Can you believe it! Kip is only 6 months away from turning five years old!!! Ugh, five is such a milestone age and I want to keep his toddler antics a bit longer. But, alas, life goes on and on.
Yesterday, Kip turned 4 1/2 and he was all about celebrating that minor achievement. Dan even went to bring back donuts for breakfast before school.
Kipling 4 1/2 Year
Weight: ?? (36.8 lbs at 4 years)
Height: ?? (41.3 inches at 4 years)
Personality: white-hot (interpret as you will)
Kip is a stick of dynamite without a fuse. He has sass and personality beyond his years. He can be sweet and charming and one second later he is spicy and explosive. Witty, intuitive, and smart, he is a riot.
Milestones of Age 4 1/2,
Starting school!!
Kip's school experience deserves a post all on its own but man alive he has learned SO MUCH in the last five months he has been in Pre-k. He has friends and a life beyond the walls of our home and it's truly the first time in his life he has tasted independence on such a level. It hasn't been smooth sailing entirely, but on the whole, he is doing really well.
Sleep
Oh the woes of childhood sleep. For all the praises I gave Kip as a baby being such a good sleeper, we are paying our dues now with his hit or miss sleep at this age. Kip goes to bed around 7 pm and his routine has not changed since last year. He does bathroom, brush teeth, three stories, one song, and company for the first several minutes. He has twinkle lights, star projector lights, and recently a wall plug-in nightlight. If you sleep in his room, it is effectively daylight in there. He still thrashes around in his bed all night, rarely keeps the covers on, and will probably still use a bed rail for the next year+. He wakes in the night constantly for a variety of reasons but the main culprit is his nose is bothering him. We give him allergy medicine before bed which does help but not always. Dan and I trade off going in and out of his room all night long. Sometimes, it's just easier to make a bed on the floor next to his bed and sleep in his room with him. Ugh. Midnight interactions with Kip are not fun. He is known to pull full screaming tantrums while half asleep and I do not earn any good mom points at 2 AM with my limited patience. His OK to wake "green clock" turns on at 6 AM but he is often out of bed before then.
He no longer naps at home but they have a 45 minute "rest time" at school every day. He says he doesn't even close his eyes, but his teacher reports that he is the last to wake up and the most difficult to rouse.
I still desperately miss his pacifier.
Eat
Kip is your typical picky toddler now. He is far more selective about what he likes and has a really hard time trying new things. We try to stick with the same approach we always have by offering everything but not forcing him to eat it. We don't short order cook for him really but we often alter the main dish we make into something more tolerable for him. For example, if I make a burrito bake (sort of a casserole) he will get a quesadilla. If he refuses everything offered, his option is a cheese stick.
His favorite foods are:
Toaster waffles, yogurt drinks, muffins, cinnamon rolls, and bacon
Wendy's cheeseburgers, Chick-fil-a nuggets, salami sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly, or tuna
Frito's BBQ twisty chips and Puffy Cheetoes
Birthday cake ice cream, orange or red popsicles
Cut-up strawberries with sugar on top
Grilled cheese and tomato soup, quesadillas, meat with sour cream and cheese
Meatballs, buttered pasta, grated Parmesan cheese
Pepperoni pizza
"Brown bread"
Brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts
He eats lunch at school most days and we have zero idea how he handles that except the occasional report that he needed something cut up for him or he might tell us if it was something he really liked. Every day at 3:00 PM is Coffee O'clock and he gets a small cup of Dunkin' Donuts vanilla iced coffee with his snack.
Play
Kip's multi-year obsession with "little trains" has given way to the more mature "toy trains" which are the battery operated remote Lionel trains. He has three sets now. He still plays with the wood trains but not daily like in the past. He also plays with his "table trains" which are die-cast trains he pushes along tables (he has done this since before age 2). The last several months he has gotten really into monster trucks as well as Hot Wheels. With school, he was introduced to the concept of super heroes and now enjoys Spidey and His Amazing Friends on TV and the accompanying toys. He enjoys building with Duplos and Magnatiles, playing with his marble run, and building ramps for his monster trucks.
He is an analytical player and does really well with constructing and building. Recently, he has gotten into board games and enjoys Build and Boom and Zingo, both he got for Christmas. I have a feeling we are about the enter the universe of real Legos.
He LOVES playing outside and running around the field. He has also picked up some sports skills at school and has learned how to dribble a basketball and run with a soccer ball.
Kip and Ivy are beginning to play more with each other but it is still a battle of wills and skills. Kip feels possessive of everything and Ivy just wants to be included. They run hot and cold constantly, but I know their bond will get there in its own time.
Things I want to remember about Kip at age 4 1/2:
Guacamole monster/salsa queen/sour cream king/pinto bean
"This baby is just one years old"
Drawing people
Writing letters and recognizing words
"salam" (salami)
Graphics practice
Learning to dress himself (and struggling)
"You're burping me up"
Drawing hearts
Timber and Coonie
Dancing to Candy Hearts
Dress-up
His red princess dress
Sledding for the first time
"Dear Fuzzah, we love you"
Tiger tickets
His special drawer full of junk he collects
The infamously annoying "nose wipe"
Chi-cargo (Chicago)
Pencil (Pennsylvania)
"House Days"
Kip is a deeply sensitive kid, and I often wonder what's going on inside his head. I think he takes in a lot more than we think and I worry that he actually feels the weight of the world at his young age, and that is what overwhelms him. My hope for the next six months is that he finds freedom in letting go of the expectations that he has for himself and we do a better job at encouraging him to just be little.
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