My Little Middle is FOUR!

Noah may still be tiny, but he's quite the grown up little guy now. We celebrated his fourth birthday this year with (THREE!) dinosaur-themed parties (more about those soon!) for friends and family, and on the 14th, he officially turned 4! Yes, I'm a few weeks behind here. Busy month!

The day after his birthday, I took Noah to his new pediatrician for his 4-year well-check. Everything went great and he appears to be right on track with his peers. He weighed in at 33.2 pounds (up 4.2 pounds from his 3-year check), and measured up at 40 1/4 inches (up 1.5 inches from his 3-year check). This puts him right at the 50th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight. Looking at both figures, he's now up to the 10th percentile for height-to-weight ratio, with a BMI of 14.37! He also had to get his last round of vaccinations before starting kindergarten next year. So, he received the DTap, polio, MMR and chicken pox vaccines at the visit. Just a few tears escaped before snuggles with Mommy made it all better. Hearing check went well and vision is checking out at 20/40 right now. I'm hoping that doesn't mean glasses in a couple years, but my guess is along with inheriting my baby blues, he also inherited my horrible vision. :/

Noah still sleeps around 10-11 hours a night and normally takes a nap, anywhere from 1 to 2.5 hours, in the afternoon. He still shares a room with big brother, Ethan, and it works well, as they enjoy talking and laughing in their beds for hours some nights. They now go to bed by 7:30 or 8 pm during the school year, with Ethan's early school schedule (the bus comes just after 7 am!). Wake-up time is at 6:45 am on school days. For the summer, they are going to bed between 9 and 10 pm and sleeping until 8 am normally. It's a nice break from the routine. :)

Noah has a pretty good appetite and is usually willing to at least sample most foods. He'd still live on pasta and dessert alone, if we'd let him. He is a chocolate boy and normally picks that over vanilla!

Highlights of the past year:

• Potty trained!!!!
• Successfully made the move to a new preschool & easily made new friends
• Completed his second year of preschool
• Learning to swim without his Puddlejumpers
• Took his first cruise
• Counting to 30+
• Knows the letters of the alphabet and colors

It's so fun watching the boys grow and their personalities develop. Noah is quite the jokester and as most 4-year-old boys do, he loves potty humor. Why are farts so hilarious?? He still sounds years older than he is when he talks most of the time. It's amazing some of the phrases that come out of that boy! He can be a bit moody as well though. No idea where he would get that from! ;) We'll be sure to remind him many years from now how his legs would often "break," and he couldn't move when we asked him to. Sigh. Hopefully he'll grow out of that one soon. He's still an amazing little cuddler, and of the three boys, he's definitely the most attached to his Mama. :) He always has "just one more hug and kiss" for me, and I can't say that I mind that one bit!!

We sure love our sweet, fun, little middle.

Like I did last year on his birthday, I asked Noah some questions that I'm going to ask every year now, to see how his responses change over the years. Here they are:

1. What is your favorite color? green
2. What is your favorite toy? little Legos
3. What is your favorite fruit? strawberries
4. What is your favorite tv show/movie? Dinosaur Train & Super Heroes
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? peanut butter and strawberry jam
6. What is your favorite outfit? my dinosaur shirt
7. What is your favorite game? Dino Meal & Candyland
8. What is your favorite snack? bunny crackers & pretzels
9. What is your favorite animal? a cheetah
10. What is your favorite song? Dynamite by Taio Cruz
11. What is your favorite book? Balto
12. Who is your best friend? Austin
13. What is your favorite cereal? Frosted Mini Wheats
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play on the playground & in the pool
15. What is your favorite drink? apple juice
16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? fire dog
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? oatmeal & pancakes
19. What is your favorite dinner? mac 'n cheese
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? an "army," or an engineer

Happy 4th birthday, Noah. We love you!