nathaniel at 4 years

Our sweet Nathaniel Thomas is four years old. He is moving into big boy territory, which is scary and exciting. We have loved watching him grow up into his sweet, strong willed, independent self. He has grown, matured, and become so much more of the person that God has made him this past year. He is our spark, little ball of energy, snuggler, charmer, and a joy to have as our son. 

natty

Appearance
Here is a view of Nathaniel each month for the past year.

3 years, 1 month

3 years, 2 months

3 years, 3 months

3 years, 4 months

3 years, 5 months

3 years, 6 months

3 years, 7 months

3 years, 8 months

3 years, 9 months

3 years, 10 months

3 years, 11 months

4 years

The differences each month have begun to slow down. His face is continuing to thin out and he has grown like a weed. He still has his smooth pale skin, heart shaped lips, and blue eyes framed by impossibly long brown lashes. His frame is strong and lean with muscular limbs. He has pretty impressive abs for a little guy. It makes dad a little jealous. He still has his cute little vampire teeth on the top and bottom. He is starting to get freckles (or as he used to call them, peckles). He has one on his hip, a few on his arms, and one on his right cheek. 

Monthly Highlights
Here are some of the highlights from each month. I probably missed some because if I don't have pictures for it, I can't remember it. It's basically like it didn't even happen.

June - Hiking in Hocking Hills, Farm themed birthday party with family and friends, Vacation Bible School, COSI Touch a Truck, and going to different Metro Parks programs.

July - First 4th of July Parade, Zoo Adventure Camp, Traveling to Iowa for Ms. Kaycee's funeral, Touch a Truck in Westerville, Celebrating Edmund's birthday.

August - Vacation to Minnesota, Traveling to Duluth, St. Paul Children's Museum, Farm Days at COSI, First day of preschool.

September - Peach Picking, Neighborhood block party, Apple picking with friends.

October - Preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch, Apple Picking, Weekend hiking at Mohican State Park, Trick or Treating as a farmer, Noah's Ark Party at preschool, Hayrides at Freeman's Farm.

November - Celebrated Clara's First Birthday with family, Traveling to Indiana for Thanksgiving, Getting our family Christmas tree.

December - Driving through the Fantasy of Lights, Columbus Zoo Lights, Baking Christmas Cookies, Decorating the ginger bread house, Creating a racecar at Snowflake Castle, Traveling to Minnesota, Rides at Mall of America, Sledding, and Christmas in Indiana.

January - Relaxing at home, Playing in the snow, Bought his first pet (3 black mollys).

February - Learned how to swing by himself, Thrilling Thursdays at preschool (for dressing up), Valentine's Day party at preschool.

March - Spring break trips to COSI, Zoo, Costco, and Library Time, that's really about it.

April - Start of baseball, Celebrating Easter, Dyeing eggs, Easter party at preschool, Easter egg hunt at church, Ryan and Christine's Wedding, Trip to Virginia, Hiking in Shenandoah, Got to be the ring berer, Visting the ocean, AWANA graduation.

May - Spring concert for preschool (he sang under the sea from the little mermaid), End of baseball, Preschool Graduation.

Personality

Nathaniel is our high energy child. His a big ball of excitement and is always moving. He is strong and extremely capable for his age. He is also tall, so he is often mistaken for older than he actually is. His body and personality were made to move. He loves to climb everything, especially trees. He has an attitude of wanting to try to do everything himself, except for when he's tired. Then, he wants you to do everything for him. This mostly plays out with eating and he wants mom to help him eat the rest of his supper, which means mom has to put it on the fork for him. Some days she does it, some days she doesn't. They say consistency is key in parenting, but some days certain mountains are not ones we are willing to die on.

Nathaniel is extremely social when he is comfortable, but in new situations he still hides behind mom's legs. He even does this to his preschool teachers when we see them dropping off Edmund at school on the days that Nathaniel doesn't have school. Nathaniel's soul is always singing and you can often find him singing songs to himself in his sweet little voice. Mom is going to be so sad when his voice gets deep, because she loves how high it is. Even if he doesn't know the words, he quietly tries to sing along. His favorite song he likes to try to sing is Adele's Send My Love. He luckily doesn't understand most of the words, or what she is singing about. He loves to be where people are and prefers to play with others than by himself. He is always following his brother and Clara around and playing with him. He looks up to Edmund and they are currently best friends. (And let's be honest, they can fight like crazy.) They always play with each other at recess and miss each other when the other is gone.

