Countdown to Year 4

Oh, the interesting places a preschooler can take you!


Interests
Caillou and Curious George, while still household favorites, have been replaced by Batman and Transformers. Superheroes are all the rage. He likes to play with his matchbox cars and trains at home. At school, his favorite place to play is in the housekeeping area or swinging in the tire swing with his good friends Mitchell and Alex.


Skills
Rowan can manage a lot of personal chores on his own, like hand washing, tooth brushing, and getting dressed. Sometimes he prefers help with these things, but most of the time he likes to do them himself. He can write his first name consistently well, though “N” is still tricky if he’s in a hurry. He can count to 100. He can buckle himself into his car seat and secure the straps all by himself. Something he likes to do lately is make up new words. When we ask what it is he will provide a definition. I think he would be great at the board game Balderdash.


So Big!
Rowan is wearing 4T clothes and size 11-toddler shoes.


Adventures
Stone Mountain turns the laser show lawn into Snow Mountain, a winter wonderland, from late November to February. You can slide down a snow-covered “mountain” in tubes and play in the snow. We went for the first time earlier this month. It was a lot of fun! Rowan had a good time and the Floridians did, too. My parents, Rowan, and I went down 4 times. Jeremy offered to watch Raleigh in the snow area since she is too little to sled and he grew up doing it.


Rowan participated in a child development study at Emory. They are studying how children categorize unfamiliar objects. It was neat to watch him, not only to see his brain at work but to marvel at his confidence and ease with the researcher. I remember being shy around adults when I was kid. Heck, I get nervous ordering at a restaurant even now! It’s nice to see him so comfortable and sure of himself. He told me that he liked college and would like to go back. I told him that was good since he would definitely be spending a good chunk of time there in the future.


Last week, Rowan’s class had a holiday celebration. The class sang a trio of holiday favorites, including Jingle Bells, The Dreidel Song, and Rudolph. That sure was good stuff. The group had lots of energy for the first song, not as much for the second, and the even less for the third. It was very cute nonetheless.


In just two months we will parents of a 4-year-old boy. It’s almost too much for me! Where, oh where, did my little boy go? Just so you know, I am certain this will be a common refrain on this blog for the next 40 years. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Happy mirthday to my sweet, sweet boy!