Samuel: 4 years 5 months

Samuel, what a big boy you are becoming!  Daddy and Mommy are both so proud of you.  We love you so very much and we thank God every day that He has blessed us with such a special little (big!) boy!!

What have you been up to?

• You are 50lbs and 44" tall.  You are in the 97th percentile for both height and weight.  Dr Dyk told us that you are the size of most 5 1/2 year olds.
• You are a healthy 4 year old boy!  You got 4 shots at the doctor and you were so brave.  You didn't shed a single tear.  The nurses told you that they were going to count to "3" and that when they got to "3", you had to blow in Mommy's face.  You did it perfectly.  Mommy was so proud of you!
• You are wearing size 5 in both shirts and pants.  You are wearing size 12 shoes.
• You still love numbers and counting.  You can do simple addition and have started with some simple subtraction as well.  You are always counting things and commenting on numbers that you see (on clocks, sports scores, etc.)
• Some of your other favorite things right now are: maps, balls, sliding/rolling/tumbling, mazes, (you did 64 mazes in a book for 4-6 year olds in about 1/2 hour!), rubberbands, balloons (you can blow them up all by yourself and then you like to let them go), running, jumping
• Your favorite books is "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go" by Richard Scarry.  You love searching for Goldbug.  It's the only book that you've picked for our storytimes (before quiet time, before bedtime, and in your bed) since we got home from Florida a couple of weeks ago.  Since it has 70ish pages we will read 10-15 pages at a time and then mark our spot with a bookmark and pick it up again at the next story time.  You also really like the Berenstein Bear Books, Clifford books, and Curious George books.
• Your favorite song is "Every Move I Make" but you call it "Ah-la-la-la-la-la-la"
• At bedtime you like to listen to a CD (a different one every night!), have "new" water (it can't be warm and "yucky"!), have your nightlight on and have the hallway light on.  You generally fall asleep around 8:30 and most of the time you are up at 7am.  You know that you aren't allowed to get up before 7am and you can read that time on your analog clock that hangs up by your bed in your room.  There are time that you wake up before 7, get up and turn on the hallway light, and then head back to your room (and sometimes turn your music on) until 7am when you know you can get up.
• Your favorite breakfast food is waffles.  Your favorite lunch right now is peanut butter and jelly sandwich with fruit (usually an apple, pear, or banana).  Your favorite snack is an ice cream cone while you watch Curious George in the afternoon.  You are a great eater and have been eating more meat than what you used to.  You refuse to drink milk but love water and juice (juice is only allowed for breakfast).  You also love muffins, applesauce, oatmeal (every Saturday morning with Daddy!), pancakes, "smashed" potatoes, cheese, and any kind of bread.  You are not a big fan of pretzels, sausage, green beans, milk, strings on your  bananas, and skin on your apples or bread.
• Your favorite TV shows right now are Curious George, Daniel Tiger, Dora, and Caillou.  You watch Curious George and Daniel Tiger every day but any other shows are hit or miss depending on the day.  Your favorite movies right now are Jungle Book, Cinderella, along with the Curious George and Dora movies that we have.  We rarely watch movies at home but we do have a DVD player for the van that we will turn on for longer car trips.
• You speak very clearly and you don't have many words that you say "wrong" anymore.  The few that are still hanging on are "Valinna" (vanilla), "Hanger-bur" (Hamburger), and "Smashed potatoes" instead of mashed potatoes.
• You are still very shy and reserved around people that you don't know very well but you love to play with friends that you know well (Levi, Savannah) and you talk non-stop to Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma, and others that you know well or feel comfortable around.
• You like to be the boss, be in charge, and be first.  Does that sound like a firstborn?  You get upset when your sisters don't do what you tell them to do or don't want to play what you want to play.  You are very particular about things and transitions are hard for you.  You thrive on routine and things staying the same.
• You throw some impressive temper tantrums!  They have improved with cutting artificial dyes out of your diet but that hasn't completely stopped them.  These temper tantrums are often related to you not getting your way, your sisters not listening to you, or transitions in your day (such as leaving Grandma's house, moving from playing to mealtime, etc)
• You would rather have Mommy or Daddy do things for you instead of doing them by yourself.  We are working hard to get you to be more independent before this baby comes!  Things like getting dressed, going potty, putting on your shoes, getting your pjs on . . . those are all things we know you can do by yourself, it's just getting you to do them!
• On December 2nd, when we were reading a Bible story after lunch at Grandpa and Grandma's house, you asked how Jesus could get into your heart.  Daddy explained to you that all you have to do is ask him!  You were excited about that and said you wanted to ask him to live in your heart.  Your prayer went like this, "Dear Jesus, please come and live in my heart!"  Mommy got all teary over that sweet little prayer.  Mommy prays every day that Jesus will always be the love of your life over anyone and anything else.  I pray that you will grow up to be a man of God and that you will live a life pleasing to Him!!