Henry is *FOUR*!

Our sweet boy turned FOUR on February 26th, and it is hard to believe! He is such a precious child, and we love him so much! Below are the answers to the same questions I asked him when he turned three. Following that I just wanted to write a few highlights about him since I wrote his 3.5 year post.

1. What is your favorite color? Blue
2. What is your favorite toy? All of my trucks. All of them.
3. What is your favorite fruit? strawberries
4. What is your favorite tv show? Paw Patrol (even though he’s only seen a handful of episodes!)
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Yogurt raisins, oranges (he also eats a peanut butter and honey sandwich everyday-he's a creature of habit just like Daddy!)
6. What is your favorite outfit? Space pjs, Paw Patrol undies
7. What is your favorite game? Sneaky Snacky Squirrel
8. What is your favorite snack? Granola bar (chocolate chip)
9. What is your favorite animal? dolphin
10. What is your favorite song? VBS songs (It’s the power)
11. What is your favorite book? ALL of them (it’s true-he loves being read to and has a bookshelf full of books that all make him happy! Many are from Steven and his sister's childhood. Just recently he has been very into the "If you give a" .....books. We have a compilation, so he loves them all!)
12. Who is your best friend? Eli and Ellis
13. What is your favorite cereal? Life
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Dig in the dirt, look for worms
15. What is your favorite drink? Orange juice, lemonade
16. What is your favorite holiday? Easter
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Big blanket, big baseball bear
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Life cereal, applesauce muffins
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Pizza at chuck-e-cheese, cake
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? An engineer (awe! This answer was unexpected and so sweet! Last year it as farmer like Grandpa!)

I got him to take pictures by letting him show this coin...I'm not even really sure where it came from, but he's pretty proud of it here! These are not the best lighting, but they'll have to do.

This is him working on showing me "4".

He decided to show me "4" on both hands...:)

-Henry attends a pre-K class every day at the school where I teach. We are there half a day, so 7:30- to 12:30 each day. He is learning a ton and really enjoys it. He loves his teachers (different everyday) and his friends (also different everyday). I get to peek in on him each day at least once, and they are always doing something fun-being read to, learning their letter/verses of the week, learning patterns or using counting bears, doing calendar time, doing some kind of craft or play dough, or having free play time. Henry's favorite thing to play at school is definitely dress up. He is ALWAYS in some kind of super hero costume when I peek in. Those poor teachers are so sweet to help him dress and undress over and over! He likes to play "family" with is friends. He also learns a verse each week, and I am so impressed at what he knows, because half the time I don't know what the verse is myself and we certainly don't work with him on it at home (although we need to make a point to!). He gets to go to the treasure box on Fridays if he can say his verse, and this is all the motivation he needs. He loves it!  I'm so thankful for this set up-it has been perfect for our family. 

-I have noticed he has started coloring in a more precise way-in the lines for the most part. He has also started drawing people-basically head, eyes, and a long body. I've always wondered when this would develop! He CAN write his name, but he is hesitant to do so. He just wants to write H on the top of his papers. I think he has some perfectionist tendencies that come out during times like this. That's not an excuse, just a realization that we will help him through-but I'm going to tackle it next year (during his final pre-K year). Right now I think what he is doing is just fine. He might be a bit lazy, too!:)

-He has all these little phrases he throws in to his conversations now...wait a second...actually...of course....definitely. 

-He still is fascinated by all things spiritual, and we have lots of conversations about this. He LOVES the stories Daniel and the lion's den, David and Goliath, Adam and Eve, Noah, Nebuchadnezzar. He will even act these out and ask me to take a part (mommy, you be so and so and I'll be so and so). They enthrall him. At night he thanks God for Annie, the new baby, and also a bunch of really entertaining, random stuff! Steven and I are always sharing what he prayed for when it is "our turn" to pray with him. He's gone through phases of different prayers, too...Boz prayer (thank you God for this great day...), May the words of my mouth (scripture recitation), God our father, thank you God for giving us food....He is also so curious about heaven and asks lots of questions like, When will we die? Mommy, do you want to go to heaven? Not in a scared way. Just matter of fact. He's learning a lot at church, too. They were recently talking about only things Jesus could do (only Jesus could walk on water, etc.). We picked him up one Sunday and in the car and he said, 'Only Jesus can turn water into a fancy party drink!' We cracked up!! So funny.

-I let him try gum finally:) He likes it, but doesn't keep it in his mouth for long.

-"Eli is my best friend because we like to play the same things. AND we both have Paw Patrol cups! Also Ellis"

-The child does not need real toys. It's true! He could play with a rope or string for hours. He plays with his blanket the same way-makes a fort, turns it into a cape (Mommy-will you tie this?), it becomes a sled and he piles things on it and pulls them around the house or Annie gets on it and he pulls her, a swing (Daddy-will you swing me like a baby bird?). The possibilities are endless in his eyes! When all else fails, he and Annie just run laps around the house. :)

-"This was a perfect day!"-at out backyard fire pit one night after we had been outside all day.

