Brandon's Four!

Dear Brandon-

I write you this letter almost a week past your birthday.  I can't believe you are four!  That seems so old compared to three.  You are now definitely a little boy and not a toddler.  You have your likes and dislikes and are great at communicating them.  You have become a leader amongst your peers at school and are quite likable.  You play well with others and have an active imagination.  You love pretending and playing imaginary games now.  You just recently became interested in playing board games and love playing CandyLand and Chutes and Ladders.

You are funny and caring.  You are sensitive to others needs and can tell if I am sad and or am having a bad day and try to help mommy.  You are way more patient with your little sister than I ever was with mine.  She loves to take your toys and say "mine!" and you still let her touch them. You are even patient when sister grabs your toys for the most part out of your hands.  Although you do seem to get jealous when Olivia is playing with something and then suddenly you want to play with it.  Normal siubling rivarly time. 

You are starting to really learn and recognize your letters.  You are learning how to spell your name (it is hard because it is so long) and how to hold a pencil and write.  You have homework every week that usually involves writing or scissors and glue.  It took you a while to get used to Jr. Kindergarten and your new classroom and your new teachers but now you have settled in and seem genuinely happy.  You have a group of about 5 boys who are all around your age and you love to play with.  Your best friend is still Andrew at school although you like to play with Gavin a lot too and Wyatt.  Your best outside of school is of course Logan.  Speaking of which, the two of you guys get along great now and can play for quite some time unsupervised.  Soon Logan can visit on his own! 

You are still a great sleeper.  It is harder getting you to sleep at night due to you still napping.  You still love your naps and will nap usually 1-2 hours.  If you nap, we try to get you in bed by 9:00 but you usually are not asleep until 9:30 or 10:00 PM.  I guess you are just getting ready to lose your nap!  You still have them though at school and can get cranky if you miss two or three days of naps.  If you do not nap you usually are asleep right at 8:00 PM which is really nice!  You generally sleep until about 7:00-7:30 AM (unlike your sister who is usually awake at least 30-45 minutes before you). 

Your favorite foods are Mac and Cheese, hamburgers, breakfast sandwiches, you love to eat Daddy's breakfasts that he makes especially the hashbrowns although you really like eggs now.  You are not into vegetables that much although you tolerate carrots and peas.  You loves sports and we have now done soccer in the fall and basketball in the winter.  At your doctor appointment you were 42.5" tall (93 percentile) and 47 lbs (98 percentile).  You tend to tower over all of your peers.  The doctor said you are going to be tall, likely over 6 feet tall.

Last year, you loved fire trucks at 3.  At 2, you were totally into all trains and all trians related.  This year you have a much greater multitude of interests and likes.  You had a transformer rescue bot themed birthday party.  You still do like mom and dad to play with you a lot and some times have problems entertaining yourself.  We are hoping as sister gets bigger she can entertain you more!

Brandon., we love you so much.  We are so excited to watch you grow and become more of a boy this year.  In this last year, you have grown so much and have turned into an awesome big brother.  I can't believe that next year you will be five.  That seems so old, a milestone.  So excited to see what this year will bring.