My (almost) 4 year old Hunter

I cannot believe that in less than a month, this little boy is going to be 4. FOUR!  Have I really been a mommy to him for that long?!  He brings so much joy into our lives.  I haven't done an update on just him in a long time, so thought it would be nice to share what he has been up to.  It is also a bragging post, I don't feel like I brag on him very much.  I'll do an official "Four Year Old" post after his birthday.

Hunter loves school.  He asks to go every.single.day.  He was going 4 full and 1 half day, but once we had Gavin and our work schedules changed, he now only goes 3 full days.  At the beginning of the school year (about 4 weeks in) I received a call from his teacher about his behavior.  I had never heard anything negative about his behavior before (he had been there all summer, plus he had been in daycare before) so I was totally shocked.  I had a conference with his teacher and we put in place a behavior chart.  Worked wonders.  He was done with it in about 2 months.  His teacher has a ton of boys in her class and they are all boy.  Hunter is going to test his limits and if he sees other kids doing something, he tends to do that as well unless he is given guidance.  His teacher now tells me he will remove himself from a situation when one of his classmates is doing something they aren't supposed to be doing.  He is constantly telling me how he ignored "Billy" because "Billy" was telling him to yell in class or say "bathroom words" (poop, fart, etc.) or whatever was going on.

Academically he is doing well.  He is recognizing all his upper case letters, almost all of his lower case letters (mixes up p and q, and i and j), and is able to tell you the sounds quite a few of the consonants make.  He loves identifying rhyming words, making patterns, counting, and writing.

Parent-teacher conference in November 2013.

Parent-teacher conference May 2014

How he has changed in a few short months!

With how obsessed he is with dinosaurs, I wouldn't be surprised if he does go on to become a paleontologist!  His teacher said he just went on and on explaining what a paleontologist does.  His room is filled with all kinds of dinosaurs.  He knows pretty much every dinosaur name and what they eat.  If he doesn't know, he wants us to find out the answer for him.  Google is my best friend on those days.

We took him to the Mariners' Museum last weekend.  They have a dinosaurs of the deep exhibit.  It isn't all that big and I was a little bummed by it.  He had a great time!  Carl took him in to see the 3-D movie (I stayed out and fed Gavin) and he really enjoyed that!  We will be going to the Living Museum soon, they have the robotic dinosaurs back!  I showed him pictures of when we went when he was 2 and he was so excited!

Finally... I couldn't ask for a better big brother.  He has taken on this role without any complaints.  He is patient and never whines when he has to wait for something because Gavin's needs have to be met first.  He loves to tickle Gavin and play on the floor with him.  If I need something for Gavin, he will go get it!  If he can reach Gavin's pacifier while on a car ride, he sticks it in his mouth.  Gavin was super upset when we left Ashley's on Tuesday because he was getting hungry.  Ashley already had a bottle made and Hunter fed some of it to him in the car.  His arm eventually got tired and asked if he could stop.  When he took the bottle out of Gavin's mouth, Gavin, of course, started to cry.  Hunter said, "I know baby.  It's okay.  My arm really hurts and I can't feed you anymore."  Hunter is also very patient with Charlotte on the days that Carl and I watch her.  He may tattle on her a lot (we just had a discussion about when it is appropriate to tell on Charlotte), but he always holds her hand and makes sure she is having fun when we go places.  He walked with her up the driveway into the house today hand-in-hand.  I wanted to take a picture but had my hands full.  I can't wait for Gavin and him to hold hands like that.