years) has ever even heard of it. Here's a picture of Annie's legs this weekend, when the rash was particularly bad--if you're interested in such things, or if your kid ever gets this and like us, you have no idea what it is!

Otherwise, Annie is our strong, steady girl, coming into her own more every day.