4 years, 1 month

At 4 years, 1 month you...

Can open doors--both lever and round knobs.

Are good at asserting your opinion, even without any words or signs--"I don't want to go to bed now," "I want to wear blue jeans and not shorts," or "I want daddy to walk with me around the coffee table...for the next 30 minutes."

Appreciate the difference between "big" and "small"...you will find two items that are very similar except for one is big and one is small and carry them all over the house with you. Yesterday it was my big heart and little Fleur-de-leis paper punches; today it was your big and tiny porcupine balls.

Know that the food/milk we feed you through your g-tube is "supposed" to get to your tummy by a different route. You eagerly wait for daddy or mommy to fill the vent tube with food and then dip your hand in so you can lick a taste from your fingers.

Have mastered the punching balloon. You've been working on swinging the balloon around by the rubber band for a couple weeks now, but as of today can make a steady sequence of punches.

Can climb up onto the kitchen table, stand up, and walk around in circles on the table top before mom or dad is hardly aware you've made a break for the kitchen.

Can take off your diaper, can pull on pants or put arms in shirt sleeves with assistance. Attempts to brush your teeth by yourself. Futile attempts to avoid bathing when daddy signs "bath time" include running the opposite direction, becoming a human noodle, stiffening body so it's difficult to maneuver you through the doorway, grabbing onto the bathroom door jam for dear life.

"Drink" small dribbles of water from a sippy cup.

Will clear all the baskets of toys from the second shelf of you cupboard, lay down on the shelf, and close the doors on yourself. This maneuver required daddy to anchor the bookcases to the wall.

Get up on your spring horse without any help, grab on, and start bouncing away.

Like to walk between daddy and mommy--daddy on the left, mommy on the right. If we are on the "wrong" side, you will stop walking and make us switch!

Know the "usual" place for things. You will try to close the baby gates behind you, close doors, put things back in the refrigerator, will pull the tabs off aluminum cans (guess you've seen us do that a few times).


* I "blog-lifted" the idea for this post from our friends Catherine and Reuben--we love your blog!