Alec: 4 Years Old

Alec turned four in February, and has changed from a chubby-cheeked toddler to a full-fledged boy. He officially gave up his nap after Christmas and retires much earlier in the evening now. No more pleading with him at 10pm to PLEASE go to sleep! He is out cold by 7:30pm every night. While we miss his sweet cheeks and toddler-ness, we are really enjoying seeing his personality continue to emerge. He is such an extroverted, inquisitive, persistent, mischievous, and sweet boy.

I (Lindsay) have obviously not been terrific at keeping up this blog. I get overwhelmed at the prospect of creating a post that covers everything that I want to say. I read my friends' blogs and wish I had the motivation to keep up as often, and with as much creativity as they have (especially Natalie!). I thought I might just not put so much pressure on myself, and "borrow" a format that others have used: lists. If I can just list things about Alec, and elaborate on some then that's a start, right? It seems a lot less daunting to just jot down a list, since I am a list-maker at heart anyways. So here it goes:

Things Alec Loves

Worms: Digging for worms and finding bugs is one of his favorite outside activities. He gets his hoe out and heaves it over his head and hoes the dirt until he finds worms. The worms get put in buckets, bins, anything Alec can find. He likes to create "homes" for them with grass, rocks, sticks and anything else he thinks will make them happy. We have about 7 different containers around the yard and in the house with various worms in them. We also found an inchworm, and we are waiting for him to make his cocoon and come out a gypsy moth. Alec has become somewhat impatient with that process, though. :)

Outdoors: He is fidgety and restless inside, but perfectly content being outdoors. This is why Nature Kids is the perfect preschool for him. At least an hour of hiking/exploring every time he has class-what could be better? He also adores helping Rob with projects in the yard, and climbing anything that can be climbed.

Biking: His favorite outdoor activity. He has been a fantastic bike rider since he was two, and is a very fearless rider. Rob was a competitive BMX rider, so I see where he gets the genes. We just got him a new 16" bike that he loves. He thinks it's very cool to have a big boy bike with a hand brake. Those training wheels will probably come off late in the summer, after our annual trip to Bend.

Being Persistent and Curious: We are going on 2+ years of "why????" and "why not???". If he doesn't like the answer to something, he will keep prodding. If he really wants something, he will find creative solutions that come out into his favor. At the zoo today, our friend Claudia bought their son Joshua a dinosaur grabber that Alec loved. I already bought Alec some dinosaur goodies a few days ago at the zoo, and explained to him that we wouldn't be buying anything more today. He talked about the grabber the entire two hours we were at the zoo, continually asked me if he could have one, suggested that we buy one next time we are at the zoo, hit up Claudia to see if he could have it if Joshua didn't like it, said that Joshua didn't seem interested in it so we should just take it home, etc. etc. I am sure tonight when I put him to bed, he will mention it again. Not only is he persistent, but he has an amazing memory!

Boxes/Bins: Unlike Rob and I, he is a pack rat and loves to store things in any kind of receptacle he can. He pilfers through the trash sometimes and "saves" things we have thrown away. He now knows that we toss things out relentlessly, and he is learning to tell us (particularly Rob) that certain things are NOT to be thrown away.

Curious George, Thomas the Train, Bob the Builder: (still happy to watch harmless preschool shows-yay!)

Yogurt: thinks it's better than candy
Salmon: He won't eat veggies, so yay that he at least likes salmon!
Rock Music: "Loud rock!" He loves to break dance to it.
Audiobooks: He would listen to them all the time if he could. We pick up new ones at the library every week to keep in the car, and they especially come in handy on road trips.

Getting haircuts: He loves having his hair touched, and it is one of the only times I can count on him sitting STILL. He practically goes into a trance, until he gets his sugar high from the lollipop after. :)

Animals: We visit the zoo almost every week, and he has quite the collection of stuffed animals. Lots of questions about animals all the time: "Do clams have testicles?", "How do worms poop?", "Do turtles have teeth?" "Why do scorpions look so much like lobsters?" His special real animal friends are our friendly cat, Tikka and his grandparents' dog Izzy. He'd really like to get a dog, but we suggested a fish instead.

Wrapping "Gifts": Alec likes using paper and tape...A LOT. He wraps up little "gifts" (could be a broken crayon, an old toy he is willing to part with, or just balled up paper) for his friends and family, and wraps paper around them. He embellishes these gifts with lots of taped on stickers and fluttery ribbons. See picture below - that particular gift was a crayon going to his friend Joshua Fatzinger. :)

Anything RED
Things Alec Does NOT Love
Veggies
When questions aren't answered to his satisfaction
Being interrupted
Being alone
Going to sleep by himself

I also copied Krista Kennedy's "questionnaire" from her blog, and asked Alec a series of questions today. Here are his answers:

Favorite fruit: orange, apple and banana
Favorite animal: baby chicks, big chickens, bears, foxes, monkeys
Favorite person: Dad and Mama, and Garrett
Favorite restaurant: Chinooks
Favorite place: camping
Favorite smell: flowers
Favorite thing to do outside: biking

Some random pictures from the last few months:

Climbing at the penguin exhibit at the zoo