Happy 4th Birthday Elizabeth Anne!!!

My little Beth is such an individual! Among our group of strong-willed children, I think she may be the most strong willed of all of them. She has always known exactly what she wanted and you couldn't talk her into anything else. I remember once a few months after her first birthday, I gave her a piece of toast. She handed it back to me, but was very upset when I put it back on the plate. I handed it to her again and she handed it back to me. This happened several times until I finally figured out that she wanted jam on the toast. I had never had a 14 month old be that specific before.

She has never been concerned with pretense. She is very deliberate and does not do anything just because someone else is doing it. She does not do things just because someone tells her to. Last May after my sister's wedding, my cousin (who works with children and is wonderful with them) was talking to Beth and trying to make her laugh. She obviously understood what he was trying to do, but did not find his comments funny, so she just looked at him, which cracked the rest of us up!

Beth has such a wonderful sense of humor. She started grinning (not just smiling) at 6 wks (see the first picture below) and is such a ray of sunshine in our family! I love listening to the stories she comes up with while playing. She spent the afternoon today playing with Jack in the playroom. We rearranged it this morning since the Christmas tree is no longer up and she and Jack had a wonderful time playing on the big slide and the climber. She found a 2x4 that was about 24 inches long (part of the firepole, which we were taking down to make room for the slide) and carried it around all afternoon calling it her baby. She has dolls, but preferred the 2x4.

There is no one in the world like you Bethington! I love you baby girl!