Carter At Age 4

It's been so long since I blogged that I'm trying to organize where to start.  For now I'll start with Carter turning 4 and all the things he's doing at this age.

 

This is Carter's school picture for 3k.  His teacher is Mrs. Rodgers and he LOVES school.  See Preschool section below.

The picture above is from Carter's Thanksgiving Program.  They have been doing this same program for at least 30 years because Justin did the exact same program dressed the exact same way using the exact same songs when he was in 3k.  I love that Carter has experienced exactly what his daddy did at the same school.

 

Shoe Size

At 3 years old he was 8.5 wide.  He can still wear an 8.5 wide, but sometimes he’ll even wear a 9.  I don’t know if his foot is still wide.  Sometimes they grow out of the wide foot, sometimes they don’t.  All his shoes are wide and I’ve never had him try on a non-wide shoe, so I honestly don’t know. 

Clothes

Carter had a bit of a growth spurt recently.  He’s always been short, usually wearing a size below normal for his age range.  At 2 years old he was still in 12-18 months.  At 3 he was wearing 2t and at 4 he was mainly wearing 3t, but about a month after turning 4, his jeans were all of a sudden too short.  So I went and bought him some 4t jeans and pants.  They’re a bit baggy in the waist (he’s got a small waist for his age) but overall, the 4t pants seem to fit much better than the 3t did.  I just have to make sure the adjustable waist is as tight as it can be.  Most of his shirts are 3t or 4t, depending on the brand.

Eating

Carter has opened up his horizons so much when it comes to eating.  He loves fruits and vegetables and is starting to finally eat more meats.  The only thing I wish he would eat better is pizza and hamburgers.  He refuses a hamburger still.  He’ll eat pizza, but has to be convinced and you pretty much have to hold his hand (not literally, but figuratively speaking) to get him to eat it.  I should be glad though.  Pizza and hamburgers at fast food places in particular can lead to bad eating choices later.  He would much rather have grilled chicken or ham with some green beans and yogurt.  He has started eating hot dogs finally.  And even eats sandwich meat, but still won’t eat a full sandwich because he doesn’t like bread.  I sure wish I didn’t like bread!!!  He’s eaten a peanut butter sandwich (on a tortilla though, not normal bread…because apparently there’s a difference) a few times, but it’s not his favorite.  Which I really don’t understand because he loves peanut butter with his apples, and he eats the tortillas all the time with cheese quesadillas…so I don’t really understand why he can’t eat the two together, but whatever. 

Sleep

Carter still frequently takes an afternoon nap from about 2-4ish.  He doesn’t do it everyday, but most days he does.  He usually always at least has quiet time in his room unless there’s some reason we are purposely skipping the nap routine all together.  He always goes to bed in his room every night around 7:30 or 8pm.  However, if he’s had a nap that day, he won’t fall asleep till closer to 9pm even though he goes into his room at 7:30.   On the days that he doesn’t have a nap, we start the bed time routine at 7pm instead of 7:30pm and he falls asleep MUCH faster.  He wakes up somewhere in the 7-8am range in the mornings on most days.  Every now and again he’ll wake up around 6:45am but we always tell him to just go to his closet to read books until we’re ready for him to come downstairs. 

**He had swim lessons for the first time this past summer.  He did great!  But he’s not a swimmer just yet.  He needed more practice than I was capable of giving with a baby in tow.  So we plan to put him in lessons again this summer and attempt to go to the pool more often so he can practice.**

Preschool

Carter goes to school 3 days a week at church.  His teacher this year is Mrs. Rodgers, who happens to be one of my friends as well.  Her husband is me and Justin’s Sunday School teacher.  He loves all his friends in his class and does very well at school.  He goes to Spanish class where he learned to say all the main colors in Spanish as well as counting to 10.  He plays outside on the playground and on any given day, he’ll say playing outside is his favorite part of school.  He goes to chapel one day a week and learns a Bible story and sings a song about the story.  He also does something called “Move and Groove” which is the equivalent of P.E. for us old school kids.  They ride bicycles and run a lap and play hand eye coordination games.

