J is 4!

Year 4 with our J and the baby years are definitely behind us. Here are highlights of our past year with J.

• It took nearly 3 months, but we finally said goodbye to diapers.
• He's a happy lad, often singing and dancing. I love hearing him make up his own songs. He usually sings about his favorite tv shows or his toys.
• J's favorite tv shows are Jake and the Neverland Pirates, The Wiggles, Super Why, Super Hero Squad. His favorite non-kid shows are the Voice and Glee.
• J's a boy's boy. He loves playing with the typical boy toys - cars, trains, pirates, monsters, robots and super heroes. 
• There were two girls that he fancied this year. His first "girlfriend" was Rachel. He told us that when they get married we can't have pork because Rachel is "allergic to pork." He also said that he liked Rachel because she was "troublesome". A couple months later, J said that his new girlfriend was Kaylee. When we asked what happened with Rachel, he told us Rachel was not his girlfriend anymore because she hit him and he liked Kaylee because she was cute. Also, he plans to marry Kaylee when he is all growed up. One morning, he was very upset, saying, "I just don't know what to do about my wedding."
• He is convinced that he knows everything. 
• Every morning, on his way to school, T and J drive pass a school crossing guard. They roll down the window and J yells, "Hi have a nice day!"
• He loves having visitors. He is much more social than either of us and he is actually helping us expand our social network as we get to know other parents of his school friends. Early in the year, we invited some of his friends and their parents over for a couple hours of playtime. I think there were six of his friends that came. J was so happy to have his friends over to his house and he loves being the host.
• He enjoys welcoming anyone to the house. When we hired someone to do some painting, J tried to tell the painter, "if you want a treat, we can get it from the kitchen." Another time, one of T's work colleagues stopped at our house very briefly. When J saw him, he said to me, "everyone loves to come and play at my house." J tried to impress this man by repeatedly running into the sofa head first. It looked really strange. This man was at our house for less than 30 minutes and J cried when he left, saying he didn't want him to go.
• J is very good at playing independently. He has been very patient with us as we don't always find enough time to play with him. Sometimes, he will ask us, "who's going to play with me?" or "who's going to take care of me?" We always feel so bad about not giving him enough attention when he says these things.