Our loving, bright, creative, clever, and funny 4 year old.
He looks like he's posing for his senior pictures. Don't grow up so fast, buddy!
I always like to have professional photos taken right around Luke's birthday. It's so fun to see how he's grown, and it's a way to ensure we get a photo of the family together. This year's photos document a big change in our lives...the addition of a fourth family member.
Miss Natalie was not in a good mood for the photos. She was ready for a morning nap, and she refused to let me set her down for any photos with her brother. She cried and whined a lot. Luckily, I don't get stressed about a fussy kid during photos anymore (it's pretty much a given). I knew the photographer would find something worth keeping, and I am more than happy with the result. She might not be smiling, but the photographer managed to capture the beauty of our sweet girl. And, Luke totally rocked his photos!
Luke is such a good big brother! Here he's reading to his sissy. She watches him so intently, and I can already tell he's going to be her favorite. Her little head turns to track him as he runs and jumps around. His favorite thing to do with her is kiss her feet and play "gotcha baby."
I finally took pictures of Luke's "big boy" room. He chose X-Men Fatheads to put on the walls in December, but then he added his own Mario drawings a few months later. The top left is his closet with shoes, clothes, and toys. He has one blue wall, since blue continues to be his favorite color.
On his actual birthday, Luke requested Mario cupcakes to take to Shannon's. Over the past few months, Luke figured out how to use the Wii to play Mario Galaxy. He quickly became obsessed with everything Mario themed. I set two of his stuffed animals next to the cupcakes so you can see the inspiration. Here we have Goombas, Boos, Spinys, and Mushrooms.
This stuffy was one of his presents-Lakitu attached to Spiny.
Ready to take to Shannon's to share with friends.
After Luke put on this shirt, I told him it had a "4" on it, since he's 4 years old. He looked down (while wearing the shirt) and said, "That's not a 4!" I told him it didn't look like a 4, because he was looking at it upside down. I walked out of the room and came back it to see him doing this on the couch. He said, "It still doesn't look like a 4, and I'm upside down!"
See what I mean about having a clever kid? Ha!
The past 4 birthdays...
We didn't do a big friend party this year, since we've been busy adjusting to life with an infant. But, we had a few Mario decorations for dinner on Luke's birthday. I served some of Luke's favorite foods-Toasted Ravioli, mandarin oranges, macaroni, and Mario Spaghetti-O's (those he didn't end up actually liking).
Present time! He got a new sticker book, Mario Party 9 game for the Wii, 2 new superhero bobbleheads, and Mario tattoos and stickers. He loved it all.
Aunt Lizzy's family sent this fun blanket as a gift.
Then, we had a party with the grandparents that weekend. I ordered this fun cake from Hy-Vee.
A cute smile while we sang to him.
Blowing out candles and making a wish.
He wanted the piece of cake with Mario's head on it.
Showing off his Mario character tattoos the next morning.
He got an awesome superhero drawing book with tracing paper. I figured I'd need to help him some, but he was awesome at tracing the characters while holding the tracing paper still. He sat for such a long time working quietly on this book.
Standing next to his tree. They are both certainly growing!
Don't feel like you need to read it all. It's mainly for me to document some memories to look back on.
Luke's favorites:
Outdoor play: freeze tag, climbing, jumping (loves trampolines), swimming
Indoor play: board games (checkers is his new favorite and he's actually really good at it), coloring, activity books (like mazes and sticker books), arts and crafts like: cutting, glue, stickers, foam crafts, and Play-Doh. He loves drawing Mario characters and hanging them up in his room. Luke still loves any type of puzzles (he's able to complete 100+ piece puzzles), likes balloons, maps, learning about space and tornadoes, squishy toys, and all things Halloween.
iPad games: pinball arcade, but now he'd much rather play Wii than iPad
Videos: Luke loves to watch videos of people playing Mario games on YouTube, which we really have to limit, and he loves to watch Sid the Science Kid. Throughout this year he liked the movies Despicable Me and Hotel Transylvania. At his sitter's house, he likes watching Peppa Pig and at his Grammy and Papa's he likes to watch Bubble Guppies.
Characters: Luke went from loving superheroes at age 3 to loving Mario characters at age 4. He also still loves all things spooky (skeletons, ghosts, etc.)
Sayings: Luke's speech articulation has really begun to improve, and he is much easier to understand. From age 3 to 4 he really grew in his ability to have a conversation and talk on the phone or FaceTime. When Jacob gets home from work, Luke will ask, "How was your day?" and "What did you eat for lunch?"
