Yep. We blinked and Finn is now four years old. Celebrations were big, fun, and extended. They included a birthday party with all his new friends from school and old friends from babyhood, a trip to the children's museum in Indianapolis, and songs and birthday signs in his preschool classroom. My highlights included:
1. the look of elation on Finn's face as his friends sang to him
2. his question the day after his birthday as he was getting dressed: "why am I still small?!?!!?"
3. the wild success of his biggest present: a new bike.
And since we're making lists, here are some things Finn can do now that he could not do a year ago:
1. Write letters, recognize his written name, and color
really really well. He can also recognize a few words that Clark and I spell out like Z-O-O and N-A-P. Aye. We're looking for new strategies for handling this. Suggestions welcome.
2. Hold his temper and empathize when others are having a hard time. So this one isn't always spot on, but more often than not, Finn will request "a few minutes to calm down." Seriously, those are the words he uses. And he's quick to say when faced with another grumpy toddler who's having a particularly hard time, "that kid just hasn't learned to use his words yet."
3. He's upped his game on the humor front. Last year Finn was able to truly make me belly laugh, but he's gotten SO SO SO much better at it. His humor is dry and a little sarcastic and really really funny.
And Finn isn't the only one who has grown this year. While we still lose sleep over a million parenting worries, Clark and I have learned a few things this year too. Some things we can now do that we couldn't one year ago:
1. Play real games with Finn. With Rules. And Winners. Some of my favorite times with Finn include games of memory on the coffee table. Chute and Ladders at the library. And running races on our favorite trails. We can set up challenging puzzles on the floor and work on them for 30 minutes with engaged interest. It's seriously fun.
2. Let him figure things out on his own. Finn's old enough to decide when to wear a coat and how much dinner to eat. I love that he has this kind of control over himself and makes smart decisions (most of the time).
3. I can now tell you which superheros are from DC Comics and which are Marvel. I've googled batarangs. I've pretended to by Lex Luther caught in Spiderman's web (that's not a thing, I've been corrected). This is a world I knew NOTHING about one year ago. Now I'm all in. Or getting there.
And some photos from the holiday weekend:
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| Superhero party prep |
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| Party Play! |
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| The 2nd best part of the party (after being sung to by all his friends). |
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| Opening presents on the big day. |
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| Being four is F.U.N. |
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A gift he's been hinting about this gift for awhile.
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Looks so fun! Wish we could have been there.
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