At 4 years and 5 months, our big boy:

...still loves learning about animals.  (And--a super exciting thing--there are two peregrine falcons nesting on the roof next to our building.)

...is wary about eating meat.  I was working on dinner in the kitchen when he slides into a spot at the table and gently asks, "did he die of old age?"  "Who?"  "That chicken."  His many questions totally remind me of this Portlandia clip:


...thinks about his future family.  D & I did a weigh lifting video for a few days and the kids would join in and dance around the whole time.  B wanted to know why we were exercising.  One of the things I said (the part that really stood out to him) was "I want my body to be healthy, so I can live a longer life and spend more time with YOU!"  Days later, he asked if he could keep the exercise video when we're done with it.  Why?  "I want to save it for my children, I really want my kids to be healthy and have long lives."

...is no longer attending the YMCA.  He had a lot of fun while it lasted, but he's such a home body and would beg and plea to let him stay home.   We figured why waste money and force him, when it's pretty much a playgroup (he was 3 at the beginning of the year, so it is pre-Pre-K.)  We now do "Mommy School" 2-3 days a week.   YMCA Preschool stories:

• Most days when I'd arrive to drop him off a troupe of boys would run up yelling "B! B! You're here! What do you want to do?" He'd nonchalantly with a wry smile say "I think I'm going to play with ___" and they'd all run after him.  Apparently on the days B hasn't come to school they've had multiple kids crying/asking to go home because B isn't there.  At the parent-teacher conference, his teacher said, "He's the perfect child.  There's nothing else I need to say."  She told us he would notice kids left out or sad and put his arm around them and ask them to play.  She also told us that if they needed the class to do something (ie switch activities, clean-up, etc.) if they had B on board, then everyone else would follow.  (Yes, we were bursting with pride and vanity at this point.)
• One day in the Fall, while I was waiting for school to let out, one of the moms came up to me and said, "my daughter, Millie, is very enamored with B.  It would mean the world to her to have a play date."  While we were talking, the teachers came up to us and said, "You better get your finances in order...because there's going to be a wedding."  She told us how B & Millie hold hands and kiss.  The teachers asked them to drop hands once and, like an old married couple, they turned in unison and kissed before dropping their hands.  B had never told me about Millie (it is hard to pry any school stories out of him.)  At dinner that night I very casually asked, "so who's Millie?"  He replied, "She is the kindest girl in the whole wide world and I love her."  

...played on his first soccer team.  He had a blast but we REALLY had a blast watching.  One day we overheard him telling his coach, "I have a mom and a dad and a sister.  I really love them...but [pulling his most dramatic sad face] my dad has another family..." then it became inaudible and we could see his coach comforting him.  haha! 

...goofs and says "sparking pot" instead of "parking spot" and "scraper skies" for tall buildings and "aminals."

...wears the same shirt and pair of shorts for weeks on end.  When it travels to the laundry there is a lot of bargain pleas and negotiation on his end. Normally resulting in putting on his second favorite shirt which he will then wear for weeks.  Anyway, he was wearing his brown swim shirt.  He'd had stickers on it from who knows when.  The image had worn away and only some of the white backing was left with cracks of color.  When he was proud of something D or I did.  He would silently pull off one of his ratty old stickers and stick it on D's shirt or my shirt as a show of approval.  We could tell he felt both authoritative and benevolent.   Hilarious!