Eliot at Four and a Half

There's so much to say about Eliot at four and a half! He's always saying something hilarious or crazy or sassy or sweet.

He's grown into such a big boy lately. Sometimes when I hold him or pick him up, he feels so large in my arms and nearly the same size as me. I find the whole situation absurd. With his "big boy"-ness, he has become more capable. He swims and flips underwater. He does cannon balls. He retrieves toys from the bottom. He swims through people's legs and hoops in the pool. He can touch the bottom of the deep end. Once with Chris's help, Eliot touched the bottom of my parents' deep end, which is eight feet. I wrote about before how he did an awesome job in spring soccer, especially compared to last fall.

With sports, he has gotten to be quite competitive. He wants to win all the time, so I am trying to teach him to lose gracefully or to accept that he is not always the best, but he did well for himself. In the spring, he ran a kids' 1k race with Chris where they finished on the football field. It really was a beautiful moment to see them running together and finishing up. He was pretty convinced that he "won," so he was happy with himself.

Eliot's favorite shows include Wild Kratts and Jurassic Park. He really wanted to see Jurassic World in theaters, but loud noises bother him a great deal, so we will wait until it comes out on DVD. He frequently asks when Jurassic World is coming to our TV. Since we couldn't see JW in theaters, I bought him a Lego Jurassic Park game for the Wii. It plays out all four of the Jurassic movies. I fully expected that I would have to play it for him and he would watch as if it were a movie, but he picked up quickly how to play. And he beat the whole game--all four movies. I couldn't believe it. This kid had played on the iPad, but never on a game system.

Eliot also loves going to the beach and exploring in the woods. He loves to pretend he is a dinosaur or is hunting dinosaurs all the time. Even when I'm driving down the road, he pretends that raptors are attacking our car. We are always pretending something. He is growing in his creativity by writing stories. He comes up with the story, I write the words, and then he illustrates the books.

Looking back on how he has grown and changed over time, I have to say that we are making progress. He generally listens pretty well and only whines or throws fits if things aren't going according to his plan or if I tell him he can't have something, like a new toy or game on the iPad. To help with this, we set up a sticker and chore system in which he can earn money by helping out around the house. At the same time, if he throws a fit, he will lose a sticker (or dollar).

Eliot makes for an amazing big brother. He wants to be with Jack all the time. Most of their conflicts are limited to when Jack wants to destroy something Eliot is building or when Jack decides to start wrestling when Eliot doesn't want to. General little bro v. big bro stuff. They really do love playing together, though, and it is a beautiful (and hilarious) relationship to watch.