Anderson at 4 years

I really can't believe Anderson is four years old.  The transition from three to four is little kid to big kid, in my opinion.  Oh, this little boy.  There's no easy way to describe him.  He's our strong-willed child (so far... we don't know about Evelyn quite yet), but he's also as sweet as pie.  He's wild and very energetic, but he's not a daredevil.  He's a boundary-pusher and pushes all my buttons, but he's always very sorry when he gets in trouble.  I just LOVE this boy.  I always tell people that he can make me SO mad one minute, but the next minute I want to eat him and kiss him all over his face.  It's crazy, really.  He just has that effect on me.  He's such a rascal, and tries to get away with everything.  He's all boy.  He's such a goofball, and such a sweetheart.

Anderson's 4 year stats:

Weight: 30.5 lbs. (8%)
Height: 38 1/4 in. (10%)

He's still our teeny tiny little guy!  The doctor isn't concerned at all, as his growth is steady and always has been.  He's just little.  He's shorter than most, if not all, his friends.  I wonder if he'll hit a growth spurt one of these days, or when he's older?

Anderson is NOT a big eater (hence his 8th percentile stat).  I wouldn't say he's all that picky (just typical kid pickiness), but he just does not need a lot of food to survive.  Breakfast is his best meal of the day, and it gets worse as the day goes on.  He eats breakfast like a king, he does pretty good at lunch, but by the time dinner comes around he just doesn't eat hardly anything.  You can imagine that this causes quite a few battles at the dinner table.  I try not to make it a big deal, but it gets very frustrating and stressful for me when he doesn't want to eat.  He won't throw a fit and refuse to eat, but he'll just talk and talk until we eventually have to tell him he's not allowed to talk anymore until he's eating a few bites.  It will sometimes take him an hour to eat a small plate of food.  He's just not hungry.  I've tried making his afternoon snack (that he eats at least 3 hours before dinner) smaller to see if that makes a difference, and it hasn't.  

He sleeps about 10 hours a night, from about 8:30 to 7.  He is usually in bed by 7:45-8, but it takes him a while to fall asleep, especially if Camden goes to bed at the same time.  They love to whisper for a while before falling asleep.  He doesn't nap, and hasn't for quite some time.  He has quiet time every day, for 1.5 hours in his room.  He's doing great with that!

Anderson is my little artist.  He LOVES to color and draw.  He spends a good amount of his day at the dining table doing those things.  He's so talented, and we are always blown away with his work.  He's so precise and gets pretty upset if he messes up while coloring.  If that happens, he'll have to start all over again.  It really makes me wonder if he'll use this artistic talent when he's grown.

Anderson is a wonderful big brother.  He's loves to play with Evelyn and give her toys he thinks she would like.  He'll sometimes go upstairs to get her lovey out of her crib and bring it downstairs to her, without me asking him to.  If we are out and about, and he sees something girly (like a headband or a little girl purse), he'll say "mom!  I think Evie would REALLY like this".  So sweet.  He also adores his big brother.  He and Camden are such good buddies.  Of course, he knows how to push Camden's buttons and certainly will do that, but for the most part he goes along with whatever Camden wants to do.  

We sure do love our sweet, hilarious, crazy little 4-year-old.  Anderson Burke, you are so loved!