Sunday, October 1, 2017

Preschooler: Fourth Birthday


Today is the day. My first-born is a four-year-old. How does time go so fast? Why is it that when I look at my son he all-of-a-sudden looks all grown up? Last week he didn't, I swear! He stands taller, even puffing out his chest some too. He is weighing in at 39 pounds and stands 3.5 feet tall! He is still my sweet, little guy who loves cuddling up with a mountain of books but he also loves jamming to loud music and playing his air guitar in our kitchen.

We met Mickey Mouse in Las Vegas in February

Some of his other current passions include: playing garbage truck (and watching every garbage truck that passes by and taking out my garbage), listening to audio books and stories, watching construction (still, this passion hasn't left since it started), imagination play with stuffed animals and toys, dinosaurs and super heroes.

As I mentioned before, he loves to be read to but he is showing signs of wanting to learn to read on his own too. We are working on this very slowly but trying to be more intentional with the books we check out at the library. We are also trying to practice writing a little more but that isn't very interesting to him yet.


Firetrucks: Another very real passion! He got to go in a firetruck and meet real firemen at the library a few weeks ago (but he didn't want to because he said he was already a real fireman!) One of our neighborhood playgrounds has a firetruck to drive too, which he begged to go to again and again!

One of the challenges that we've faced this year (and continue to manage) is anger and defiance. He is quick to yell back at us, scream his frustration and even hit. For us this seems to out of the ordinary as he used to just go with the flow and be pretty easy to please. But I'm pretty sure this is normal for his age. He has a strong personality with very strong likes and dislikes -- he is finally coming out of his shell and learning how to manage all the feelings.

He has been a big brother for over a year now and he loves Stephen very much. He does fairly well playing with him and sharing with him for the most part and just loves hugging him all the time. When the hugs get to be too much Stephen pulls hair or bites which ends the love-fest pretty quickly (and it isn't pretty anymore). It has been so fun to see them play together now -- or at least play with the same type of toys side by side for a few minutes at a time. Stephen likes to do whatever big brother is doing - including taking out the trash! (I know, lucky me!)

I'm really excited for this year -- the last year that he'll be home with me! We do have him in a very part time (6 hours a week) Parks & Rec program which he loves, but he starts full time transitional kindergarten next fall. I'm excited to see all the learning that happens this year and all the play that happens with his brother.

Happy Birthday William! We love you so much!




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