Four Years Old

The Zekester is FOUR!  He starts Kindergarten in a year.  Yikes.  And super exciting.  Everytime I see a newborn I am amazed at how tiny they are, and each time it is like I have completely and utterly forgotten that my own kids were ever that little.  But they were (see proof)

 

But it is crazy how hard it is to really really remember it.  So I know I will never perfectly remember Zeke at age four  because I will  be too busy loving Zeke at age 7 or 13 or 18.  But I want to remember as best as I can.

 

Zeke absolutely amazes us with how sweet he is.  He seems to be an anomoly of a kid, because he is just super nice.  Oh he is a kid alright, and he will get grumpy or take toys occasionally, or all those things kids (and adults) do.  But on the whole, he is almost outrageously considerate.  If he is getting a drink he gets one for Ashlynn. If he is reading a book he offers one for Ashlynn.  If Ashlynn is sad he runs off in search of Quack-Quack or her blankie, without even anybody asking and he loads her up on hugs.  He does the same for Trustin and I and any friends that are around.  I am struggling to put his sweetness into words, but Trustin and I are constantly impressed by this amazing kid and the way he thinks of others.

Speaking of his sweetness and his uncanny ability to melt his mom's heart: Last week Trustin and Zeke were looking at a picture of Trustin and I on our wedding day.  They talked about that day and how I was wearing a poofy dress and then Trustin said "Mommy sure looked beautiful that day, huh?" Zeke responded frankly, "Well yeah, always!"  Thanks Zeke!

Zeke's current major interest has shifted slightly from superheroes (only slightly, mind you) to RescueBots.  He loves to pretend to be the little boy Cody and have Ashlynn and I choose a character while Trustin is typically Megatron or Daddytron.  While much of the time this game entails defeating villains and running around, playing Rescuebots often means that while in character we pretend to ride bumper cars (and Zeke always says "Everybody keeps crashing into be because my car is every color they like") eat cotton candy and also make pretend chocolate chip cookies.  None of these activities are on the show, yet somehow they have become typical RescueBot activities.

Zeke and his cousin Zach really wanted to be on a soccer team together and Monday was his first game.  There is nothing quite like a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds running around in confusion kicking the ball in whichever direction they happen to be running or stopping to make silly faces with each other as the game goes on around them. 

Zeke and Zach were quite dependent on each other during the game and as the ball would move down the field and the coach would holler out for them to run Zeke would ignore his coach until he could be sure Zachy was running too, and the reverse was equally true.  For the first half Zeke wouldn't kick the ball, and would just stare at it when it landed in front of him until somebody else came to kick it.  But by the end he had kicked it several times (usually with hesitancy and confusion, but followed up by high fives).  We can't wait to see the rest of the season!

Zeke enjoys being a little prankster too.  Most of his pranks are prefaced with "Mommy, don't turn around" or "Mommy, don't look over here," accompanied by a outrageously proud grin, and finished off with me squirted or stickered or otherwise attacked.

Bedtime with Zeke has become a really special time lately.  We are making an effort not to hurry through it and get to our breather time and instead are enjoying it as the perfect time to just be one on one with the kids.  We have had a lot of special chats and silly moments that we probably would have missed out on otherwise.  Zeke of course makes no effort to hurry through bedtime either and is happy to talk about anything he can think of.  He also milks me for every bedtime song he can get out of me.  A favorite tradition at bedtime is that after books, Zeke and whoever's night it was to read to him hide and then call out for the other parent to come and find them.  My personal favorite hiding spot is when Zeke sits on his bookshelf where his lamp belongs underneath a blanket and with the lampshade on his head.  Quite the disguise. 

I've done terrible about writing down the silly things he says or the funny games he comes up with, but I am so glad I get to be a part of them and have that sweet silly guy lighting up my life everyday.  Between him and Ashlynn and my marriage to the world's most incredible, and perfect-for-me man, I am one lucky lady.