today, you are four

**this post should have went live yesterday, but in all the haste of  the birthday, I never even checked to see if posted. I’ll have a birthday party recap tomorrow**

my Braylen,

Today you woke up a four year old. Try as I might, I can’t wrap my head around this new age for you. Four!

That’s roughly 1,460 days since we welcomed you into our hearts and lives with much joy and anticipation.

You are smart, BK. So very smart. You know all of your letters and sounds, recognize some of your sight words, love to read books and add numbers. You are so curious about letters and sounds and learning to spell words. You write your name like a pro and you want to write everyone else’s name, too! You’re good at memorizing books and retelling stories. You make your kindergarten-teaching-mama very proud.

I can’t wait to see you be a great big sister to your baby brother. You love him so much already. I don’t think you quite know what’s coming, you’re just excited to get to feed and hold a new baby. I have no doubt that it will take some adjusting, but that you’ll fall into that role with ease. I think you two will be the best of friends one day.

You have the sweetest heart, the best smile, and the most contagious laugh. You are incredibly content and your love for life is evident as your eyes light up over the smallest of treasures like tiny purple flowers that grow in our yard and rocks you find on the sidewalk. You are collector of random things, they become your treasures, like flowers and leaves, but most mostly rocks.

In your third year we’ve watched you grow taller, your eyes have turned from blue to green, your curls aren’t quite as a tight as they fall somewhere past your shoulders these days. You traveled to the beach several times, to Disney World, to Atlanta, to Chattanooga. You are a great travel companion, and my right hand girl. You know where all the good stores are like Hobby Lobby and Starbucks, and you’ll eat Mexican with us any day of the week. You started dance class, and I love seeing you decked out in pink each week. You love seeing your friends and twirling in circles.

You are a social butterfly. From the beginning, you always have been. I don’t know that it will ever change. You quickly take center stage anywhere we go, chat with anyone we meet (or even people that we haven’t met), and you want to know everyone’s name. You love princesses and shoes, but most of all, you love my jewelry and shoes.

You are so inquisitive, you have a question for everything. Nothing is ever left unknown to you, if you wonder about something, you quickly ask someone what it means. You are full of energy, only crashing at bedtime. When you wake up, you’re full speed ahead for the entire day. Still and quiet are rare for you, on the rare occasion you want to snuggle or fall asleep in my lap, I treasure that time more than you know.

You are such a good and perfect gift from God and I can’t even remember what it was like before you, but I know that life is better because of you. Your daddy and I love you more than the world, or as you like to say to the moon and back.