Some of the things I've written down that he says often are:
-The boys are figuring this out, the boys are in here talking, The boys are going to... (meaning he and his Daddy)
-In response to getting in trouble from Daddy and Mommy: No, you're not following the rules, I'm going to take all your things away, I'm only mean to you and dad, I'd never be mean to my baby, we're not going to do this right now.
-Again, again!
-used to say, "no, no, no, no, no, no, no."
-Went from asking "why" a lot at age 3 to asking why...with specifics by age 4.
-At bedtime: Lay with me a little bit.
-In relation to time: Everyday, all day, forever or "that's going to take hours!"
-Whew, that was close.
-When asked to do something he doesn't want to do: Don't get me, don't get me
-I need that. I want that cause _____ is my favorite."
-That'll be a good idea.
-You need to say of course!"
-I got a idea. That's a good idea.
-I'm not shy of Santa.
-To Daddy: "Mom just ruined my life!" (because I made him brush his teeth).
-When he's wrong about a word, he will say, "But, that's another name for ____."
Luke still mis-pronounces several words, and it couldn't be cuter. Some of these words he's already corrected but I will always remember how he said: yogret (yogurt), girl (can't say the "r"), remember, basketti (spaghetti), basik (basket), vrink (drink), straight, fruit nacks (fruit snacks), gells (gels), automagnet (automatic), Wild Luigi (Waluigi), Charlie Brown (Carley Brown), No prodem (No problem), it was an accident, cocklate (chocolate), stickers, nuggle (snuggle), remember
Tricks: Luke is very interested in words; he likes to say/sing rhyming words and is able to tell words that have the same beginning sounds. He is starting to read (he uses beginning sounds, context, and pictures to figure out words) and write simple words (the other day he wrote "Mom" on a picture he drew for me...be still my heart!). Luke has a repertoire of jokes that he likes to tell, has gotten really good at cutting with scissors, can do some simple math in context.
Books: Leslie Patricelli books, I Spy books, Marvel 5 Minute Stories, and pretty much any book you are willing to read with him. After he turned four, he let us know that he gets four stories before bed instead of three. Of course we couldn't say no to that!
Clothing: Luke doesn't really have a preference about what he wears. He does request to wear pants/shorts without a button (elastic band). He is able to dress and undress independently.
Foods: Luke called every meal "lunch" up until recently. He loves to eat lime yogurt, mandarin oranges, strawberries, hot dogs with both ketchup and mustard, bread (with butter), mac and cheese, breakfast bars (Nutrigrain bars), cantaloupe, popcorn, ice cream (Neapolitan which he calls "choc, van, straw" thanks to my dad), spaghetti, peanut butter and jelly, goldfish, avocado, corn dogs, bananas, cheese pizza, and pretzels and spicy cheese dip from Flatbranch. He loves to drink chocolate milk, water, orange juice, and any juice box offered to him. If he likes his meal he will declare, "More everything!" Luke will not necessarily stop himself from playing to eat, and he often decides he's suddenly ravenous right before bed.
Sleeping: Luke sleeps really well once he has fallen asleep, but over this year we continued to have bedtime struggles. One thing we realized is that he goes to bed much easier if he doesn't take an afternoon nap. But, if he doesn't have an afternoon nap, he gets tired and crabby by late afternoon. So, we are currently trying a "no nap" summer, and the key is getting him to bed early. We've had several good weeks of no bedtime struggles. Hoping this continues to work!
Songs:Luke likes me to sing songs from the "Sound of Music," and likes all classic kid songs and nursery rhymes. He also likes when Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, "Royal" by Lorde, "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5, or Vampire Weekend plays on the radio.
Height and Weight: The kids have check ups at the doctor next week, so I'll have official numbers soon.
Luke never ceases to impress Jacob and I with his wit and sense of humor. We enjoy seeing his zest for life. He can be a shy kid and takes a little bit of time to warm up around anyone new, but around family and at his sitter's house, he's talkative and shows excitement about everything. Luke loves his "best friend Jackson." He can be stubborn and defiant at times (especially when he's overtired), but is mostly joyful and loves to play, play, play. Luke is all boy and thinks anything to do with burping, farting, and butts is hilarious. He is more often moving than still, but he can sit for long periods of time if working on crafts or coloring as he shows wonderful creativity. Luke gives the best "arms around" hugs and sweet kisses. We love our big guy so much!
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