Four Years

Leland turned 4 years old on July 3rd. Watching him grow and the many other sweet children on so many of you really puts perspective on how fast time passes. 

For his birthday we baked a chocolate chip cookie cake and decorated it together. He really had more fun baking than actually eating it with me. Then in the afternoon we went to Stone Mountain and climbed the mountain. In the evening we watched the laser light show. It was a fun and special day. 

We went last week for his four year old check up. He is 36 pounds (about 50%) and 42 inches (about 80%). He is wearing a mix of 3T and 4T clothes and a size 11 shoe. He's grown a lot in height this year. He got two shots. He passed his vision test and we have to go back for a follow up on his hearing test - though we do not expect there is an actual problem. He was most excited about getting to pee in a cup. 

He started back to school in early August. He is at a Montessori school and is in the second year of primary. He has the same teacher and most of the same classmates as last year. He is in school from 8:30 - noon and then our Au Pair (nanny) picks him up. This is a big change as he is used to staying all day in the past. He's not really happy about this and keep asking to stay for lunch. He also keeps asking if he can just stay home with his sisters and not go to school as well. 

Lately, his favorite things are books, sports, and superheros. He loves reading. His room is just stacks and stacks of books - everywhere. No matter how much I keep re-shelving them he keeps getting them out. (I know...it's a good "problem" to have). He probably reads for 30-60 minutes each day with us and then another hour or so on his own. He has incredible concentration. 

For his 4th birthday party we had a superhero theme. I cut capes out of felt and added sticky velcro. I also cut shapes out of stick-backed felt and bought a pack of paper masks. Each of the children were about to decorate their own cape and mask. Watching about 20 kids run around my back yard as superheros was so much fun!

We've been trying out a few sports this year. He did a four day soccer camp this past summer and two sessions of swimming lessons. He is swimming on his own now rather well. He needs more practice with coming up for air in order to be able to swim further distances with confidence. Just last week we started T-ball. I had asked if he wanted to continue with the swim classes or if he would rather play on a soccer team - and he asked if he could play baseball. So I signed him up. So far it's been a fun experience and it seems to be paced right with a total of 5 practices and 6-8 games for the whole season. He gets excited about sports clothing, wanting to wear his cleats or his knee socks - or really anything shirt with number on it because "you wear numbers on your shirt when you play a sport." 

Spider Man (August 2015)

Stone Mountain on his birthday!

Birthday Party (June 2015)