Henry at 4

My big boy is 4! And yes, this is old news, since he's officially been 4 for over a month now, but I'm still having a hard time believing it. Every day is so different with him and I can't believe he will be starting kindergarten in just over a year!


"One, two, free, four!"

This post is a bit late because I wanted to wait until his 4 year checkup before posting. Which also means I procrastinated writing the post until now. After visiting with the doctor today, everything looks great! His eyesight is where it should be for his age and he's a growing, healthy boy. Unfortunately he was due for a couple of shots and I was worried about how he would do since he hadn't had one in a few years. He couldn't have done better! He watched as they gave him 2 shots in his arm and place the bandaids on and didn't make a peep. After they were done, he mentioned that it hurt a little, and that was it! I think he did better than I do with shots!

His official stats are:
Height: 39.5 Inches (27th percentile)
Weight: 33 pounds (22nd percentile)
He's still my little guy, but is staying in the same percentiles that he has since he was a newborn, so that's great!


Henry at 18 months on the left & Henry at 4 on the right - Guess he's grown a bit!

As a special Mommy/Henry outing, I signed him up for a zoo school class in May. This class was "Under the Sea" and he absolutely loved it. He learned all about the creatures in the sea and even made himself into a jellyfish, which was his favorite part. To break up all the writing in this post, I'll disperse the pictures from that day throughout the post (all the pics with him in a blue fleece are the zoo school pics).


Circle time with his friend Gabrielle and all the other zoo school participants



I admit that I may be a bit biased, but I think he's a super smart little guy. He is constantly amazing me with his vocabulary and all the new things he is learning. He knows all his letters and the sounds that they make, although hasn't had much interest in reading at this point. But since he loves to have us read to him, I'm sure he'll develop an interest in it soon. For now, we just go with what he's interested in working on. Often it's letters, sometimes it's math/numbers and he's always up for mazes! We have a separate activity book with only mazes and he's almost done with it!





As with most 4 year olds, he comes up with the funniest things to say! For example, I have been taking a picture of the boys each evening as part of my New Year's resolution. The other day he asked me when we were going to stop taking the pictures, and I said I wanted to do it for the year and we'd done so well, I didn't want to stop now. He paused for a second, then looked at me with a completely serious look on his face and said, "But Mommy, you can always start taking them again if you stop." Wise words, little man, it's never too late!





My Jellyfish





Our daycare was recently featured in an article in the local newspaper. In the article, one of the teachers was talking about how everyday she comes home with a story. The newspaper then goes on to say, "Like a story about one little boy who 'cracks me up with his mature language. It's way beyond his years.'" I smiled the second I read that knowing my Henry had to be that little boy. And sure enough, it was (I checked with the teacher to make sure I wasn't just biased)!




Henry and I raced though the zoo to find the new flamingo exhibit after his class was over



But having a four year old is not without it's struggles! I'd heard of the terrible 2's and 3's, but thought 4 was when it got easier. Not for us! For the most part, he is a super sweet kid and a great big brother, but he's definitely testing us these days. He loves to repeat everything we're saying, usually when he's in trouble (Me: "Henry, don't do that, it isn't safe." Henry: "No, YOU don't do that!") Ah, the joys of parenting. Definitely a battle we are currently working on! It's also quite embarrassing when he repeats what complete strangers are saying. He loves to eavesdrop on other people's conversations and then repeat them at top volume. Luckily most people think it's somewhat cute (or are completely oblivious to it), but we are definitely trying to nip that behavior in the bud!





The other big battle that we're fighting is sleep. It was taking him hours at night (and many trips out to see us) before he would fall asleep most nights. After dragging my feet for awhile, we finally decided to cut out his naps so that he would fall asleep easier. While it's done wonders for bedtime, it's still a struggle in the afternoon/evenings. But, hopefully once we get him in a routine of taking rests/quiet time, that will be enough to carry him through until bedtime.



After a particularly rough afternoon when he said he didn't need a rest. He finally crashed in our room and I had trouble waking him up!



But sleep and behavior battles aside, he is so much fun these days!







At age 3, I started doing this 20 questions birthday interview with him. I think I neglected to post last years, so I will put both on here now:

Henry at age 3
1) Favorite color? Red
2) Favorite toy? Train / Bounce House "Jumping Castle"
3) Favorite fruit? Watermelon
4) Favorite TV show? A movie! Open Season.
5) Favorite thing to eat for lunch? Noodles
6) Favorite outfit? "A flag shirt!"
7) Favorite game? Crocodile game on iPad (Where's my Water)
8) Favorite snack? Graham crackers
9) Favorite animal? Zebra
10) Favorite song? "Bang Bang One" (Witch Doctor)
11) Favorite book? "Dinosaur one" (Curious George)
12) Best Friend? Liam
13) Favorite cereal? "2 of them" - Honey Nut Cheerios & granola
14) Favorite thing to do outside? Bubbles
15) Favorite drink? Milk & water too!
16) Favorite holiday? Christmas
17) What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Mack (Cars 2 Mack truck)
18) Favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal
19) What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Mac & cheese
20) What do you want to be when you grow up? "I don't know", "Project!" - Realizing that he didn't fully understand the question, we asked if he wanted to be a pilot, accountant, farmer or firefighter and he decided Pilot!

