Kylie is 4!!

Sassy Cheetah!

That's what Kylie told me she was for Halloween.  If it helps tell you anything about her personality, this photo wasn't posed, this is just how I snapped her "talking" to me. I found this little dress and ears combo at Goodwill (the dress had a tail) and she fell in love with it.  I thought it was a leopard.  She told me it was a cheetah, and then on Halloween, when we first got her dressed, she told me, "I'm a sassy cheetah, so I have to do sassy dance moves!"

She's a big personality, quite a character.  There's nothing small about her, really:  big, beautiful, blue eyes; big mouth that lets out a big laugh and a big (often bossy) voice;  she turned 4 today and has been wearing big girl size 5 clothes for months now; she's got a good-sized booty that she loves to shake.  She loves to dance, and is pretty obsessed with ballet.  She has a little pink tutu leotard that she puts on with a little pair of silver ballet flats that were handed down by a cousin ("these are my pointe shoes" she tells me) and asks me to turn on "ballet girl commercials" (YouTube videos of professional ballet) so she can dance along, and then does her best to mimic the movements she sees on screen.  She is supremely expressive and has the perfect facial expressions to accompany whatever dance she's doing at the moment.  When she's not a ballerina, she's usually a rock star, with lots of scarves and a microphone (no, I do not let her watch Aerosmith videos), jutting her hips from side to side and singing quite loudly.  When she's finally tired of dancing, she just turns into a frills-and-lace four year old.  She loves dresses and skirts, anything with sequins, feathers, or beads, and loves having her hair fixed fancy.  Unfortunately for my wallet, she's always sneaking into my makeup.

She's very verbose and quite confident, but for all her verbal dexterity and blustery confidence, she is quite sensitive, and has difficulty with teasing (especially sarcasm).  She is easily embarrassed, and has one of the most effective glares I've ever seen.  But she is affectionate and sweet, loves attention and hugs and fun conversation.

With her big ginger mane and girly of girly girl temperaments, I see a lot of boys in our (hopefully still distant) future.  She's a huge flirt and quite charming.  She is bright and picks up new ideas and tasks quickly.  She still loves to build--has since she was a very small toddler.  She started stacking cups and rolls of toilet paper and other such household items around her first birthday, and still loves blocks more than any of my other kids.  She is pretty good at making complex castles, forts and towers with her blocks. 

Maybe she'll be daddy's little architect.  Or maybe she'll be an actress.  Either or both would suit her quite well, and one of the best things about being four is that you can be whatever you want. Precocious and bossy, but still somehow gentle and sensitive, the world is wide open before her, and she absolutely loves discovering it.