4 Years Old...

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
John 10:27-28

Of course I'm late again when it comes to getting pictures up here, but I guess late is better than never. Time is ever marching on, and it seems so unreal that Dolly is already on her way to 4½. It wasn't that long ago that she was just a helpless little thing - so different from the very independent and capable little girl that she's become.

5 days old

3½weeks old

Now Dolly is learning to read and write. She reads by sight over 50 words now, and with a little effort she can sound out a lot more. When she fills a line with painfully printed letters, the pride she beams while I pick 'the best one' is just priceless. Her memory is incredible whether it's memorizing long passages or just remembering what I said at a certain time about nearly any topic.

She is such a help to me in so many ways and I'm so thankful for her willingness. That said we do have days where the willingness is not so prominent, but she does obey even when she would rather not. Naptime is almost a thing of the past - we skip it about half the time in favor of 'doing schoolwork' or 'quiet time'.

More and more I find her picking her way across the piano keys and its so much fun to watch her begin to understand the instrument. I wish I could teach her how to play it properly. I love to hear her sing 'Jesus Loves Me' to the melody of a scale - do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do-ti-la-so-fa-mi-re-do: Je-sus-loves-me-this-I-know-for-the-bi-ble-tells-me-so!

Dolly has always been the easiest kid to photograph - as in she's been the most cooperative, but much to my surprise this last session was the hardest picture we've done yet. I think that maybe she's finally becoming conscious of her smile and was just trying too hard. It was hard to get a smile that didn't look slightly forced. It's always hard when you're the mom and you know what a bubbly happy smile looks like on your kid and you have to choose one that may be 'nice' when you know she's capable of sparkling.

Anyway, below are the original professional pictures we had taken when Dolly turned 4. Sir edited the main package picture for me above - I could have paid an extra arm and leg to get the photo lab to do the same thing, but the package prices are getting bad enough as it is when it comes to the number of pictures and assortment of photo sizes available now.

The package shot.


The extra free pose our picture card wins us.