Elijah is 4

In the midst of our traveling, I realized I forgot to post a 4 year old update on Elijah!  So, bit late but here goes...

Personality:  Elijah is an analytical, inquisitive, silly, somewhat reserved, kind boy.  

Likes: Reading, Legos, imaginative play, and asking 1,001 questions (a lot of them good deep ones even about life and death, or about how things work...such as Does Jesus drive in the sun??)  If you allow him, he will literally ask question after question after question with no end and he really is soaking in the answers and trying to put the pieces of life together.  He loves helping with everything from washing the car to helping to cook and he's very responsive when we give him a directed task to do and takes lot of pride in having done it.  This year he was really into the show Octanauts and Dinosaur Train and lately he's been loving reading nonfiction books about tractors and trucks and also  science books (especially the magic school bus) and he wants to understand every last detail about how things work.  He like to play with friends and cousins, play on playgrounds, ride his bike or scooter, color and draw (but so far he will only draw sticks, rocks, maps, and the sun since he claims that he is too insecure about doing other things "wrong").  He likes homeschool so far, especially because it's basically all reading and workbooks, both of which he loves.  He can spend countless hours playing with building toys (legos, marble run, etc).  His favorite foods are noodles and he really likes them "clean"  aka with no sauce.  He also likes fish, hot dogs, and muffins.  He happily eats almost all veggies, but is not a fan of lettuce yet.

New: Really interacting on a deeper level, room play time instead of nap time, drawing, playing board games, really make a transition from preschooler to kid.

Routine: Up at 7:30, homeschool about 1 hour in the morning or preschool for morning time, lunch at 12, play time from 1:30-3:15, clean up room all on his own, watch a show, dinner, then bed at 7:30.  We cut the afternoon nap just around 4 years old because it was getting too hard for him to sleep at 7:30pm...it was obvious he just wasn't tired.  It took about 2 weeks to transition it out and he has been doing great ever since!

Struggles:  Moments of temper tantrums when he doesn't get his preferences, he has forgotten most of his Portuguese so is struggling to feel connected to friends and Brazil since getting back.  He has resisted wanted to go to the kids programs at church since he doesn't understand what is being said.  This week he will begin preschool and we're hoping it will help him relearn the language quickly.

Lastly, for his birthday Elijah really wanted to have an Octanauts themed party.  We got a blue cake and put an Octanaut toy on top.  We played pin the Octanaut to the Octapod and had hot dogs, sea shell mac n' cheese and decorated the table with Swedish fish and goldfish crackers and a whole bunch of Octant toys.  Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Jamie, Noah, and Hannah joined us at Popi and G-ma's house for the simple party.  I keep laughing when I remember that Elijah wanted to pray for the dinner  and after thanking God for a bunch of things, he very seriously added "And thank you for the Octanauts all over the table".  

We just love this kid who makes us smile and enjoy life every day.  It is a joy being his parents and watching him grow!