Saturday, June 8, 2013

Four Years Old!

I just looked back at a post from the beginning of April. Nick already looks SO MUCH OLDER. I look at my kids and nearly every day see their faces looking older than the previous day. Their skills improve. I have to say caring for them is getting easier. No diaper changing, a little less food preparation because they can make some things themselves, a little bit later wake-up time, usually good bedtime routines, logical reasoning (only sometimes with Nick, but always with Xander), and slightly easier car seats. No nap times to interfere with outings. Good behavior in the car, even for long drives. Pretty darn good public behavior.

Our children are old. Just kidding; they're still young children, but they are moving toward the older-young-children category. I anticipate some challenging issues as they grow older that we don't have to deal with now, but the really physically demanding phase of parenting seems to be receding into the past.


Now to the vital statistics:

Height:
40"

Weight:
Couldn't tell. Our scale wouldn't register more than zero pounds for him. :)

Sleeping:
Nick does not take a formal nap anymore. We have had some challenging times lately, including sickness in the family, when I have put on videos for him in the afternoon so he would at least get some rest and allow other people to do the same. If he feels the need, he will put himself into his bed and sleep for a nap. Every once in a while he passes out on the couch. But for the most part, there is no nap anymore.

He goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:00, just like Xander. They share a room and sleep in bunk beds. He usually gets up between 7:00 and 7:30. I wish he would sleep in just a little more. Probably the ability to sleep in will come with age, like it did with Xander.

I always tell him to first read a book when he gets up in the morning. When he's done with that, he wants to watch Imaginext videos. These are done by Fisher-Price and encourage kids to want more and more of their toys...They are the bane of my existence. Sometimes I let him, sometimes I don't, and my end goal is to eradicate them from our lives forever.

Eating:
He eats very often. As he always has. He can pack away quite a bit of food, but his more usual pattern is to eat a normal amount at a meal, then want another small meal in a few hours. Relatives have been surprised lately that he would eat brussels sprouts and lettuce. He will eat just about anything if we encourage him, but dinner is still his smallest meal of the day. Nick is adventurous with condiments. He will eat almost any food with almost any condiment without complaining. (Not that we care whether he eats condiments or not!)

Main Interests:
Obsessed with Imaginext. I'm surprised at how long the Imaginext castle and accessories has been a favorite. He still plays with it for more than an hour every day. For his birthday, he is getting several more Imaginext figures and items from the Eagle Talon Castle and Batman sets.

He also really likes the library and Muppets movies.

Favorite Books:
Myths and Legends, Marvel Heroes Mix 'N Match, Xander's Lego books

Miscellaneous:
He knows more than I expect. I've been doing learning activities with him that I didn't judge him ready for a few months ago, and now he understands them in an instant.

When we went to the art museum with Grandma Lucy the other day, he surprised her (and me) by pointing to copies of statues and saying, "That's from Myths and Legends." Then he passed a relief on the wall topped with Greek writing and said, "That's Greek writing."

He likes doing activities on the computer. I've been letting him do Starfall.com every once in a while and he really likes the math sections, especially the multiplication songs and the fractions with pizza activity. It sounds like he is learning his 3x tables! Xander doesn't even know those!

His sight and hearing are slightly better than normal for his age; same with his vocabulary and other intellectual and social skills. We know this because he has been evaluated for speech therapy purposes. The only impairment he has (which we knew, but not in technical terms) is a voice impairment so that he always says "s" and similar sounds through his nose. He has done this since before he was one year old. The first time he ever said the "s" sound, I heard that nasality. So he is going to start speech therapy once a week next year. I'm impressed with his ability to go with the speech therapist and work with her for an hour without me there. She said he "worked hard" for her. I don't think I've dropped him off somewhere more than a dozen or so times, but he did great when I did just that for speech at the elementary school.


Rough Schedule:
7:30 up, book, maybe some videos
8:00 breakfast
8:30 sibling playtime
9:00 Morning Cards to get ready for the day; chores
10:00 learning activities
10:30 independent playtime
11:30 outside break or errands
12:00 lunch and clean-up
12:30 outside playtime
1:00 Sustained Silent Reading time
1:15 free playtime or video 
3:00 snack or tea time
4:00 free playtime or TV time (Wild Kratts, Electric Company)
5:00 a couple of pre-dinner chores, help me cook or clean up kitchen
6:00 family dinner
7:00 family activities or sibling playtime
7:30 start getting ready for bed
9:00 bedtime - lights out

And more pictures:







tired before the party

water balloon line
little boys playing Imaginext



she's doing the actual party activities

big boys playing with snails

tired after the party

3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Okay, I tried to comment and it showed twice and so I deleted one and now they are both gone? Let's try again and you can fix it from your end if I comment twice :) Happy Birthday to Nick! Four is such a fun age. I feel your pain on the Imaginext toys--hope they stay together better now (I can remember my son who is now ahem 12 had a castle at about that age and it was always falling apart! He didn't like to build things like that so it gave us all headaches.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Haha, some toys seem meant to torture parents. Seems like the Imaginext toys are pretty well made for his age group. The accessories are not TINY at least, like they are with Legos. We've had that castle for half a year, so we'll see. Four is a fun age!

    ReplyDelete