Nathaniel is a helper. God created him to want to walk beside others and join them in their tasks. He comes by it naturally, since his mother is the same way and so is his big brother. Some of the things he likes to help with are cleaning his toys, getting the mail, watering plants, cooking dinner, making granola for breakfast, getting groceries at the store, putting the laundry in the washer and dryer, dusting, and helping Clara. He doesn't like when others get to help and he doesn't get too. He also doesn't like sweeping the kitchen floor, which he has to do every other day after lunch. 

Nathaniel is persistent. This will be a wonderful trait that will help him in the future, but makes it difficult to discipline at times. He can be very inflexible. It takes a lot of work and talking through things to get him to settle down once he has worked himself up into an angry mess. He ends up sounding like a broken record, repeating what he is frustrated about over and over again. (Ex. When a treat is taken away as a consequence he will say "I want candy" for what seems to be forever.) We are working on trying to figure out what coping mechanisms can work best and always emphasizing that he use his words. Often he just needs to be heard and have someone hold him. He tries hard at almost everything he does. This trait has also caused him to have a wonderful independent streak. Even his preschool teachers have commented on how he does almost everything himself and doesn't require help like many of the other kids. They have also commented on how creative he is. This could be a product of him, or a product of having an older brother to watch.

Nathaniel is a child of physical touch. He loves snuggling, although he often can't sit still long enough to cuddle for too long. If he is sad or hurt, he always wants someone to hold him. He loves having his parents pick him up and can often be found snuggling next to mom on the couch asking her to rub his back.

Loves

Here are things that Nathaniel loves at four:

Songs - Sing a Rainbow, I See The Moon, anything by Coldplay, anything by Adele

Food - Strawberries, Raspberries, Bread, Cheese, Pasta, Olives, Bacon, and Popsicles
Shows - Blues Clues and Daniel Tiger
Books - The Bible, Pat The Bunny, Sweet Smell of Christmas, Berenstain Bears
Toys - Baseball, Any musical instrument, Tractors, Water Table, Rocks, Seashells, Balance Bike, Blocks, Magnatiles, Trains
Cooking - Stirring pancakes, Making salad dressing, Baking granola, Measuring and stirring anything as long as mom will let him leak the beater
Activities - Playing outside, Going on walks, Playing at the Park, Climbing trees, Having play dates with friends, Drawing, Riding his balance bike, Snuggling in soft blankets, Reading books, Playing with clay
Sayings - What you say again?, I do it myself, Go away Edmund/Clara., I love my mom., Yeah I do that!

Other Likes - Eating cookie dough, Playing on the screen porch, Collecting things (rocks, seashells, wrappers, beads, pine cones, pretty much anything), Holding his umbrella in the rain, Hitting things with sticks, Watering plants, Snuggling with mom

Dislikes

Here are things that Nathaniel is not a fan of at four:

Flying insects (especially bees), Loud noises, and Being excluded from anything. Still the same as last year.

Other fun things:

Nathaniel knows all of his letters.

Nathaniel can swing by himself.

Nathaniel has mastered the balance bike.

Nathaniel can climb up almost anything.

Nathaniel is fearless when swimming and will jump off of any diving board into the water.

Nathaniel is starting to say his "r"s which makes us all a little sad.
Nathaniel got a disc launcher for completing his chore sheet at preschool and he calls it his chore chart because he thought it was the name of it.
Nathaniel wants to be strong and likes to "work out" with mom and dad when they are exercising, and often announces that different things he is doing is exercising - riding his bike, swinging, climbing trees, playing baseball, etc.

This has been an incredible year of growth for Nathaniel. We love seeing how God formed him as his own unique personality. We pray for the wisdom to raise him in a way that brings Him glory. We pray that God would help us to teach him, guide him, lead him when he wanders, love him, and set an example for him. We pray that God will give us patience because we are going to need it with his wonderful strong will. It will not be an easy road, but what a sweet road it will be.

Happy 4th birthday to our sweet Nathaniel Thomas. We love you to the moon and back.

Love, Mom & Dad

In case you wanted to see prior updates, here they are.
Nathaniel at - One Year
Nathaniel at - Two Years
Nathaniel at - Two Years & 4 months
Nathaniel at - Two Years & 8 months

Nathaniel at - 3 years