Sutton {Four Years Old}

Sutton…my sweet boy. I don't even know where to start. I know every parent thinks that their kid is the best, but wow, you amaze me every day. I often find myself wondering how we got so lucky…how WE got to be YOUR parents. I thank God that you're my son.

At four years old, Sutton:

*You are SO smart. You use words that I think are beyond your four years. Of course I can't think of any now. Maybe I'll make a list as they come to me or as you use them and make another post. If you don't understand something, you always ask about it.

*The other day while you were taking a bath, you asked me what these words meant: flammable, violent, and ceramic. I'm sure you heard them somewhere, but I always find it interesting that you think to remember these things and ask me about them later.

*Your memory is crazy. You remember everything. You remember things I don't even remember that happened over a year ago.

*You are so affectionate. You are constantly hugging and kissing us. When I leave for work, you always have to run to me and give me a kiss…on my leg, my hand, sometimes my foot, sometimes my face. You tell me that I'm beautiful all the time. And that I look skinny. Ha. I may have taught you that one.

*You often make statements, then say "Wight?" (Right?)

*You love to help us with anything and everything. The other day, you fixed the bathroom cabinet all on your own while I was in there getting ready. You found a screw and screwed it into a hinge that was missing a screw. It was pretty amazing.

*You are SO goofy. You are always making silly faces, silly noises, trying to come up with original jokes. Sometimes they're funny.

*You like to dance and always try to come up with new moves. It's always "Mommy, watch this move. Daddy, watch this move."

*You have a great imagination. You like to play out scenarios with your cars, pretend the sofas are your pirate ships, and make pizzas for us "fresh and hot!" Usually when we play pirates, you're Jake, I'm Izzy, and Ren is Cubby. Poor Ren will always be Cubby (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates).

*You love animals. Daddy's class pet bearded dragon Draco is living in your bedroom this summer, and you always ask us to take him out and let him run around. You love to feed him. You also like to tell me how much you love Diesel.

*You are right on track with clothing sizes. You wear 4T stuff, though some of it is still a little big. You have several pairs of 3T shorts that you're still wearing and probably will for awhile.

*You still wear a pull up at nap and at night. 85% of the time it's dry when you wake up, but you insist on wearing it because you're afraid of wetting your bed.

*Almost every night, about 30-45 minutes after we put you to bed, you come out of your room, come in our room and say "I'm going to go pee, then I'll wash my hands, then I'll give you a hug, Daddy a hug, and Ren a hug."

*Handwashing is quite the process. You've started to worry about germs so you'll often ask us "Have I washed my hands today?" You move your little stool by the sink, pump too much soap in your hands, and then rub them together without any water (which bugs me, but to each their own I suppose). Then you turn the water on full blast for half a second which barely rinses your hands off but leaves a ton of bubbles in the sink. You can never quite dry your hands off all the way either. :)

*You've started asking us to brush your teeth instead of resisting because you're worried about your teeth getting holes in them. You still won't brush them yourself because you think you can't do it good enough.

*You're able to open the car door and get in your seat yourself. You're also able to undo the top buckle but not the bottom.

*You cannot give me a normal smile for pictures. :) But I love your fake ones and silly ones too.

*You like to copy a lot of the things we do. You tell me that your toy guns are dangerous and that I shouldn't touch them. You've started repeating phrases we say such as "Oh my goodness." The other day you got up on a stool in the kitchen to wash your hands and saw a jar of grease. You said "What is that crap doing here?" I about died laughing but tried to hold it in and tell you that you don't need to say that word. Nor do you need to say "What the heck?" but you do.

*You try hard to be good, but sometimes you can be a very bad listener. Often when you throw a fit, it gets worse and worse and worse and some tiny infraction turns into an all out defiance. So you'll lose a toy, be sent to your room, and in the worst cases get a spanking. Usually when you've calmed down and had time to think about it, you'll come out and tell us you're sorry and say something like "I don't know why I did that, I wish I didn't do it." Today you were telling me something about how you "need to start making good choices." I stopped you and asked if you just said 'good choices' and you reassured me that you, in fact, had. SO SMART.

