September 24, 2012: Photo Challenge-Gratitude (& Liam at 4!)

Gratitude

(Disclaimer-I am about to shamelessly brag about my favorite little boy!)

Don't get me wrong, because I am grateful for SO many things in my life...too much to list!  But I have been waiting to post about Liam at age four till he had his check-up (which was last week), and since he and Bryn are two of the people I am MOST grateful for, it seems like a great time...

At four years old, Liam has matured...but not so much in pictures.  We have a lot of silly faces these days...

 And even though the next few photos were taken on different days, he is wearing his favorite shirt "poo at the zoo" in all of them.  It's horrendous, but I'm learning to mother a boy...not a baby or toddler, but a boy.  Who sticks his tongue out, loves potty jokes (and shirts), loves to wrestle and play baseball & soccer with daddy, loves bad guys and heroes, and thinks his job is "to protect the girls".

 But he's still so sweet, kind, and patient with Bryn...

 Liam's 4 year old check-up was eventful this year.  His first vision (20/20) and hearing (passed) check, along with four vaccines :(  He was so brave and loved showing off his band-aids later that day to his friends. His growth over this last year was amazing, although watching his teenage like appetite I wasn't surprised!  Height: 41.5 inches (74% and up 3 inches), Weight: 36.5 lbs (52% and up 5.5 lbs).  I love seeing him come in from playing outside while I am cooking and watching him wolf down his dinner :)
While I have made a lot of healthy changes this year, Liam is still so open to any and all foods offered.  His favorite snacks are raw veggies with dip, apple slices with peanut butter, and fruit leathers.  He still loves spaghetti, and even accepted the fact I changes his noodles to spaghetti squash.
Liam is so independent now and so helpful.  He dresses himself (nowadays his preference is boxer briefs in case you were wondering :), brushes his teeth, and showers himself.  He sets and clears the table, helps wash dishes, empties the trash in his bathroom, and puts away his laundry as part of his chores.   He still has his 3 piggy banks, Save, Spend, and Share but seems more inclined to put money in his Spend and Share banks.
He is so imaginative and still enjoys playing with his super heroes, cars and tracks, his pirate ship, Legos, puzzles, drawing and painting, playing outside, and board games...right now he is HUGE into board games.  He will set up games for him and Bryn to play, which means he is really playing against himself but he doesn't seem to mind :)  He also loves video games.  He likes his dino, drawing, writing, and math games on his Leap Pad.  He also loves Daddy's iphone, especially Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Cut the Rope.  We have to really curb these, and I try to abide by the 30-60 min of screen time (meaning video game + TV) per day.  He really doesn't watch that much TV, especially on school days but if he is it's Batman, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, or Bubble Guppies.
Now when I said earlier that he had matured, I meant it...buuuuut he does still have his emotional moments, although he's getting better about vocalizing his frustrations.  Now he goes to his room if he is not obeying, whining/crying until he is ready to talk things out.  Usually he only needs a few minutes to cool off, but while he's up there I hear him talking to himself.  Saying things like "I don't need zero help", "this is the baddest day ever", and "I'm going to stay up here forever".  Aw, it makes me sad and laugh at the same time, especially when he crosses his arms across his chest and furrows his brows (a move he stole, thanks Pres).  He is not physical towards Bryn at all, despite the fact he is taking the brunt of her terrible twos.  They might have a few tiffs a day "Bryn hit me!" "No yook at me Yiam!", but I always praise him for being so gentle with her and never hitting her back.
Liam sleeps a solid 11-12 hours overnight and is still napping about 3-4 days a week for 1.5 hours.  If he doesn't nap he will read books in bed till 2 pm...and thanks to the clock in his room, he lets me know the minute it says 2:00pm that it's time to get up!  I love that he loves to sleep like me...I don't love that we have already started the habit when I wake him up in the morning for school of saying "few more minutes Moooom".  I know from experience, this only gets worse :)
Liam continues to AMAZE us with his intelligence and his thirst for knowledge.  He is doing great with his sight words (the, and, is, it, but, villian, foe, Batman, etc...you know the usual first words).  He does great with phonetics and context clues, and loves the stage 1&2 readers.   He still loves geography, knows all his continents, lots of countries and how to read a map.  His printing is getting to be very good and legible.  His most favorite thing right now though is math.  In his head: He can add and subtract 0 and 1 to any number under 100.  He can add 2 to most numbers, knows a lot of doubles (2+2, 10+10), and can multiply 0 and 1 times any number as well.  It's amazing to me that after giving him examples of multiplying any number times 1 will always equal that number, he gets it and can apply it.  We don't explain it to him, he just correlates the examples and does the association himself.  On paper he is starting long addition (is that even what it's called?) like adding 24+11.  We work with him on his addition flash cards as well, and I can see him starting to slowly memorize those as well.   I think math will be his thing, just like Nick.  He loves school, and feels very proud that his teachers use him as a peer leader to help his classmates.
So yes, I am so grateful to be the mother to this special boy, getting to watch him grow up and be part of all his experiences.