Henry at age 4

1) Favorite color? Red
2) Favorite toy? "All of them", "bubble maker & blocks"
3) Favorite fruit? A pear
4) Favorite TV show? "I like 2 shows. Mickey a little bit & Henry Hugglemonster the best!"
5) Favorite thing to eat for lunch? Mac & Cheese
6) Favorite outfit? "The flag shirt!" (To be fair, he was actually wearing it that day) & batman shirt with the cape
7) Favorite game? The Cat in the Hat game
8) Favorite snack? Graham crackers
9) Favorite animal? An elephant and a giraffe
10) Favorite song? "I like the songs you play on the piano" (Ah, just made this mama's day!)
11) Favorite book? The Berenstain Bears ones
12) Best Friend? "Everyone" After much prodding for a more exact answer: "Everyone! Like you!" (Made this mama's day again!)
13) Favorite cereal? Apple Jacks
14) Favorite thing to do outside? "Do bubbles"
15) Favorite drink? Water & milk
16) Favorite holiday? "Halloween. Because I like being a dragon."
17) What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Water & books
18) Favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal
19) What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Mac & cheese and chicken nuggets
20) What do you want to be when you grow up? "A big dragon." After a bit more prodding: "I want to do your job & dad's job"



After finishing the questionnaire:
Henry: Are we all done, mom?
Me: We are! Good job!
Henry (glancing over at the paper): Those questions look fantastic!"


A collage of random Henry phone pics

I love this kid! He cracks me up everyday!

The Rest of May

Since it felt so good to catch up with my April pictures, I figured why not catch up my May pictures as well? With that said, here are the odds and ends of our month of May . . .

Water Play
We had some amazing sunny and warm days last month and we were quick to take advantage (knowing full well, the rain would return). Henry and Owen's top choice? Water! So we broke out the sprinklers and baby bath tub (totally getting our money's worth on that one!) and had some fun . . .















While Owen had fun exploring the sprinkler, he much preferred "sorting" water on the deck. I think he likes to be in control of the water!



Although these next few pictures are similar, I couldn't resist posting them all. I just love his smile!







Party
Spring seems to be a good time for birthdays and we were invited to a few parties with great friends. Unfortunately with all the sickness we had to miss a few of them and I also failed to bring my camera out at others. But I did manage to snap some pics at Ella & Abby's birthday party, so it will have to speak for the rest. The boys had a wonderful time and we are so happy to get to celebrate birthdays with our friends! At this party, there was a bounce house, a hula hoop show and of course cupcakes. What's not to like?






Unfortunately birthday girl Ella was having a rough time in this picture, but she did have lots of fun the rest of the time!


Birthday girl Abby









Calm Meets Crazy
Henry and Owen share many interests. Ranging from reading in PJs to diving face first off the couch (well, Owen dives face first, Henry is a little more cautious with his jumps). And I've been trying to capture all of these sweet little moments, because I don't want to forget a single one!











Phone Pics
And, the random pics we've taken (and not yet shared) from our phones. The top row of the collage is a few more Home Depot pictures and the bottom row is us enjoying our time with friends. Harper and John (and mama Ty) have been joining us for our weekly after swimming class dinners and we are so happy to have a standing date with them. This particular night showed the good and bad of nice weather. Good? Getting to eat outside! Bad? Shorts offer less protection against falls, so we will have to stock up on bandaids!



Coming up (at some point, and not necessarily in this order): More sunny day pictures, a wine tour and Henry & Owen's birthday party! So much fun stuff to share.

April Leftovers

Since I'm a bit overwhelmed with current pictures, I figured it made the most sense to catch up on some old ones! So, here are the pictures from April that have yet to be posted (when did June happen? How has it been 2 months since these pictures!). . .

Heaphy Visit
Before their family left town, we made sure to squeeze in a few more visits with them. The Heaphy boys (and their mama) came over one night for dinner and we included them in our nightly picture.



And on another day, we managed to find a break in the rain and enjoy some time at the park. . .













Treats
One evening, we headed out for a frozen yogurt treat. Henry loved picking his toppings and was so proud of his creation. Owen enjoyed his "eyes keem" as he calls it. It would be one of his few words! (Although his vocabulary is growing daily these days).









Tax Season
In the weeks leading up to the April 15th deadline the boys and I did our best to support Nate and his longer hours.

On the nights he worked late, the boys and I would make it a movie night. The movies of choice were Cars and Cars 2 and Cars and Cars 2 and well, you get the idea. It was a Cars extravaganza at our house. The boys were happy which made this mama happy! We hadn't watched either movie in a long time and apparently it was all new to Owen.

As I've mentioned before, Owen is pretty into his cars. These are pretty typical scenes at our house:





And so when the movie came on, he went nuts. I was in the kitchen making dinner and heard him yelling. I couldn't figure out what was happening, until I came over and found him holding his cars up next to the TV and yelling about the matching cars on the movie. He was so excited to see his prized cars in action on the screen!




And yes, that would be the boys watching Cars 2 while Owen lines up his cars in front of the Cars 2 tent. Whatever works!





And on another evening, we brought some dinner to Nate. And of course we put the boys to work. I'm sure things were much more productive that night!










Henry is just fascinated with the typewriter!




Recognize any words/names in there?

They even helped Nate check to see if the efiles went through successfully before we headed out of town for the beach. . .



Around The House









"He-whoa!" I love how Owen answers his phones!













Phone Pics
For the times I don't have my big camera with me and Nate's camera of choice. Every once in awhile I even remember to download the pictures to post!