Dear Elijah,
Today is your fourth birthday. This past year has been such a joy to see you
transition from toddlerhood into a polite little boy as your own little
personality continues to emerge. There
are definite characteristics you exhibit from both your dad and me. Your acute sense of direction and knowing
where certain places are in town, your love of the outdoors and animals, and
your good-natured sense of humor have been inherited from your dad. You remind me a lot of myself in that you
like to know what is expected and what the day ahead will bring, stick to a
schedule and routine, and also that it takes some time for you to get
accustomed to new situations.
I must admit this past year has been the most challenging so
far as you have learned how to become more independent while exerting more of
your own free will in decision making along with learning new tasks. Forget the "Terrible Twos"; that stage was a breeze. At times, it almost felt like we were living with a "Threenager" as they say. You still can be easily frustrated and break
down when trying to do something that doesn't go quite as anticipated. On the other hand, this past year has been
very rewarding while observing your very sweet, gentle, polite
personality emerge. I've discovered that each
stage as you get older comes with its own rewards and challenges with a new set
of learning experiences for me as your mother.
As for your eating habits, you are still a hearty
eater. Your breakfast favorites include
oatmeal and bananas. You always request
fruit snacks along with juice for a snack.
The only way to get you to drink water is to mix it with juice. As time has gone on, the ratio of water to
juice has left you with very little juice, mostly water but just enough of a
flavor that you will still drink it. You
love various pasta dishes, pizza, fresh fruit, and especially Grandma Sabers'
homemade macaroni and cheese with ham. A
new favorite meal of yours includes pancakes, scrambled eggs, and little
smokies. You seem to crave braunschweiger
dip with crackers when we go out to eat at a local restaurant, which offers
this on their salad bar. Of course, a McDonald's
chicken nugget Happy Meal is still a treat.
You also like sub sandwiches from Subway, cheese balls, and ice
cream. Vegetables are still not among
your favorites and most of the time go untouched even when they are
offered. You will sometimes eat corn or carrots
dipped in ranch.
Thankfully, you have always been a good sleeper. You usually wake up between 6:30 and 7:00 in
the morning. While you still take naps
at Barb's daycare, you are too busy when at home to consider them. Just recently, it has been more of a
challenge for you to go to sleep at your usual 8:00 bedtime, especially on days
when you take a nap. We have better luck
if we wait until 9:00 for you to go to sleep.
If you don't have a nap, then you are ready for bed at 8:00. There are three musts for bedtime: Murphy (brown and white stuffed animal dog
who came named on his tag), Grandma Mary's old book (from when she was a little
girl that she passed on to you), and a set of at least 10 to 12 books each and
every night.
You love to browse through
the books before you lay down and then sleep with them in your bed.
A year ago at this time, you had no interest in potty
training while I was gearing up for the process. I learned the hard way this task was meant to
be completed according to your own timetable.
After a couple months of intermittently trying to get you interested in
replacing your diapers with underwear, you learned to consistently use your
little potty and became potty trained last August. Poop training, on the other hand, was a whole
different story. You were fully aware of
when you had to go and would beg and cry for a diaper to be put on and would
only go in the diaper for the longest time...until February when you decided to
go for the first time over at Grandma Mary's.
Ever since then, you became confident enough to keep on using the big
toilet for the task and weaned yourself from the little potty to the big
toilet. You also just recently started
standing instead of sitting to go potty.
(This is probably a bit too much information, but I like to document all
these things to look back at them later once it all becomes a blur.) For months and months, you would only use the
toilet at home and would hold it for the longest time if we were anywhere else,
even holding it all...day....long at daycare.
Now, you are comfortable enough to go anywhere; public restroom, anyone
else's house, even outside on the tree.
This has probably been the greatest accomplishment within the last year
and I am so happy to say you are fully trained (but you do still wear a diaper
at nighttime, although it is not as full in the morning anymore).
You have lots of favorites.
Cars and trucks still top the list.
You love to empty out the big container and organize them in different
ways.
You still love to read books and
browse through them yourself and have even started retelling stories in your
own way by looking at the pictures.
You
enjoy using Legos to create trains.
Constructing blanket tents is also a new favorite.
You love to listen to CDs with songs that you can follow along with in books.
You could spend hours and hours outside,
especially riding your tractor around the yard and stopping over at Grandma
Mary's to visit on the deck. You like to
visit all your relatives and spend time with them as well. Splashing and playing in puddles is another
favorite pastime. You are drawn to
puddles like a magnet (good thing Dad got you those rubber boots).
You love when Dad takes you outside, such a
pair of farmers you two riding in tractors together or even following him on
your own little tractor while he mows the lawn.
Even though you sometimes resist bath time at first, once you get in,
you like to spend time with your bath toys and the foam letters, as well as
blow bubbles and even dunk your head in the water. You are also a good helper around the house
and seem to enjoy helping unload the dishwasher and put groceries away. While riding in the car, you will request
certain songs we have on a CD. Learning
song lyrics seems to come naturally to you.
If you aren't sure of some of the words, you kind of mumble your way
through it but you sure know the beat!
You also remember the names of certain singers in the country genre. Visiting both the library and park are also things we like to do on a
regular basis. Lastly, your all-time
favorite TV show is "Blaze and the Monster Machines." You remember the names of episodes and will
request to watch certain ones at times.
There are a few things you dislike. While you used to be terrified of the car
wash, you are learning to get used to it.
It is still not your favorite thing to do, but you don't cry anymore when
we go through it. If naughty behavior
happens, a simple threat of "calling the monsters" will almost always
help this diminish.
Throughout the past couple of years, you have been busy
learning. You recently learned how to
write your first name.
You can spell
your first and last name and you know your middle name. You are aware of your age, birthday, city and
state where you live, your parents' names, and even towns where your relatives
live. You can identify basic colors,
shapes, all the letters, and numbers 1 through 12. You can count to 20 with a little help with
the teens.
You really have a mild-mannered personality. You are sweet and gentle. You have started becoming more polite and
using manners by saying please and thank you more often without prompting. You say, "Love you" all the time
throughout the day and offer many hugs.
We know you will be a gentle and loving big brother when the time comes
to welcome your new sister this fall. I
can't wait to see the bond form between you two! There will be lots of big changes this fall
with a new sibling and starting preschool, but I am really looking forward to
watching how these experiences will help you continue to grow and learn about
the world around you.
Love,
Mom
This year, I picked out a birthday gift for you for the first time; I don't think you even missed a gift from us the past 3 years, and you probably wouldn't have even realized it this year either.
And finally a little survey from your perspective at 4 years old:
What is your favorite
color? White and black
What is your favorite toy? Cars and trucks
What is your favorite animal? Giraffe
What is your favorite toy? Cars and trucks
What is your favorite animal? Giraffe
What is your favorite book? Look and Find books
What is your favorite TV show? "Blaze and the Monster Machines"
What is your favorite movie? Cars 2
What is your favorite
thing to wear? Underpants (When I clarified by saying underwear, he said,
"No, underpants.")
What is your favorite food? McDonald's Happy Meal (he listed french fries, ice cream, cookie, milk, and "those big things" - chicken nuggets)
What is your favorite drink? Juice, milk, water
Who is your best friend? Elsa and Brad (from Barb's daycare)
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my motorcycle, bike, and tractor with pedals and my other tractor
What is your favorite song? "Royals"
What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Flashcards
What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Play with Legos
Where is your favorite place to go? McDonald's and Dairy Queen
What do you want to be when you grow up? A big boy
