4 years old

Jonas turned 4 this past week. It's so weird to think that next year - 2016 - he's going to kindergarten. AH! It's going by so fast.

He was SO excited for his birthday. We talked about it for months before it actually happened. I didn't do a party this year. He doesn't need a crazy party each year. But we just had a small one with grandparents. And I took some pictures of him really quick on his big day. :)

He was so excited to have party hats at his party. So cute!

He LOVES to go cross eyed. He thinks it's so funny. He says "There's two mommies".

Some things I want to remember about him this past year:

He still loves curious George. He'll watch it all the time, and then find something new, and then continue watching it later. He loves George! Currently, he is obsessed with "Nightmare before Christmas". He does this thing where he gets obsessed with something, wears it out completely, and then is sick of it and drops it. He did it with Jake and the Neverland Pirates, with Megamind (his first EVER favorite movie). But, oddly enough, he has never done it with Curious George. He loves him. :) 

Potty training was a nightmare with him because he is so DEFIANT and STUBBORN!!! Love him to death, but holy cow he gave me a run for my money this past year. He's a pro now with going potty - it only took 4 times. And for a few months after, he would pee in his underwear every. single. time he went potty. Not enough to get everywhere, but enough that he changed his underwear every time he went potty. I didn't know what to do. I figured he wasn't receiving that sign to go potty clearly enough. I told myself I would give him until he's 4 and then if it was still happening I would do something about it. Well, a couple months passed, and then one day, he went potty and he was DRY! And it kept happening and happening. Now he's a champ and he hasn't peed the bed since, I don't know, January? Now I just have to teach him to wipe his own butt. He's been defiant about that when I've tried and I just don't want him to digress, so I'm waiting on that. 

He's a quick learner! I've been singing the articles of faith to him (because they are learning it in primary) and he's memorized 5 articles of faith already since January. He's smart. However, he HATES coloring or anything to do with writing, drawing, holding a pencil in his hand. That makes me a little nervous for when preschool starts next year. He has no interest in writing his ABC's. He likes to learn about them, when I've gone over them with him, but when I have him practice writing them, he does NOT want to do it.  

He loves to play with his cousins. I'm pretty sure they are his best friends. Whenever he plays with them for long periods of time, he comes back learning new words. Lately, his new word is "apparently. It's so funny, he'll say "apparently she is cranky" (referring to Alexis), or "apparently I need a bath" or whatever he feels like saying. . Ha ha! So funny. I love it. :) he's said other words, but I can't remember.

We went to comic con, and Jonas was so excited to see Spider man there. Even though Jonas doesn't really watch Spider man that often, he loves him. Him and batman - hence the shirt. 

He LOVES guns and swords. He has probably 5 guns and he plays with all of them. Same with swords. He has 4 and he plays with all of them. We could get him more, and he would love it. He loves to pretend there are "bad guys" coming and we hide from them, or we shoot them, or whatever.

He loves to pretend. He's not one to play with lots of toys at once. He plays with one, maybe two, and makes up this whole pretend world with that one toy. It's so fun to watch. 

I try to slip in the pictures with my kids as much as I can.

 I think Jonas had a rough time with Alexis at first because of two reasons. 1) he wasn't used to sharing my attention and 2) he never really got to bond with her at the beginning because she was always crying.

However, now, he loves her and interacts with her and makes her laugh and he's concerned about her. He's relatively  nice to her, and sometimes he shows his love to her and hugs her and is so soft with her and it's ADORABLE! I love this picture. I sat Alexis down so I could take a picture of her hair (I used my flat iron to curl it out) and he came and sat down next to her and just loved her. Awwwww :) 

And she loves him so much. Any chance she gets to kiss him, or hug him she does it - if he lets her. 

Anyways, I can't think of more, but I love him so much. Hopefully this next year he won't be so defiant and that tantrums won't be so bad. My old neighbor said once to me "I hate to tell you, but it doesn't go away until they are 5". But I can be hopeful, right?