*You love your brother so much. You are always giving him kisses, asking to hold him, and making sure he's okay. You're such a good brother. You're very possessive of him too. When Daddy told you once that Ren was HIS baby, you got very upset and later said to me, "Ren is our baby too, wight? Daddy said Ren is just his baby, but Ren is my baby and your baby too. Wight?" We've had to explain to you that he's not your son like he is my son and Daddy's son. He's your brother and you're his ONLY brother in the whole world.

*Our bedtime routine consists of changing you into your pull up, turning on your alarm clock (it's a nightlight where the light goes off in the morning at the time we've set, telling you it's okay to get up), reading a book or two, singing 2 or 3 songs, and praying.

*You usually sleep from 9pm to 7:30 or 8am. You still take a nap in the afternoons around 2pm for about 2 hours.

*You love watching movies and shows. Favorites are The Croods, Daniel Tiger, and Frozen. We know ALL the words to Frozen. :)

*You love to play outside, go on walks, go to the park, swing, go camping, play with sticks, play with water guns, do Play-Dough, eat chocolate, watch movies, play cars, and go swimming.

*Swimming is a new-found passion. You've always been fond of it, but ever since you took swimming lessons in September, you've been a lot more confident in the water. Daddy just bought you a floaty that goes around your arms and chest and keeps you up and wow, you just LOVE swimming now. You'll even paddle out in the deep end on your own (with Daddy or Mommy nearby of course).

*You are OBSESSED with Captain America. He is your favorite. You have two shirts, a shield, at least 4 action figures with their own shields, a motorcycle, a poster, a comic book. You always tell us you ARE Captain America. Sometimes it's Captain Wichita. Daddy made you a harness with Velcro that you wear on your back so you can carry your shield on your back just like the real Captain America.

*Your favorite foods are ketchup, mac n cheese, meat-cheese-and-mayo sandwiches, cheetos, chocolate, suckers, bananas, strawberries, PB&J, pistachios, chocolate milk. You eat toast with peanut butter and jelly on it for breakfast each morning.

*You are such a people person. You always want us to be around and would prefer to not ever have to play by yourself, but we make you do that a lot. You finally have your own little friends, some from school, some of our friends' kids.

Daddy and I love you more than we could possibly say and while you definitely have my stubbornness in you, and you test me daily, I wouldn't trade you for anything. You are so smart, helpful, handsome, funny, and AWESOME Sutton Grey. And now you're FOUR which means you are a big big boy!

Edit: I totally forgot to do his 4 year video until today, August 7th. But I figured better a month and a half late than never! So here is the 4 year video with the same questions as the 3 year video.

And the transcript in case you can't understand him:

1.    How old are you? Four

2.    What is your favorite color? Red

3.    What is your favorite toy? Those cars...Captain America shield

4.    What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries

5.    What is your favorite movie? Wreck It Ralph

6.    What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Meat cheese and mayo sandwich

7.    What is your favorite outfit? This.

8.    What is your favorite game to play? Mario...when will we play Mario again?

9.    What is your favorite snack? Goldfish

10. What is your favorite animal? Zebras

11. What is your favorite song? ABCs

12. What is your favorite book? Nothing...butt book {we're really into potty humor...}

13. Who is your best friend? Zane

14. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Toast

15. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play on the playground

16. What is your favorite drink? Chocolate milk

17. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

18. What do you like to take to bed at night? I'm just, all the time when I go to bed is taking my harness and my Captain America shield.

19. What do you want to be when you get big? I told you a lot of times, a superhero!

20. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? I don't know.

At the end he says "Now I wanna do the Daddy one" cause he wanted me to show him a video he had watched on Daddy's phone.