Jackson at 4 Years

Weight: 35 lbs
Height: 40"
Size: 4T, 10/11 size shoes
Favorite TV show: Curious George
Favorite books: Curious George books
Other favorite things: Batman and Spiderman (he informed me he doesn't like any Cars stuff anymore after I spent $100 on Cars stuff for his birthday)

I did NOT put that over his mouth...but I did not take it off ;)

My favorite words/phrases:
Coffeybille = Coffeyville
brexis = breakfast
Just a wiw brit = Just a little bit
tiward = tired
Dassin/Datsin/Jassin = Jackson
Oh my gosh!
atch atch atchuwy = actually (he tends to stutter)
sgetti = spaghetti

I need a sign for his back that says, "Don't judge me, he dresses himself."

Preschool Stuff:

• He started preschool in January and he loves it. For spring semester he went MWF 9-3 and TR 9-11:30 because I was too cheap to pay for full time every day. He will only go TR 9-11:30 next school year because of my class schedule.
• He still can't hold writing utensils in a tripod grasp, but he'll get it eventually. He knows all his letters. He likes trying to write letters, but doesn't always get it right. We keep a diary for him and sometimes he likes to "write" in it.
• He's really into phonics. He loves to rhyme words. He likes wordplay and making up silly things to say.
• He counts to about 30 but still misses a few numbers in the teens. He knows what the numbers mean, he can count objects as high as he can rote count, and he can do simple addition and subtraction problems in his head. His favorite is calculating how old Luke and Mika will be when he's x-years old.
• He's really good at stringing small beads.
• He can do 24- and 36-piece puzzles with no help and 48-piece puzzles with a little assistance.
• He can halfway tell time (just the hour hand). He knows the months, days of the week, and seasons. Although I don't know how well he actually understands those concepts. He still has a problem understanding what "today" is and thinks it starts each time you wake up (so after nap time is a new day in his head).
• He loves drawing people and can do the bodies, arms, legs, eyes, noses, mouths, and hair.
• He is very social and likes to hang out with boys his age. He can sit and have a conversation, initiate play, etc. 
• He loves to play games like Rummikub (he cheats a lot at that one), Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, War, Go Fish, Old Maid. He likes to win.
• He loves play doh.

J in his classroom 

Sleep and Life Skills:

• He sleeps about 9 hours at night and 2 hours for nap. He almost never wakes up at night and needs a hug, even with Mika screaming her head off in the next room. He likes the hall or bathroom light left on. Sometimes he needs to get up and uses the bathroom, but he gets himself back to sleep with no help from us. Once in a while he'll fuss because he wants me to fix his blanket.
• He brushes his teeth really well, but I like to brush afterwards just to make sure we got everything.
• He has been able to fully dress and undress for a while. He can do the small buttons on his polos and button ups. He can fold and put away his own clothes.
• He has been fully potty trained for a while and rarely wets the bed at night. He likes privacy in the bathroom and sometimes asks for help wiping, but he can do it himself if he's not feeling lazy.
• He is a pretty good eater for being a little kid. He doesn't eat as much as Mika, but he'll eat a bowl or small plate of food at almost every meal and snack time. He tries to weasel as many treats out of us as possible. He likes preparing food and helping us cook. He started putting his dishes and utensils in the sink when he finishes eating.
• We recently sorted through all his clothes to put away the 3T stuff and now he won't stop sorting them. I had all the sizes neatly folded into labeled bins, and Jackson loves to take everything out, look at the sizes on the tags, and resort them into piles. Really annoying, but I guess it's a good activity for him to do. He also started doing that with Mika's and Paul's clothes. (He thinks sizes go up to "100 T" because of the "100% Cotton" on the label.)
• We are doing the Dave Ramsey system of commission for chores. He gets a quarter for each room he cleans (bedroom, living room, and playroom). He can spend his commission on treats, toys, and the carousel at the mall.
• He can turn on the TV and playstation and get through all the menus to his Netflix shows. We started leaving the gate open and he goes downstairs in the morning and watches TV and eats the breakfast I leave out for him (raisins, apple, Cheerios, water).

If only he could be this enthusiastic about doing chores in ten years...

Other Stuff:

• He has speech dysfluencies common to preschool age: stuttering, fillers (mostly "eh" and "uh"), false starts, and repeated syllables and phrases.
• When Paul and I laugh at something on our phones, Jackson and Mika insist on looking at it too and they pretend to read it and laugh.
• Paul is going to work in the field and Jackson thought it was an actual field. On the way to Coffeyville he kept asking me, "Is Daddy going to THAT field? What about that one?" He says when he grows up he's going to work for Burns and McDonnell in "Coffeybille."
• He can hit a medium size ball with a bat if you throw it slowly.
• He still loves to go "re re re high" on the swing.
• He's so bossy and loves telling me and Mika what to do.
• He likes trying to climb trees. He likes riding his tricycle and scooter.
• He and Mika sing all day long.

The only person on the plane who actually reads the safety manual is a four-year-old kid