I have a KID!

Owen turned 4 this week. F-O-U-R! I'm realizing that I have a KID. When other people see Owen running around, they don't see a toddler, or even a little boy... they see a kid. And rightfully so. He's a little person with wonderful thoughts and ideas. A silly, imaginative, exploring, energetic, passionate boy.
He can accomplish pretty much anything he puts his mind to. It's wonderful that he can now get himself dressed, make choices about his snacks, help in the kitchen, buckle himself into his car seat, gather his gear when we need to leave the house, etc. On the other hand, all those skills can sometimes be deceiving, and I often need to remind myself: "He's only 3 (now 4)" and give him some slack when he's taking forever to get a job done.

Owen is a thinker. He is always considering how things work and asking endless questions about this world of ours. As most kids this age, he is all about the exploration and figuring out how things works.
Owen is still not a big kid. He's continuing to gain (some) height, but probably just 32 pounds. It's not uncommon for his friends to outweigh him by 10 pounds. But Owen makes up for his size and takes advantage of a solid muscle/weight ratio to accomplish big things with that small body. Climbing fences, scaling boulders, leaping from platforms taller than his head, and of course, riding that bike.

Owen still has those funny kid words, like "Bref-kist" for the first meal of the day. And he uses the phrase, "Do I" or "Am I" instead of the negative. As in, "I'm a good jumper, am I?" and "I have Blue eyes, do I?" He recently lost the lisp out of "wif."

Other funnies from 4-year old Owen:

Scott: Owen, you're the strongest kid I know.
Owen: I know! That's because I get it from you. I squeeze the strong out of you and and it goes in me.

We had a long conversation the other day about the difference between "Blond" and "Bald." We were brainstorming everyone we know that is blond: Owen, Piper, Josh (but he used to be bald), Calla, Mom (but a little bit not), etc. "Do we know anybody that's bald?" Owen replies in earnest, "Yes. Kevin."

For all the running and activity, Owen is a media kid. He would watch TV or play with the iPad all day long if we didn't have screen time limits. He's not very picky about the content - the other day, he was intently watching a Rick Steves documentary about hidden restaurants in Europe.
Owen's totally potty trained and recently started staying dry overnight. Owen no longer naps at home (sigh), but still takes a short nap at school.

Owen can recognize and write all his letters and loves to write his name. He's left handed, and until recently, I thought he was always writing his name upside down. Turns out, he's just writing it from right to left, so he can see the letters as he goes. N E W O

Owen retains his sensitive nature (and a 4-year old tendency to swing between happy and frustrated tantrum at the drop of a hat). We need to be pretty careful about what he's watching on TV or the books we read, as he doesn't like to see characters in distress. I hope he keeps that empathy... and starts applying it to real people, like Josh!

Loves at Age 4:
The Color Orange
Tank Tops
Crocs (orange ones)
Television/media
Cars
Pirates
Knights
Sports - particularly baseball and anything Huskies
Imaginative Play
Board Games
Biking
Family and Friends!

Happy Birthday Kiddo!