Parker is Four Years Old!

Parker at 4 Years Old

Height: 40 in (31.3%)

Weight: 34.6 lb (34%)

 

Parker is indeed FOUR YEARS OLD! He has become such a big boy (and frequently informs us of this fact). Obviously, words can't express how much we love this guy, but here is a glimpse into what he's up to right now. Parker is... 

• still in love with vehicles of any kind, especially anything with flashing lights and a siren.
• constantly pointing out everything he likes, often in the middle of talking about something else. It goes something like this. "Mama, what are we - I like that car and that car and that truck and that bus - what are we going to have for lunch today?" Car rides are pretty entertaining/exhausting.
• starting to smile for pictures again after going through a very annoying phase of being camera shy.
• really getting into imaginative play - usually with his cars, trucks, and trains. It's really fun to see this part of him developing.
• potty trained... mostly. He still really dislikes interrupting what he's currently doing in order to go to the bathroom and he still wears a pull-up to bed.
• only mispronouncing a few words anymore - yellow = lellow, ice cream = hice cream, avocado = adocado, hard boiled = hard boyo, cocktail = clocktail. Until just recently he was saying "hooj" instead of "huge" so he only has a handful of adorably mispronounced words left. Kind of sad.
• obsessed with asking questions that start with "why". His most commonly used phrasing is "Why did God decide to (make our house here, make Canada so big, name him Chris)?
• still really into music and he is often overheard singing songs he's heard on the radio - sometimes he gets the words right, sometimes not. :-)  Sometimes he just sounds like he's scatting along to the tune.
• constantly quoting the movie Cars.   
• struggling with not being in charge of every decision. Yikes!
• really good at praying before meals. It often sounds like this. "Dear Jesus, Thank you for Parker, and Conway, and Mama, and Papa, and Olive, and Maison Rouge, and Canada, and the big brown bear. Amen." Sometimes he ends it with, "That was a 'wonderfully' prayer".
• a legitimate pro at riding his scooter and his balance bike. He's definitely ready for a regular pedal bike, but it's pretty fun watching him confidently ride the balance bike.
• still taking a nap from about 1:00pm to 4:00pm each day. Usually he falls asleep right away for his nap, but often takes a while to fall asleep at night.
• sleeping in a big kid bed now, but we're still working on keeping him in there when he first goes to bed at night.
• becoming more picky about food and he has a newfound love for sweets/desserts/treats (interchangeable words in his vocabulary). Currently his favorite vegetable is a red bell pepper and it seams like he could eat his weight in them. He also has a nearly insatiable appetite for most fruit and he loves meat. Cheese is "not his favorite" anymore unless it's Manchego - probably because that's his father's favorite cheese. Parker really is still a pretty good eater and thankfully he's usually willing to at least try new things.  
• in love with Conway. He actually says "I love my little brother" a lot. Putting those words into action by consistently being gentle and sharing is a growth area. :-)
• often saying things like "I'm a big boy. Conway is still a little boy, but when he's a big boy he'll be able to do _________ like me."
• starting Pre-K in September. And then kindergarten the year after that. And then middle school. And then high school. And before we know it he'll be moving away to college. Okay, I may have just gotten a little bit ahead of myself. He's growing up fast, though. He's already 4!!