Statistics

Carter’s four year appointment was on January 6, 2016.  Justin took him to this appointment.  The four year appointment is a rough one because of all the shots.  I’ve heard horror stories about this appointment so I made Justin go with him.  He did a good job overall.  He cried during the shots and apparently didn’t stop until Justin pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot to get him a new car for being such a big boy during the shots.  Even now if you ask him about it he’ll tell you how much he didn’t like it and is quick to tell you that he doesn’t have to get any more shots until he’s 11. 

His blood pressure was 98/62 and his heart rate was 99.  Carter is now 35lbs (40th percentile) and is 39.5 inches tall (35th percentile).  

**He got a big boy full size bed this year too.  I was nervous he’d fall off, but we stack pillows on the sides and he has only fallen off once in his sleep.  He’s used to the bed now.**

Other Abilities/Random Things to Note

• Carter still likes to learn countries on his placemat that shows the entire world.  So far he knows where America, Russia, China, Mexico, Canada, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, India, Turkey, Greenland, Iran, Brazil, Tanzania, Israel, Georgia, Egypt, Madagascar, Iceland, Thailand, Malaysia and Australia.
• Loves cars.  Oh have mercy does he love cars. He has pretty much every single hot wheels car that exists.
• On the cars note, he loves actual cars too and can tell the difference.  He recognizes Buicks, Toyotas, BMWs, Jeeps, Chevy’s, Fords, Volkswagens, Mercedes, Lexus, you name it he knows it.  He knows pretty much ALL of the makes of cars and is beginning to memorize the models.  For example, he can look at a Buick and tell you if it’s an Enclave, Encore, Lacrosse, etc.  Same with Toyotas.  He knows the difference between a 4Runner, Camry, Avalon, etc.  He doesn’t know all of the makes of each car yet but he does know most of them.  This past year, the 4th year, was what I call "the year of the Buick". 
• He went to his very first football game this year with Justin.  He went to an Auburn football game about 2 months before he turned 4.  They made it a whole guys weekend.  They went to the game and then stayed at a hotel and then the next day went to the Georgia Aquarium and to some drive thru zoo.  I try to get them to have a guys weekend twice a year.  When Garrett’s older, I still want him to have a guys weekend with each boy individually so that they can get individual attention from Justin.
• He dresses himself for the most part, but sadly I must say that I usually dress him because it’s just so much faster.  He knows how to put on underwear and pants on his own.  He tends to need help with socks and sometimes needs help with shirts.
• He still isn’t interested in sitting down to watch movies.  I took him to see Minions in 3D for the first time but he only made it about 40 minutes.  He didn’t even get restless at all during the movie, he just looked at me and said “mommy I’m bored can we go?”.  He just doesn’t like tv or movies really.  I have no idea why.  He has recently gotten into a tv show on Nickelodeon called Blaze and the Monster Machines.  It’s actually a great show.  It’s about cars (so a win for Carter) but it teaches math and science too.  A good show to be obsessed with for sure!
• We have still yet to allow Carter to have any kind of caffeinated drink.  He’s had sprite but that’s it.  I’m honestly not sure when I will allow him to have a coke.  Probably not for another couple of years.  Not sure if you’ve met my child, but the last thing he needs is caffeine!
• We do notes every day for Carter’s lunches when he goes to school.  Every index card has a note from me or Justin and each note has a car symbol on it.  He brings these notes home and puts them in a photo album so that he can go back and look at them.  If I forget a note one day, I don’t hear the end of it.
• He remembers EVERYING.  And I mean…EVERYTHING.  We can’t promise him something and not follow through because he will totally call us out on it.  He also repeats absolutely everything he hears so if you come around my child and curse, be prepared to see the bad side of this momma!!  **I actually wrote this bullet point in his 3 year post but I’m leaving it here because it is STILL true**
• Carter is a boy, and with being a boy comes typical boy things.  Like potty words.  He thinks saying “poo poo” and “pee pee” are funny.  We get on to him about this all the time.  He has gotten significantly better, but boys will be boys as they say.
• He rides his bike with his helmet very well now.  We need to buy him some elbow and knee pads to ride but we just haven’t yet.  Being outside is still his favorite.  He adores doing any and everything outside!
• Loves to read!  He is capable of reading so much.  I have no idea how he knows some of the words he knows, but he has a beginning reader's set of books (12 books per box and we have 3 boxes).  He knows almost every single word in them and can read the books on his own.  This is very advanced for his age.
• He has seven trillion stuffed animals on his bed.  It's ridiculous!!!