Dominic - 4.5 Years

 

Dom 1-4 years. No more baby here!

Weight: 46 lb (or so... it fluctuates between 45 and 49)
Height: 44.5 inches

Likes:

• He pretty well likes all the same things he did when he was 4. Cars, garbage trucks, Star Wars, preschool friends, etc. I guess they don't change as much at this age anymore!
• Sweets. He is obsessed with dessert... we're working on it. They don't get a lot of treats, but ya... not a lot of restraint with this boy when there is something he considers "special"
• His sisters. Emilia is his best friend, and he loves Eva more than I expected!
• Playing hockey outside with his friends - or really playing anything that resembles a sport.
• Watching hockey

Notes:

• Wearing size 5 and 6 clothing, size 11/12 shoes. 
• He can ride his two-wheeler with training wheels now! He has a ways to go, but he is getting good and more confident every time!
• He and Emilia are 100% best friends. They play (well) together probably 75-80% of the time. They play a lot of pretend games like "preschool" or "Opa/Oma" or "parent & kid" where one of them is "in charge" and the other is the student/kid.
• He doesn't love art still, but will occasionally scribble a bit just to say he did it. He much prefers action games. 
• He did SO well in his first year at preschool. So much growth, much more confident and social, and is still cautious, but warms up easier!
• He loves math. He is always doing "pluses" on his calculator, or in real life. Asking us about simple math, and showing off his counting skills. He can easily count to 100, and can recognize and say numbers he sees up to 1,000. After that it gets a bit more confusing and less consistent, but he's trying to learn. On his calculator (cash register), he'll say, "give me a plus!" So we'll say, "okay... 723+102" and he'll punch those numbers in and say, "eight hundred and twenty-five!" He's getting better at guessing too, "I think 7+2 is 9. Let me check!"
• I don't know if he's a pickier eater necessarily, but it is harder to convince him to eat. He still technically likes all the same things, but has a stubborn streak when it comes to coming to the table and sitting to eat. Oh well... clearly he's not malnourished. 
• He has the sweetest heart. He is sooo good with Eva. He asks to hold her, or will sit and "read" her books, and play with her, and check her toe jam, and gently rub her and hold her hand. 
• He is also very empathetic. We watched Luca, and there were a couple "sad" parts. He actually got so so sad and needed a cuddle. It was to the point that it made both Dave and I tear up watching him. 
• Quiet time is hit or miss - sometimes he'll be up there for an hour and a half, but usually it's closer to half an hour. I don't bother kicking him back upstairs because I just don't have the energy, and he can usually tell if I'm busy and will play quietly by himself still.
• His favourite books to get out of the library are Star Wars books and Encyclopedia-type books. He doesn't love actual reading books. He seems to prefer to learn.
• He follows lego instructions well, but has also started making his own creations. He can envision what he's trying to build and execute it well. Better than me! He can do 4+ lego by himself first try, and after a few times of doing 7+ with him, he can do most of it, but needs some help getting pieces apart sometimes. 
• He doesn't know his lefts and rights consistently, but knows North East South West. If we're standing anywhere he can usually identify which direction he's facing first try. I don't know how he learned this... we didn't teach him. Naturally good at vectoring I suppose.
• We have been dealing with a record-breaking heat wave and he's handled it well. Lots of underwear time, some movies, and some sprinkler/pool play. His activity of choice is probably a movie though. That or coming with us to chase the AC. 
• He definitely seems to have some natural athletic ability. We took him to the gym at Oma's work and he dribbled a soccer ball around the gym with relative ease for a 4-year old. We should probably look into getting him involved in some kinder-sports. 
• He has big feelings, but with consistency from us, he's getting a lot better at using his words and self-regulating. Usually if there's a big meltdown it's due to hunger or being tired. Pretty reasonable I'd say!
• He plays hockey and basketball in our house all the time, setting up his hockey net using bar stools. He picks two teams, plays both teams, assigns you a team to cheer for, and updates you with the score for each team every time he scores. He also loves to use the wejustscored.com on our phones to press goal horns when he plays. 

We love this handsome, sweet, kind boy! <3