Our BIG four-year-old (plus a few months!) :)

We love having a four-year-old in our house! Here’s what Ian is up to now …

One of his favorite activities now is building, with train tracks, wooden blocks, Duplo blocks, bristle blocks, whatever! Ian is imaginative in how he puts things together and is getting more patient at working and re-working things even when they fall apart (although he does NOT want little brother touching and destroying the structures he’s worked very hard on! J).  He is proud to show us the things he’s built or made and loves saying, “Look-a-this!!!” (all one word, really quickly!)

Ian still loves figuring out how things work. He loves spinning our bicycle pedals around (while standing next to the bike) so he can watch how the chain and gears spin. He likes nonfiction books (especially ones that explain everyday objects, like electricity, trains, or weather) as much as fictional ones. He LOVES using his new tool kit and can successfully change batteries on most toys (unscrewing the battery compartment lid, removing old batteries, installing new batteries, and reattaching the lid).

Ian loved experimenting with what kitchen gadgets would form the best bubbles. The straw made little bubbles.

...and the turkey baster made BIG ones!

Then we went outside to use big bubble wands! Ryan thought these were pretty fun, too!

It is fun to follow Ian’s lead with learning. He loves calendars – knowing what day and month it is and counting down to upcoming activities. He pores over the weather map in the daily newspaper, reading us the highs and lows for the week, telling us what color (and temperature) it is in cities where relatives live, telling us when the full moon will be. He loves letters and can write almost all of his uppercase letters. (Lowercase letters are still a work in progress, though he is VERY interested in wanting to write them.) He can read 10-12 sight words and can often “read” words by figuring out the beginning letter and context.  He often asks us how certain words are spelled (usually so that he can write them on a picture that he’s drawing).  He can count past 100 and read digits up to 100.

This is what Ian looks like before breakfast each morning!

He still loves books. Ian will sit still for as many books as we’ll read him! He has gotten to be quite a little story teller himself, as that’s usually how he spends his “rest time” each afternoon. Sometimes he’ll even tell himself stories while he’s playing and is quick to tell us, “I’m NOT talking to you!” when we ask him about his story. He rarely asks us to tell him Sally-the-bad-listener stories anymore.

Probably the area in which Ian has shown the most growth over the past six months is in his social development. He seems to be MUCH more confident even in situations without Momma or Daddy (friends’ homes, Sunday school, Vacation Bible School). He’ll willingly sit next to the librarian at Toddler Time instead of by Momma and Ryan. He is getting more comfortable carrying on a conversation with other adults and even happily chattered about his tool party to random people in the grocery store. Ian certainly has Daddy’s knack for names and will remember new people’s names days and weeks after we’ve met them.  He seems to be more aware of others as well, showing empathy for friends, noticing other people’s needs, playing cooperatively with others (instead of just alongside them). He also has a developing awareness of how some people are different, though we’re still working on how to appropriately comment on them. J Within the last few weeks at the grocery store, Ian noticed a man wearing a tank top and asked loudly, “Momma, why is that man wearing a girl shirt?!?” Another day at Wal-mart, Ian noticed a Muslim woman with only her eyes showing and said, “Ma! A ghost!”

Ian prefers to make most any task a race, especially if he can win most every time! Ha! Ian LOVES “racing” Ryan to wash hands before a meal. Ian will wash at one sink in the bathroom while Momma washes Ryan’s in the other sink. After Ian finishes first, he will hide in the bathtub and wait for Ryan to finish and come “find” him. Ryan loves this game, too, and will smile broadly and point when Momma asks, “Where’s Ian?” Not long ago, after hiding in the bathtub for the millionth time, Ian asked, “Why do you always know to look in the bathtub?!?”

It has been fun to see our boys interact with each other more and more as they get older. Sometimes, it feels like we say, “Gentle touches only!” or “Ryan needs some space” or “You’re bigger than Ryan!” a gazillion times. But other times it’s heartwarming to watch how Ian really looks out for Ryan’s needs and wants to make Ryan giggle however he can.

Ian loved choosing what pictures of him and Ryan together he should add to the Big Sibling Baby Book he's making for Ryan.

Ian continues to be a very sensitive child. He cries easily, especially if he feels like he has hurt someone’s feelings or disappointed Momma or Daddy. While he certainly still has an independent and testing streak, he generally is obedient and likes to follow the rules.  He likes to know what to expect. (He recently said, “After we go to heaven, do we come home?”)

He also loves to help with lots of tasks around the house – ANY sort of cooking or baking project, unloading the dishwasher, unloading the groceries from the cart onto the conveyor belt, washing the car, and unlocking doors. It’s also hilarious seeing him pushing around a “shopper in training” cart when we go to Kroger. He actually takes his job as shopper pretty seriously. Ha!  It’s also fun to see what sort of clothes “match” according to Ian when he gets himself dressed each day.

Ian loves sorting things -- toys, silverware, etc. -- into the "right" spot

Some of Ian’s favorites (besides what we’ve already mentioned) include board games like Cootie, Sequence & Rummikub, color by number pictures, riding his bike, playing in the sandbox, throwing/catching the football, hitting bouncy balls with the bat, swimming, eating ice cream sundaes or ANYTHING sweet, books, “activity pages” like mazes/tracing letters & numbers/finding hidden objects, and playing instruments to music CDs.

color by number picture

We are so happy that we’ve been able to spend four fabulous years with you so far, dear Ian! We are proud of the person that God has made you to be! You bring us so much joy, and we can’t wait to see you learn, grow, and live for Jesus in the years to come.

Here are some other things Ian has been up to lately ...

A few weeks ago, we did "Kool-Aid painting." Ian sprinkled Kool-Aid powder on a paper and then "painted" it with ice on a popsicle stick. It made really bright colors -- and turned his a lips really bright  blue when he licked the colored ice, too. Ha!

Ian LOVED doing a rubber band splatter painting project.  It WAS a very fun project -- one that it was good that we chose to do outside!

I love Ian's closed eyes here!

Aunt Amy shared a great idea to go on a "sound safari." Kim interviewed Ian about the types of sounds we may hear on a walk, and then she made a sheet that Ian could use to check them off one by one.

Ian had a great time with this (we'll have to do it again soon!) If anyone would like a copy of the sound safari to use with your kiddos, please let me know! Thanks for the great idea, Aunt Amy!