R 39-40-41 months

Dear R,

It has been three months since my last newsletter for you, and there is much to share!

You love naming and identifying words that rhyme. You'll randomly shout out words and then make up a rhyming word and declare, "That rhymes!" Sometimes the words are actual words. Sometimes they actually do rhyme. We have fun with this, especially when reading poetry at night before bed. It is really exciting having you play with word sounds. You love to identify sounds that words begin with, and when I write things for you, I often ask you to tell me what the first letter should be.
We've instituted a reward chart which is working fairly well. Grammie made your first one (the red one on the fridge in the picture above) but we've had a few others since then (the current one is on the left of the red one). Usually you get a Dora sticker for setting the napkins around the dinner table, and we sometimes surprise you with a sticker for being good or doing something wonderful or showing kindness towards others. You love picking out your surprises (they are all little things, some from Grammie and others that we've found or gotten while out and about).
You still enjoy playing with Pocha. The last few weeks we haven't heard much about him, but he was around a lot the last few months. But as your interest in playing with Pocha has waned, you've gotten a lot more involved with your dolls lately-- specifically your princess dolls (Cinderella, Ariel, and Cinderella) that you got for your birthday this year.

In fact, lately our house feels like it is overflowing with talk about Princesses, Princesses, Princesses! To give an example, we have six different Cinderella books in the house, plus a seventh one that I checked out of the library last week. Having all these versions of the book are my fault, as I loved Cinderella as a girl and so whenever I see one on sale or super-cheap, I snag it. We've also received some for free from various family members. Three of the versions we have are Disney books but each one is somehow different.

In one of the Disney Cinderella books we have, the first page starts off with a brief description of Ella and her father, including the mention that Ella's eyes were as blue as forget-me-nots. You have asked someone to read this particular version of Cinderella to you at least 100 times in the last month, so I'm sure you about have it memorized by now. Today, as we were reading Fancy Nancy, Explorer Extraordinaire, when I got to the wildflowers page (which includes a picture of a forget-me-not), you exclaimed, "Ella's eyes were as blue as forget-me-nots!"

I'm embarrassed to admit I had no idea what you were talking about for a minute there, but it's just another sign of how sharp your memory is for all kinds of little details. Nothing gets past you these days.
You've also seen some changes at your day care. The school just hired a new teacher for your classroom, ending a search for a new teacher that actually started way back in May. This meant that the classroom assistant that you had for three months also moved on, and we were sad to see her go! She super-generously gave you a $5 gift card to a local toy store and we took you there to let you pick out anything you wanted. You picked out this blue princess doll, who you have variously called Cinderella or Mary (of Mary Had a Little Lamb fame), and you've carried this doll everywhere ever since you got it.
I asked you if I could take some pictures of you with the doll so that we could send them as a thank you to Ms. A, and you were SO happy to cooperate! Do you know how happy this made me? You were even brave enough to sit in our tree and let me take pictures. They came out so gorgeous. Daddy and I are going to frame one of them for our living room.

We love you so much, baby girl!!!

Love,
Mama