Four

Juliana is 4 years old today.

Each morning Juliana wakes up between 7:00 and 8:00 filled with energy.  During the week we walk around the block to the school where Juliana has preschool and the boys are in the infant program.  She walks with me to take the boys to their room and then we walk to her classroom where I leave her with Ms Moran.  When preschool ends at 3:00, she goes to the afterschool program until someone (usually Mommy) comes to get her and then we get the boys and walk home.

Our evenings are busy trying to squeeze in playtime, eating dinner, bath, getting ready for bed, picking out clothes for the next day, bedtime stories, prayers and finally bed....all while taking care of the boys as well.  She is generally in bed for the night by 7:45.

She has never taken good naps at school.  Although she will quietly rest for the required 20 minutes, I can count on one hand the number of times she has actually fallen asleep.  On the weekend or when she is home for any reason during the week in the afternoon, she will take a 2-3 hour nap.

She is so busy, constantly in motion.  At some point I expect her to learn to watch where she is going and stop running into things.  And at other times, she can be so focused and still.  When she watches a new episode of a favorite show it's as if she has been transported to a distant land and can't hear a word I am saying even though I am right next to her.  She will do the same thing with a Leapster game - completely focused on the game and the rest of the world fades away.

We had a busy day today, all about Juliana, and I have 249 pictures to prove it.  But for tonight I will include a trip back in time with her bear pictures from her 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st birthdays.