Being a big boy

Lately, Stephen has been doing some big boy things. I haven't yet gotten a picture of the funniest thing that he does as a "big boy" - he likes to go to the pantry and pick out his own snack. He opens the doors, and roots around until he finds something he wants (usually Teddy Grahams or Vanilla Wafers...), gets it out, closes the door, and brings the box to either Mom or Dad. Hysterical!

Stephen's grandparents are visiting from Tucson, and one day, Grandma needed to move the car in the driveway, so Stephen went for a ride (don't worry, they didn't even go on to the street!).



Now that the weather has gotten nicer again, we've been able to go back to the park. And when we go to the playground, Stephen RUNS everywhere! He especially loves the tube slide still...

This time, Stephen hightailed it to the "big" swing. We asked him several times if he was sure he wanted to try it, as in the past he has been less than successful at balancing himself and holding on well, but he insisted. He did really well with it! He really enjoyed the big swing, and didn't fall off once! Next up, we'll have to work on pumping his legs.

Since this week was spring break, there were no swim lessons, but at his last lesson last week, his dad reported that he actually blew a bubble in the pool. Only one, but it was better than his regular behavior of DRINKING the pool water! Since we didn't have lessons this week, we've been taking him to open swim time at the YMCA for practice. Stephen has already come a long way when it comes to jumping in!

Daddy

Stephen was pretending to be Daddy by wearing his sunglasses...

He also likes to sneak upstairs to his office and sit in the desk chair. The boy loves his daddy for sure!

Well, THAT was unexpected!!

Did you know that some 4 year olds get loose teeth? I thought it was a little early, but, there is is! He didn't fall, or bang his mouth on anything... but a loose tooth certainly explains his strange eating behavior over the past few days.

And as you can see, it really doesn't bother him, although I've noticed him investigating with his tongue quite a bit... I guess the Tooth Fairy will be making a stop here tonight!

We had some beautiful weather over the weekend, and on Sunday, we decided to hit the zoo. Stephen was mostly just excited to be outside, and happy that he didn't have to watch out for icy patches on the ground when he walked. He was excited about going to see the primates, of course, but was disillusioned by the giraffes. We have a new book that is about a giraffe named Gerald who dances, and Stephen was disappointed that the giraffes at our zoo were just standing around.

Stephen hit a MAJOR milestone today - he FINALLY jumped. He had a little support from his dad, but he did it on his own. Better late than never!

Swimming!!!

Last week, Stephen started SWIM LESSONS!!!! I didn't take my camera the first time, but I did the second. He is going to lessons 2 evenings a week, and there are 4 other little boys in his class.

Here he was, waiting very patiently for class to begin. I just asked him to sit down with me, and he did, and didn't even try to leave until class was ready to begin.

The teacher takes each student around to practice either kicking or paddling (or both). For the first 2 classes, he wouldn't do either consistently, but today, he was kicking and paddling at the same time!

He is very good about waiting his turn...

He really enjoyed swimming with the noodle, and seemed more comfortable doing that than when the teacher was holding on to him.


At the end of the lesson, all of the kids jump to the teacher, and do a quick dunk. Stephen very frequently gets excited and opens his mouth, instead of closing when he goes under... we're working on that!

Stephen has really been enjoying himself swimming! He is very comfortable in the water, and really loves everything he's doing. We are hoping that he will be able to swim using his floaties by the time we go to Tucson again. He was comfortable floating in them, and trying to move around a little bit, but we want him to be able to paddle, and kick, and hopefully blow some bubbles. It seems promising so far!

Snowpocalypse 2011

Last Monday night (January 31), the freezing rain began to fall, and by the end of the day Tuesday, we had received over 12" of snow at our house. We knew the storm was coming for over a week beforehand, so the Friday before that, Stephen and I decided to take advantage of the 70* weather, and head out to the zoo.

Stephen had been climbing the bench, and I believe this hand gesture was in response to my request that we go and actually see some ANIMALS at the zoo. I believe what he was trying to tell me was that we'd go in "this much" time.


It was good that we enjoyed that weather when we did, because by Tuesday at lunchtime, this is what we saw out the dining room window.

Erik wanted to get a preliminary round of shoveling in because he didn't want it to be even harder to get rid of the next day. He was outside doing this during 50mph wind gusts, and the snow was still falling...



Even the outside toys got covered!

Stephen enjoyed a screening of Fantasia 2000. He particularly enjoyed the segment featuring Beethoven's 5th Symphony!

The sun came out on Wednesday, but with wind chills well below 0, we stayed inside again.

But don't worry - we found things to do to stay busy! Of course, we did a lot more than this... we played with stickers, worked with the peg board, spelled words, played piano, played train, trucks, cars, read books, and used the Tag Reader.

Finally, on Saturday, we went out to play in the snow! Stephen didn't have any snow boots this year, since he outgrew last year's pair, but we made do with a pair of rain boots.

Here, Stephen was attempting to roll a big snowball like his Dad.

It worked better with some help...
So, that's how we spent the first Blizzard of 2011. We are expecting another snow storm beginning tomorrow, with 7-12" of snow forecasted, and wind chills below 0 again, so tomorrow will likely be Stephen's last day of school for the week. Hopefully, though, he'll still get to go for his FIRST SWIM LESSON tomorrow night!!

I forgot to mention...

When Stephen had his 4 year check-up, he measured 38.5" (in bare feet, so add an inch when he's in shoes), and weighed in at 36.5 lbs. He's maintained pretty much the same growth curve since we got his reflux under control around 6 months, actually, which is great, considering how hard it was to get him to gain weight and eat in the beginning. That's beside the point, though...

At his cardiology appointment on Friday, they measured and weighed him again. He NOW is 39" tall in bare feet, and 35.5 lbs. Yes, he grew half an inch in a month. I kind of think the weight taken at his check-up in December was incorrect, because he was squirming. He weighed 35.5 when Erik took him that following week for his pink eye and ear infection. And I KNOW the height is correct, because I had measured him myself before both appointments. He has also gone up a full shoe size in that time as well. I think this might explain a lot of the sleeping issues he had been having for a few weeks there...