-"You look cute today" and "You're looking sharp". He likes to use hairspray! 

-He always has dirt under his nails and on his hands and loves to stomp in puddles and dig in the dirt. He continues to be a collector of anything outside-rocks, sticks, nuts, pine cones, you name it. I find all kinds of stuff in his pockets or in my washing machine... His recent favorite thing to find outside is worms. Poor worms!

-He continues to love music so much. I hope we can get him into some kind of lessons when he gets a bit older. He loves Lowe Mill concerts on the docks, we have heard him singing 'rainin hundreds, throw some mo' in the back seat-ha!, he is also still in love with all Christmas music even though 2 months have passed since the holidays. We often sing a Christmas song or two as part of the bedtime routine. He, Annie, and Steven have some intense dance parties in the living room most nights. 

-He is still such a loving little guy. He volunteers I love you quite often and has recently added 'so much!' to this phrase. He loves to sit close to us, give hugs, and his new favorite thing is to write us notes and hide them under our pillow to see when we go to bed. He says they say "I love you" (and things along those lines:))

-He really loves his little sister even if they fuss with each other, too. He is so protective and makes the sweetest comments about her. Steven took them to Chick-fil-A one night while I had a school function, and they were playing in the playplace. Some bigger kids came in, and Henry kept telling them, "watch out for this little sweet!!" talking about being careful around his Annie. One time she was standing up on the sofa beside him, and he looked over at her and said, "I like Annie's little bottom" (she had tighter leggings on!). Just the other day I heard him talking to her, and he said, "You're beautiful, Annie". We also just recently pulled out some hand me down dress up princess clothes, and I put Snow White on her. Henry was SO, SO excited and said, "Annie, can I be your prince? Can I dance with you? You look so pretty!" Oh, it was all I could do not to just melt

-He does not have official chores or get allowance or anything, but he is always so happy to help me do "chores". He helps set the table, and he has to take his plate/cup/utensils to the sink after dinner each night and will often clear the whole table if I remember to ask him. He will clean up the playroom himself and is so proud to show me. He does a good job! He loves to help me clean windows. He also loves to help me cook and dumps everything in the bowl, stirs for me, etc.

-So, so proud to announce new baby. "Mommy, I see your baby!" (at 20 weeks). More on all that later!

-Red Klopster instead of Red Lobster, cimmanon instead of cinnamon, cellarinda instead of cinderella. I just always think these mistakes are so cute since he's such an articulate kid and rarely gets words incorrect. There are a few more I wish I could think of...

-Loves Poppins Mary as he calls it (instead of Mary Poppins!), Cinderella (even though the mean cat and stepmom stresses him out and he looks away). Any of the super mild innocent 20 minute shows are really more up his alley at this point, or something like Looney Tunes, Pooh, Boz for a "movie". He honestly doesn't get much tech time. We should probably expose him more than we do...we have a few apps that he likes to play, and he goes through phases with these, but he will go several weeks without touching them. I figure he'll get plenty of that in life, so it's probably ok not to rush it!

-He is such a smart kid, but he cannot master the difference between night and nap and it cracks us up. We have figured out that he must think one day is actually two days?? Each time he wakes up, it is the start of a new day for him. When we are telling him when something is going to happen, he is always asking, 'after nap?' 'after night?'. It is so funny. We have finally given up and figure he'll get it eventually!
-Speaking of nap, he still takes on from about 1:30-3:30. If he sleeps then he is later going to sleep at night, but will just sing and talk to himself until he falls asleep. If he doesn't actually sleep during nap, then he crashes quickly at about 7 or 7:30 (as soon as we can get him in bed). Up until  really recently, he was sleeping everyday. For the past few weeks he has gone several days w/o actually sleeping (no nap for 2 days, then nap the third). I can see he is able to cope better w/o a nap than he used to be able to do, so he probably really is phasing out actual sleeping. When he does sleep it is more like 1 hr and 15 or 30 minutes. He will be given rest time each day until he goes to kindergarten, though, so it doesn't matter to me! It's just interesting to watch him change in the sleep department. Henry NEVER gets out of his bed without asking. We started this when he was little, and he has just always followed suit. He calls for us in the morning and after nap. Even with all the toys and books in his room, he follows this rule to a T! He is still in the crib without the front on it, but grandpa is currently building him a bunk bed! It won't be long til he upgrades. We had to make this transition bc we need the crib for #3! Otherwise, I don't know how long he'd have stayed in it! He loves his bed and doesn't complain!

-A few things we work with Henry on are to not use baby talk and not snatching things away (especially from sister). With reminders, he is pretty good about using his words. He takes correction seriously and is penitent when he makes a poor choice. He also has a hard time keeping his fingers away from his nose, but tries hard not to, and will do "self control hands" and "bubble cheeks" or sit on his hands to help. I try to remind myself that at least he doesn't then go from his nose to his mouth directly afterward! Ha, ha!

We love you, big boy! It's hard to believe you are a four year old. We can't wait to see what this next year holds. It is going to be so much fun!