Doctor's Visit

James had his 4-year well-child check-up today. I forgot to take my camera! But I did gather some vital statistics.

Height: 3 feet, 3 inches (around the 15th percentile)
Weight: 35.8 pounds (around the 50th percentile)
Shots: 1 (flu)

He can do all kinds of cool things.

• Counts to 25, counts backwards from 10, counts with one-to-one correspondence to 12
• Cuts with scissors
• Writes his name, and can copy other letters, numbers, and shapes
• Draws detailed pictures of people, pokemon, starships, pirates, and other things
• Memorizes songs
• Dresses self (except for his shirt)
• Can sort by size, shape, and color
• Can throw a ball overhand and underhand, can kick a ball
• Exaggerates to make his story more interesting (or outright tells stories - for example, his babysitter has come to Ready Set Learn and let him watch a video on her phone)
• Has held on to some "baby" sounds and speech patterns (it's still "mine friends" and "Amawee")
• Makes friends easily and plays well with others

Here's the link to his 3-year visit for comparison.

I also looked back at Amelie's 4-year visit, and James is 1/2 an inch taller and a pound lighter than she was at this age.

Birthday Party

James turned 4 on the 15th and then we had a birthday party for him on Saturday. Sam wanted to rent a bounce house again. (The kids are going to expect it next year, I bet!)

We had presents:

James requested a pirate sword, so we got him a cheap one. He slept with it in his bed.

 Playing with toys the next morning:

There were ninja turtle toys from the Buffaloes and mitts from Nana Jana.

Of course there was bouncing:

 Here's the birthday boy! He looks so big with his haircut! (I may make a separate post about the haircut - Aunt Holly gave it to him.)

Blowing out candles. He talked Aunt Holly into putting 5 on his cake. One to grow on, I guess.

Happy birthday, James!

Birthday Interview: James is 4

James had his birthday party yesterday. I've been trying to do this birthday interview with him for the last several days, though. He only wants to play along for a minute.

1. How old are you? Three. But isn't today your birthday? Yes. So how old are you now? Four. Am I Four right now?
2. What is your favorite color? Blue and green
3. What is your favorite toy? Me. Garfield. Now I can't have any more guesses. (I guess the interview is over?)
4. What is your favorite game? Not any more answers! (He kept insisting the interview was over, so I tried again the next day.) What is your favorite game? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! (This might have been bolstered by the fact that he was wearing all of his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles birthday gifts at the time I asked. Also, he still says something a lot closer to "Too Much Mutant Ninja Turtles" than "Teenage")
5. What is your favorite song? "Bingo Was His Name-O," that's my favorite song
6. What is your favorite animal? Turtle
7. What is your favorite book? Robosauce. It's at the library. So this boy eats Robosauce and he turns into a robot. That's Robosauce. And he turns his dog into a robot. Even his family. Did you know that? He does robot plunger. If you have Robosauce you have to eat it.
8. What is your favorite movie? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They're heroes in a half shell. (As far as I know, the only Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles he's ever watched have been an episode or two at Aunt Holly's. He's never seen the movie. I guess it made a big impression.)
9. What is your favorite thing to eat? Ummm. Watermelon. And I want some watermelon right now. Do we have any watermelon?
10. Where is your favorite place to go?    Umm. Mississippi. I mean the splash pad. 
11. Who is your best friend? Nobody! Nobody? Oh wait I do have a best friend. All of my friends at Ready Set Learn except for Clara.
12. What is something you learned last year when you were 3?Nothing! Nothing at all? Yeah!
13. What is something you'll learn now that you're 4? Nothing! Nothing at all? No!! I want to go outside.  This is enough answers. (So we stopped again for the day. This is the longest-running birthday interview ever.)
14. What is hard for you to do? Nothing! I don't want to do an interview! (So I snuck the last ones in in non-interview settings this morning.)
15. What is your favorite thing to do? Eat cake!
16. What do you like about Me (Mama)? Nothing! I only like cake!
17. What do you like about Dada? Cause he always lets me watch movies.
18. What do you like about Amelie? (laughing) I like when she punches me! (then James grabbed Amelie's hand and made her hit him and then he laughed.) I like when she shares toys with me.
19. What do you like about yourself? Cause I always like to watch movies.
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? I don't want to ask questions!

It is clear that James was not as cooperative this year as he was when we did the interview last year.