My Paul Update

My little guy is almost 4 1/2.  Not so little anymore I guess.  I mostly love Paul but last week he told me he wanted to punch me.  If front of my mom.  I didn't love that.  

Paul is really smart, and I don't think I am just saying that.  He sometimes uses vocabulary more impressive than my high school students.  He knows how to manipulate any situation, which I think is a sign of intelligence but also highly annoying.  He is a negotiator at heart.  

What He Says: The real question is what Paul doesn't say.  The kid is ALWAYS talking.  I wonder if he gets in trouble at school.  Sometimes in the morning when it is 6:00 am and dark and we are trying to get out of bed and get everyone dressed and out the door to work/school/daycare we literally have to tell him to BE QUIET.  He narrates everything.  He can tell us ANYTHING.  Verbal skills are not his problem.  And of course because he is a 4 year old boy he LOVES the words booty, poop, poopy head, poopy diaper, poo-poo, really anything that has to do with poop.  Boys are weird. 

What He Eats: His favorite foods are chicken nuggets, strawberries, applesauce, bananas, cantaloupe, pesto pasta, spaghetti, jelly sandwiches, popcorn, pancakes, smoothies, broccoli, yogurt, fruit snacks and any single item that has sugar.  He loves dessert.  

How He Sleeps:  Paul sleeps great when he is literally laying on top of me.  We have tried to compromise this situation by laying a sleeping bag next to our bed.  That is where he starts.  Then somehow in the middle of the night he ninja sneaks into our bed.  Just the other night I actually heard him come in and as I turned over to try and regulate the scene he told me, "I just wanted to give you a little kiss Mommy."  See what I mean about manipulation?  Oh, and obviously I fell for it.  Hook, line, sinker.  

What He Likes to Do: Color, play with sand, play fantasy land with 800 cars or planes, dress up as Buzz Lightyear, wear capes, cook, play baseball, run, ride his scooter, have movie night, read, snuggle with me on the couch, sing songs, have dance parties in the kitchen, go to the zoo, play with friends, go to school, swim, talk, go to the park, the Broncos.

Things I want to Remember:  Last night Paul read Charlie a story and then helped him point out pictures in our big word book.  Whenever he wakes up he wants to know exactly where Charlie is and when Charlie does wake up, Paul always runs to him and says, "My baby!  I missed you."  He loves to tell us who gets in trouble at school and his favorite job in his class is line leader and weather man.  He has tons of friends, every time I drop him off at school another mom says, "Oh so that's Paul.  We hear so much about Paul."  He can count pretty high but when he gets to 30, he initially calls it 20-10.  He still loves his stuffed monkey that I received as a gift at his baby shower and have no idea who gave it to us.  He still hates the Happy Birthday song but will now at least tolerate it and not burst into tears.  

I love this 4.5 year old so much!