Grant's 4th birthday!

Grant has been anticipating turning 4 for a long time, and yet, somehow it seemed to sneak up on me. But as I think back to where he was a year ago, and all the things he's learned and ways he's grown since then ... it's pretty incredible!

He's certainly grown physically! At his checkup today he was 49 pounds and 43.5 inches - 98th percentile for both. He's wearing a size 5 for most things, and occasionally even a 6. As we're always saying, the kid is an ox!

His language skills have improved dramatically since his last birthday. He can communicate easily, and has a vocabulary that's extensive enough to help him get his ideas across. And he talks ALL day long. I always thought that was more of a girl thing, but Grant definitely has the gift of gab. Especially when it's just the two of us and we're in the car!

Surely it's because he's better able to communicate, Grant's behavior has improved a lot this year too. When he was littler he was more prone to grabbing toys from friends, or even just being physically too aggressive when he was happy and excited about his friends. Now that he's able to better explain his frustrations and his feelings of affection, he's getting along better with his buddies.

Of course, Grant has always been a ham, and good at eliciting laughs. His personality, sense of humor, and playful nature are such a gift. He is definitely NOT a dud! I predict that he'll shine wherever he goes.

As for the big birthday celebration, Grant requested a dragon party. I got some ideas online and we put together a pretty simple party with all his friends. We hunted for dragon eggs in the yard, we played duck-duck-dragon, whacked open a dragon pinata, and played pin the fire on the dragon (I asked Grandma to draw the dragon, and she more than outdid herself with two big beautiful hand-drawn and colored dragons - they were the talk of the party). Grant was a little overwhelmed at some parts during his party, and we never really figured out why. Maybe all the noise and attention? But I'd say he definitely enjoyed himself! Opening presents was a hit, of course. Turns out Nerf guns are his new favorite thing.