Miles Turns FOUR!
I am so excited that this little bro is turning FOUR! I am writing this just after receiving a text from Ms. Janet and I wrote something back to her that I think describes Miles quite well, “Dramatic brainiac.” As much as I know this is forever on the internet, I also don’t want to pretend Miles is someone who he is isn’t. I want to remember these times with him, although frequently difficult, accurately. This means that I have to share that he isn’t always compliant and his smile is oftentimes mischievous. So let’s celebrate this fourth year around the sun with this “Dramatic brainiac.”
Let’s start with the brainiac part: Miles knows all his letters (uppercase and lowercase), the sounds they make and thanks to Ms. Janet, knows an incredible amount of sight words and is able to spell many three letter words with expectable pronunciation. He can count to 100 (with some help) by ones and tens, although his ‘thirteen’ and ‘fourteen’ sound the same as well as all his ‘thirties’ and ‘forties.’ His ‘th’ sound still sounds like an ‘f.’ He is curious about the world around him and asks fascinating questions. We are thrilled that his brain is functioning at this level. What we aren’t thrilled about is the ‘dramatic’ part.
While we continuously work on his problem solving skills, Miles continues to be whiny and argumentative. Although we see this behavior quite regularly at home, he is mostly well behaved at daycare and for that we are so proud of him. Perhaps his “keeping at all together” at daycare results in his “letting it all fall apart” at home. We know this is very common behavior for a three/four year old so we are continuously reminding that our expectations won’t change.
Miles and Ella both tried soccer for a few months when he was two, so we thought we’d have them try gymnastics just after he turned three. He was incredibly scared at first, but once he got to know his coach, he was such a good little student. Again, we are so proud of his ability to listen to other adults. Miles also learned to swim this past summer. He initiated taking his floaties off and within a couple of days, he was swimming across the width of the pool in one breath! He is able to float on his back and tread water for a bit too. The summer in the pool was so much more fun with Ella and Miles both becoming stronger swimmers.
This past summer Miles also gave up his nap. He wakes up about 6:00/6:30 and goes all day until about 7:30 where it doesn’t take him (nor Ella) long to fall off into dreamland. Woohoo! He seems to be right on track for growing as he measured in at 3 ft. and 1 inch (at the bottom of the height chart, but he’s on it!) and 36 lbs and 4 oz (in the middle of the weight chart) at his four year old checkup.
So what does this little guy love to do? Miles still LOVES Iron Man. In fact, he draws Iron Man nearly everyday and has them all saved in a pile of pictures. He loves to wrestle or “play silly time” as Ella likes to call it. Miles also enjoys monster trucks, especially after we went to our first Monster Jam event. He is pretty athletic and catches on to most things he tries to do. While the Knights were on their Stanley Cup run, we spent many evenings playing hockey in the backyard, where Miles enjoyed being the goalie the most. For the first time this past summer, he was able to ride a dirt bike with Scott driving and he was in love! I have no doubt that Scott’s off road hobbies growing up will rub off on Miles.
He enjoys brushing his teeth (yes, you read that right). If I ask him to help with dinner or breakfast, he usually excitedly agrees, even though he’s guaranteed to later complain about eating it. His favorite foods are very typical kid favorites: mac ‘n cheese, grilled cheese, cheese its, (I’m sensing a theme here), and cheese pizza. He still loves his milk and morning green smoothie. Although he starts nearly every meal with a complaint, his willingness to eat whatever is there has improved. Miles also loves to be funny! He tries to be goofy about almost everything, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is ‘class clown’ award in his future.
I have read that kids have an “attention bucket” and a “power bucket” that they need filled on a daily basis. Miles seems to have VERY deep buckets that are rarely filled. BUT, he gets so excited over the sweetest things; like a simple Iron Man card, or milk, or when he accomplishes something he’s been working on…like backward somersaults! While Miles is spending his last year with Ms. Janet, who we will ALL miss so incredibly much, I hope that he gets to be a part of the same preschool program that Ella was a part of at May Elementary School. But until then, we will soak up his sweetness, silliness, and snuggles, while we continue to reform his moaning and grumbling into gratitude and determination.