Jackson at age 4

Age 3 was so much fun with Jackson and I'm even more excited about having a four-year-old! He went through so many changes this year and is now a big boy in so many ways.

Since his last birthday he was potty trained (very easily), he stopped taking naps (but still takes a quiet time), he moved into a big boy bed (and never gets up in the night), he started preschool (which he adores), he started going to Sunbeams (which he also adores) and his mind is growing and eating up spelling, numbers, and geography.

His Favorites, I asked him today:

Color-     Green (and gray, which is his assigned color for his preschool song for graduation)
Letter-     J
Number- 25
Toy-       T-Rex Race Track
Game-     Settlers (own version that involves rolling dice, finding numbers and building roads)
Snack-    Pirate Booty and Ritz Crackers (what he happened to have for his snack at school today)
Book-    Curious George and the hot-air balloon (recent library check-out)
Day-      Friday (because it's boys show and tell)
Shape-   Circle
Song-     I Stand All Amazed
Movie-   Frozen & Despicable Me 2
Thing-   Daddy
Animal- Spinasourous

The kid was way too addicted to sippy cups and he would never drink water out of them, which meant he was drinking a lot of flavored water, juice or chocolate milk aka way too much sugar. I told him when he turned 4, no more sippy cups, and he totally went along with it! I wasn't sure it would stick but he even reminded me on his birthday, no more sippys mom! He now drinks only water out of his new camelback water bottle and he keeps that in his room for quiet time and at bed or will drink out of a normal cup (no straws either) for meals.

So I'd say that was the biggest change that happened when he turned four. But his mind is seriously always going and it's been so fun to watch him learn and grow.

He now is fascinated by numbers, and is always counting things and is starting to be able to recognize not just 1-9, but 25, 42, etc putting the 2-digit numbers together. When we're at a red light he'll figure out what number car we are (aka how many cars are in front of us) and then try to track those cars along the road - passing number one is always fun for him.

He is getting much more interested in putting letters together to spell words and reading. He recognizes all his letters and now we point them out and sound them together when we read books. He is able to memorize and identify some words which has made reading a whole new adventure. I am hoping to help him start reading this year. Thanks to some apps on the iPad for helping with this I think, yay for quiet time learning!

He enjoys typing on the computer and spelling different words, normally his friends' names.

He is completely fascinated by the map of the United States and a few weeks ago could correctly identify all of the states. He has 3 map puzzles, 2 apps on his iPad and a map placemat he studies at every meal. Some of his favorite states are Texas, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Washington (probably because they are cool shapes or fun to say I'm guessing) Tyler went on a work trip to Nevada and he thought it was so cool that Daddy went to that state because it looks like a diamond :)

His puzzle of choice, and he does it in just a few minutes

He still loves playing with train tracks and now enjoys building more intricate tracks on his own. I don't have any pictures of his recent big ones but this one below was a "little track" he made for Edward. He used to get really frustrated while building tracks when they didn't match up just right but now he has figured out how to manipulate them that he can make it work on his own. 

He still also loves playing with race cars, trucks, planes, legos, and dinosaurs. He is starting to get into super heroes a little bit but I'm enjoying this innocent little boy stage while it lasts. His imagination is really cute and he loves playing games with Abbie, they play either the zoo game, the preschool game, the restaurant game or the toy store game at least once a day. He comes up with the game and luckily she normally always enjoys playing whatever he comes up with. She is normally the purple baby hippo in the zoo and he is some type of alligator, frog or snake. She is the little girl and he is the daddy dropping her off at preschool where I am the teacher. He then will take her "home" and put her down for a "nap" and watching him read books to her and tuck her in with a blanket on the couch is one of the sweetest things ever.

He really is so sweet and such a good big brother to Abbie. He loves giving my tummy kisses and talking about the little baby. He got a doughnut one day and wanted me to take a bite of it so the baby could taste it and would say it's yummy :)

Doughnuts for baby!

 Since being in primary, he has loved learning the new primary songs and now the primary cd is what we listen to often in the car. He loves He Sent His Son, and I Stand All Amazed since those are the ones we've been learning. He requests me to sing either I Love to See the Temple or Families Can Be Together Forever at night. He rarely wanted me to sing songs at bedtime before primary. 

 After being in the hospital with Kawisaki's last April, he has not been sick since. Like seriously, we've never been to the doctor for a sick visit, it's kind of amazing. He's had a runny nose or a slight cough here or there and has randomly thrown up at night a couple times (he's got a tender tummy like the Christensen family) but nothing that prevented him from going to school or playing like normal. We are so blessed.

 He is such an obedient little boy and I love him so much. He loves snuggling with me on the couch and sharing the blanket on cold mornings. He always remembers to take his vitamin every morning and reminds us about family night multiple times a week. He never fights bedtime, and wakes up happy every morning. Abbie is his best friend, Daddy is his hero and I'm lucky enough to be his mom.