Paul at age 4

Time for a more fun post after yesterday’s post about the illnesses plaguing our house! 

Paul is 4! I feel like we've been talking about his birthday for quite some time. He was way more excited for and aware of  his birthday than he has been in the past so that is a fun development. I feel like we are hitting the start of the sweet spot of parenting. Most of the behavior challenges we experienced around 3-3.5 have improved. He still will get upset at times, but nothing like the dysregulation we saw in the fall. I think I will start to plan some mommy/Pablo outings now that he doesn't need to nap and does so well when out and about! 

Growth: He's around 30 pounds and I am not sure how tall - probably around 41" or so? We'll find out at his well-child appointment on Friday. He's definitely petite for his age. I think the rule is that you need to be 40 lbs to move to a booster seat in the car and that feels like it's YEARS away for him! He is mostly wearing 2T bottoms but can still wear 18m shorts. He recently moved into 3T tops and pajamas. 

Words and phrases: He continues to be very chatty. I can tell that he picks up on things we say, especially Phil's common phrases. Often when we ask how his day at school was he will say "it was really busy!" The other night he was kind of hyper and was running around in circles and then stopped and said, "I got a little carried away." At dinner time when Will inevitably throws food on the floor, Paul will tell us, "He's just a baby!" 

He also has a great imagination. He still talks about his cat Jax who lives by a lake but also apparently has a house in California. Paul said he drives his convertible there to visit him and that Jax also drives a tiny car. He also pretends to be different animals, especially in the cat family like a cheetah. Much of his pretend play involves him being the daddy and me being the mama and Will being the baby. So last week, we were the mama and daddy birdies who went to find worms to feed to Will the baby birdie. 

Dressed up as Cat Boy, playing with his Cat Boy toy

Playing in his "space ship." This car seat box got a lot of use!

Likes:

- He loves sledding and being outdoors. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can spend more time outdoors. There are a couple of sledding hills walking distance from our house so we sled when the weather isn't too cold. 

- He loves board games and has gotten really good at puzzles. He is so my child as he will tell Phil, "we do the edge pieces first, right mommy?" He has also gotten very into magnatiles which are the coolest toy!

- His favorite show is Wild Kratts. Of the shows he's watched on PBS, this is my favorite. He has learned so many facts about animals and often shares them with us. We got him a refurbished iPad for Christmas so he gets to play on that during quiet time on the weekends. He uses the PBS video and game aps and ABC Mouse. 

- He still loves to read and mostly reads picture books now. We did read our first chapter book around the holidays (Mr. Poppers Penguins) but he hasn't been interested in reading other chapter books. He understands the concept of the library and will tell me what books to request. He also enjoys the Highlights magazine that we get every month. 

Firsts:

- He got his own seat on an airplane for the first time on our Tucson trip. It increases the price of vacations but it's really nice for him to have his own space. He did excellent on the plane rides since he had his iPad and our flight to Phx had tvs with lots of movie and TV options.

- He moved into a big boy bed last fall. It was a tough transition and he still struggles with bedtime at times, especially on week days when he naps at school. He really doesn't need a nap so isn't as tired on those days which makes bedtime challenging. He helped pick out some new art work for his walls - we went with some dino prints and a painting of the solar system. I moved the art that was hanging above his crib to Will's room. He dropped his nap late last fall so spends quiet time in his room on his iPad.

 

Dislikes:  Being on someone else's schedule. Getting him out the door on weekday mornings can be kind of brutal!  

Eating: is pretty meh. We keep exposing him to things but there is no forcing this kid to eat something he doesn't want to eat. He has been willing to at least try things (but pretty much immediately spits it out) so I guess that is progress? His favorite foods are dino chicken (which have blitzed veggies in them), banana pancakes, cottage cheese, mac and cheese (although he is particular about the shape of the pasta - like he won't eat shells!), pizza, Cheerios, crackers, and cookies. So basically mostly carbs. 

School: He's in the same room at school as he was at 3.5 - the intermediate preschool room. We continue to be impressed by what he learns there. He can pretty much count to 100 (just has trouble with a few numbers like 80 and 90). He doesn't really speak Spanish at home but we know he understands everything. He used to struggle with drop off but now it is very easy and he doesn't cry or complain like he used to. We had his pre-K assessment this winter and he did great. I got to sit nearby while he did the assessment and it was easy to see what he did great at and what was challenging for him. It seems like numbers/math is his strength right now but we'll see if that continues to be the case!

Potty training: He night trained on his own this winter so that was nice as I wasn't sure how to handle that. He's been night trained for several months now and hasn't had any accidents. We thought he would have a hard time with it when traveling and sleeping in a new location but he didn't have any issues!

Big brother adjustment: he's adjust well to being a big brother. He can be a little rough with Will at times but I think that is to be expected. They don't play all that much together and the surest way to get Paul interested in a toy is to give it to Will! They play best during bath time although Will can get a little too wild for Paul sometimes! He is very sweet towards Will most of the time and I can't wait to watch their relationship develop.

In past posts, I talk about changes ahead but I don't anticipate any besides moving up to the Pre-K room at school this summer. The next big change is starting kindergarten but that's over a year away - but will probably be here before we know it!

That's Paul at 4! We feel lucky to have a happy, healthy, smart kiddo.