Harding at 4 Years

Favorite foods: pizza, pancakes, anything with peanut butter, chicken nuggets, chicken noodle soup, apples, bananas, dessert

Current Favorite Books: A book of fairy tales he got for his birthday, an illustrated copy of the Hobbit that he got for Christmas, the kids Bible he borrowed from the church library. He is an expert at getting his parents to read him "one more story" before bed and nap. If we want him to go to sleep on time, we have to start the bedtime routine an hour before to incorporate all the reading.

Interests: Ellie (his huge stuffed elephant that he takes almost everywhere), trains, superheros, Toy Story stuff, reading books, singing and dancing, watching t.v. (when he can talk us into letting him), wearing costumes, riding his bike, sledding, hanging out with his friend Derek, and going to his grandparents houses.

Things that make him nervous: loud noises like vacuum cleaners and blenders.

Wants to be at teacher when he grows up (as of last week).

Harding has always had a huge vocabulary and is a listener and a thinker. Trip and I have to be incredibly careful what we say around him, because he often pipes in and asks us about our conversations. He will also shock us with deep, existential questions about death or the meaning of life from time to time. If we tell him to do anything, he wants to know "why"? He often plays independently and has a huge imagination. But he still wants help from us with things like getting dressed. He still will not get out of bed on his own and lies there looking at books or playing with his stuffed animals until we come upstairs to get him in the morning. This comes in handy on weekends when we want to sleep late. Harding is the best big brother that Shelby could ask for. He accompanies her to countless doctor appointments and therapy sessions, tells us if she is doing something she's not supposed to be doing (like chewing a cord or crawling into another room), and announces to us that Shelby is hungry or needs a new diaper or doesn't like the food we are feeding her.

My cautious boy is growing up fast. He has gotten much taller, but hasn't gained any weight so he seems skinny. He has definitely lost all of his toddler pudge. I teared up last week when he walked over to our next door neighbor's house by himself to get a toy he had left there. He asked Trip and I yesterday where he would live when he grew up. We answered truthfully, "I hope not too far away". Harding, you truly are a blessing to us. How did we get so lucky?