Beckett: 4 years old

Beckett is 4!!

I can't believe it. I think this has been the most fun birthday yet. He actually understands what we are celebrating, he was anticipating his birthday dinner, he was so excited for presents :)

It amazes me to think of how much he has grown up in the past year. He is obviously taller- from 3T to 5T. Beckett can carry on a conversation and he is getting a hang of being patient. He loves to tell us how he is feeling (sad, happy, mad, etc.) and it is funny to me how he uses his feelings to persuade us. "Mamma, I'm sad. Can I have a Sprite?"

I call him my silly boy and he is! He loves to make us all laugh- especially Ryan. He is so sweet to his sister (most of the time) and he loves to play with her.  He will give her a toy and tell me that they are going to play for a while.  They play tag in the house and fall into pillow piles. I cannot express the amount of joy it brings me to see them have so much fun together.

Beckett is still very much into dinosaurs! We had a brief Toy Story moment, but now we are back to nothing but dinos. He has put a twist on the obsession, he now loves legos- dino legos. He has received several sets for his birthday and it is difficult to pull him away from them to do anything.

When he plays, he now uses voices and talks for the characters. I love seeing his imagination and if I could capture every moment I would. It fascinates us to see how he interprets things and translates things into "his world".  He loves to watch YouTube videos of dinosaurs and I can hear him use some of the dialogue when he plays.

Beckett is still a picky eater. Almost too picky. He is still growing but we know we have a few things to work out. Right now his favorite food is PB&J and his favorite snack is Goldfish. He loves to help me bake things. He loves to dump ingredients into the mixer and when we make pancakes he loves to use the whisk. I love his company in the kitchen!

One of my favorite things about this "stage" is that he completely has his own rationalization for everything. He loves to tell us "Maybe later." and "Not right now, okay." or "I just want to...". He will even try to talk his way into a later bed time- "I'm just going to sit and watch TV with daddy, ok?".  It has been so interesting and fun to see how his little mind processes information and how he understands and communicates.

With this, of course, also comes his independent thinking and sometimes frustration because we don't quite see things his way :-) One thing I can rely on is his ability to bounce back after a fit. I know that after he vents his frustration he will calm down and be so sweet again. This was hard for me at first because I wanted him to just "turn it off"- 3 minutes of time out and the fit should be done. I quickly learned that my patience with his fit paid off big in the long run. He now has time out in his room so he can truly be removed from the situation and he knows that as soon as he is ready, he can come out and play again.

I really feel like Beckett and Kenny have similar personalities. They may see it differently, I don't know. But I absolutely love this and I love to see how they interact. Beckett loves to play with Kenny and he loves to go do things with him.  Recently, Kenny has started taking B with him to play golf and B gets so excited to go! It makes me so happy to see the father son love!!

Beckett also has an amazing memory. He will bring up the most random things that I have long forgotten.  If you tell him your favorite color- he will remember! This is another trait he get's from his dad, my memory is not nearly as good. :-)

My favorite thing about Beckett right now is how much he shows affection. He loves hugs and tells us he loves us. Every night I tuck him in and he always asks me if I'll snuggle- how can you say no? His sweet little voice melts my heart!

I cannot say enough that we love Beckett! He is a joy to us and we are so grateful he is our son!!