IJ is 4 1/2 years old!

1.6.14

IJ is wearing mostly 4t clothes now but still a few 3t and size 9 shoes.

IJ has developed a lot academically since turning 4.  He's now in pre-K Monday through Friday 9-12:45, where they keep him quite busy with crafts, science experiments, books, story telling and lots of playing.  They focus on a new letter of the alphabet each week and a different theme or 2 each month.  Every Friday they have show-and-tell that must relate to the current theme/letter to practice public speaking.  We recently completed a large Kindergarten workbook that he very much enjoyed and he plays a few educational computer games every few days.  He practices his math and spelling at the easel.  He's very good at telling us what letter a word starts with and moved on to figuring out the ending and middle/vowel letters of 3 letter words.  We are still practicing spelling these short words.  He can count syllables in words quite well.  His interest in puzzles increased so I pulled out some I've kept and he's helped me complete several big puzzles up to 200 pieces.  IJ talks nonstop and has started with the endless, typically ridiculous "what if" questions.

IJ got to trick or treat for Halloween for the first time this year.  NJ took him around on our street and then he brought his treats home where the "switch witch" took them and brought a toy in their place.  He got a Lego mini figure and was happy with that.  He then gave out candy to a few kids at our house.

IJ's favorite place to play is outside.  We took the training wheels off IJ's bike a few weeks ago and he did really well.  We credit his balance skills with his balance bike experience at his school playground.  We started off with short rides on our street but he has gone around the neighborhood on 30+ minute rides a couple times now.  He is likes riding his scooter around but gets tired much quicker.  Inside his favorite activities are reading books, playing games, Legos and automoblox.

IJ finished his first soccer season in November and enjoyed it so we signed him up for the winter session which begins this week.  The program he's in meets once a week for 45 minutes of fun skill building games and then a scrimmage.  They meet at the park right by our house so we just walk over each week.

IJ seems to really enjoy playing with his sister now that she understands him and can communicate back.  He also has times when he does not want to be bothered by her.  He teaches her many bad habits which causes lots of problems for all of us.

IJ is now in a forward facing car seat which he is very happy about.  He goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 and sleeps about 12 hours.  He has become very picky about eating dinner and has frequently gone to bed without eating much of anything.

IJ has had 3-4 colds in the last 6 months and one day of extreme fatigue where he probably had a quick virus.