Lincoln is FOUR!!

Lincoln, yesterday you turned four years old. I can't believe that you were once this little...

My, how you have grown!

You are a special, special boy.

I haven't posted all about you in a while, so I'm going to try to catch up a little. Here are some things I want to remember about you from the last little while:

**You have really slimmed up lately. You are getting so tall. Some days, you eat great and other days you are so picky and complain about what is on the table. Some days you are so sweet and will say, "Mom, this is good. Thanks." You are still a very messy eater. You love sweets and ask me for candy all the time. This may have attributed to your four cavities recently filled! Yeah, not good.

**Right now you are in size 4T clothes and wear a size 11 shoe, I think. You have the longest, skinniest feet--just like me. You still LOVE to wear boots--all the time. You have 3 pair.

**You have more energy than you know what to do with. Oh my word, the energy you have. I am still trying to figure out how to deal with it. I think we will put you in soccer this spring. Maybe it will help!

**You can dress yourself completely--except for buttoning your pants/jeans. However, getting you to get dressed is a huge struggle! Also, you often put your shoes on the wrong feet and occasionally, I'll notice when I'm dropping you off at school, that you have your shirt on backwards! You like to do your own hair too. Oh me.

**You still sit down to go potty. I have not been able to get you to stand up. We will be working on this soon!!

**You are SO loud when you play. I have finally realized that this is just YOU. So, different from Hannah. You love to role play with your animal figurines. You really like to play with your little horses and just recently your Toy Story army men. I will hear you saying "Hey Dad..." and then talking about a "son..." when you are playing with these little figurines. Cracks me up. You like to play with cars and blocks too. You have really enjoyed your new Leapster Explorer and love to play games on my phone.

**You love to be read to and, most of the time, listen very well. You are very interested in words that rhyme right now and are constantly asking me if 2 words rhyme. You are starting to get it! You can recognize most of your ABC's and know some of their sounds.

**You like to draw, cut, and color. You can draw people with a face and sticks for legs and arms. You draw some interesting things. You like to color and work hard at it.

**You still love to watch tv. You love movies. You like to watch Spiderman cartoons that we have found on Netflicks. You also like Scooby Doo and Dora.

**You still nap for me most days. I kind of have to force this sometimes. If I don't, I totally regret it later in the day. You just start to fall apart and the evenings are tough. If you don't take a nap, I make you have quiet time either in your room or in the playroom depending on Layton's nap.

**You have been whining quite a bit lately, over everything. I have heard 4 can be a whiny age. We have got to work on this. I don't know if there is some jealousy going on and you think you need to get my attention or what. You like to take toys away from Layton sometimes because "YOU want to play with them". Another common saying of yours lately is "But I want to do what I want to do." Ugh!

**Your best buddy is still Jack. You guys LOVE to play with each other. You are the sweetest little friends. Jack is talked about a lot by you.

**You and Hannah can be the best of friends one minute and about to kill each other the next. Such is that brother/sister relationship I guess. I love how you call her "Han". I think you have really missed her since she started school. It was quite the adjustment for you to not be able to play with her all day every day. You would ask me where she was every day for a while after she started school. Sometimes you try a little too hard to get her attention when she gets home.

**I have been concerned about your speech for a while now and recently had you tested. You didn't qualify for their free service. I was told that you were "quite bright" and that they thought your speech issues would probably work themselves out. I am not really sure about this (that it will work itself out, not the bright part. I know you are bright! :-) You are not plain with some of your sounds. So, we will probably retest you some time next year and go from there. I am going to talk to the doctor next week at your 4 year check up and see what he thinks.

**A while back I talked to the doctor about your going to the bathroom all the time. You were constantly going pee pee. I was afraid you might have diabetes. So, we had you tested. Everytihng came back fine and we were so relieved. The doctor did think that where your pee pee comes out may be extra small and need to be stretched. He is sending us to a urologist at Childrens. Of course, it takes forever to get in there and the appointment is not until May. Since then, things have gotten considerably better. I want to go ahead and keep the appointment and see what the doctor thinks, but I don't think there is a problem any more. Maybe you were still adjusting to being potty trained??

**You say the BEST prayers and you are so cute when you say them. You make this smacking sound between each thing that you say. It is adorable. You like to pray for each member of our family, for our food, for rainbows, sometimes you say for Jesus dying on the cross (all on your own), for your bunk beds, etc. Kris and I just look at each other and smile when we hear you pray.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something that I really want to remember. You are still very much a mess and keep us on our toes--constantly. However, you bring us so much joy, Lincoln, and we love you so much!!!

I took Spiderman cupcakes to your class yesterday. You are really into Spiderman right now.

Last night at home, you opened one present from us. New Batman pjs (They didn't have Spiderman.). You liked them.

You also opened one from Uncle Kurt and Aunt Alexis. A new tool set. We are planning to have a family party next weekend with my family. I think we may try out PlayTime Pizza.

Happy 4th Birthday Linc!! We love you!!