Kingston is 4!

July 12-

Oh my....is it really possible that I have a 4 year old?!
Kingston is 3 ft. 5 1/2 inches tall and 39 lbs (about 75% for both).  I keep telling him that I want him to stay little, but he insists he wants to grow up (mainly because he wants to go in the attic).
He loves everything Transformers!  Mainly this is because daddy encourages it, but it is cute to see them talk transformers and play autobots and decepticons!
Overall, he is a good little boy and we have so much fun.  However, when he doesn't get his way, it isn't pretty!  He knows how to throw a tantrum and he will cry until he forgets why he started crying.  He can be so strong willed and so sensitive at the same time.  We are definitely working on it, but it is  a tiresome road!  We've found the best thing for encouraging good behavior is sticker charts.  Each night he gets to put a sticker on his chart if he was good.  He has to earn 30 stickers and then he gets a prize.  However, he was so excited to fill his last chart that he didn't even want a prize; he just wanted to admire his chart.  I couldn't believe we got off that easily!

 

Sometimes, I think Kingston is too smart.  He hears things just once and remembers...he has too good of  memory at times!  And a lot of the things he says, I don't know where he learns them from.  It's so much fun to hear him tell stories.  They are a mix of real life and make believe, but they are really cute, and they almost always involve Transformers.  Just the other day he told me "sometimes in our hearts, our feelings go bad and they don't have a smile.  If your happy, they go back happy!"
My favorite thing is to watch him play pretend.  I absolutely love watching him make things with his legos and then bring them to life with voices and battles.  He sometimes lets me play, but I'm not good.  When I made gun noises he just laughed and asked what that noise was.  Then, when we were playing with his tractors, I tried to use a doozer to load the dumptruck and he was quick to call me out on that. "Mom, you can't do that!" he laughed, "you have to use a loader." Of course you do, what was I thinking!  I don't know how he can keep the names of all the tractors and transformers straight.
I can play house with him...I'm really good at that.  Ever since Julienna, Kingston found a doll at the cabin and will play with her like she is his baby.  He named her Gabry and he feeds her and puts her to sleep and scolds you if you are too loud while she is sleeping.  Jonathan wasn't in love with Kingston having a baby, but then we pulled out Jonathan's old cabbage patch doll, Chad, and now all is well.  Although, Kingston added to his name, and calls him Chad Jerry.
Kingston didn't inherit Jonathan's artist genes.  Getting him to sit down and color is like pulling teeth. He does however, enjoy playdough and legos, more hands on art.  He is really good about putting his legos together and it is sometimes frustrating to build with him because I want to follow the directions and he just wants to build from his imagination and we are always fighting over pieces!
Kingston is an awesome big brother.  Julienna is one lucky girl.  He wants nothing more than to be around her and love her and make her smile.  He was ecstatic to feed her a bottle and first thing every morning he asks about her.  He loves to be right up in her face and she doesn't seem to mind.  Sometimes I have to remind him to be gentle because he is all boy and forgets that she isn't as tough as him...yet.  One morning Kingston was sick and I stayed home with him but sent Julienna to daycare.  When he woke up he asked about her and I told him that she was at Ms. Suzanne's.  When he heard that, he lost it.  He was so sad that she wasn't there with him and he wanted to go pick her up.  It was so genuinely sweet.

 

Speaking of being sick, Kingston had his first bought of diarrhea.  He was in rough shape for about a week but it was funny hearing him describe it because he had never experienced it before.  You could tell by his face when he had to go and he would say that his tummy was bubbling.  Sometimes he had to go and other times he didn't (on those times he would say that his body was tricking him).  And when he did go, he would say "got to get that out and make room for the trees and snakes (that is how he describes his normal poop).
Kingston loves the cabin and wonders why we can't live there.  Jonathan is the same way so I have to remind them both that we have to work back in Eagle in order to have the cabin.  The two of them could play outside and tinker all day!  And Sunday is always a sad day when we have to head home.

He also loves the dogs and is always loving on them.  He is good at saying sorry when he steps on them and he cries and cries if they eat his food that he leaves in the living room.

He is a great grocery store helper and generally rides in the cart and entertains Julienna.  Sometimes he will help me get things off the shelf, but that makes for a long trip. He always helps put stuff on the conveyor belt, slide my debit card, and bag his groceries.  He only bags the stuff he wants to eat...which means I have to bag all the vegetables!

I just love him so much!  He is fun, adventurous, crazy, wild, sweet, caring, and so full of life.  I am so blessed to call him my son!
Here is a list of favorites and questions I asked Kingston (my thoughts in parenthesis)...
Favorites...
Color: Orange
Food: Strawberries with yogurt and brown sugar
Toys: transformers, crane transformers, and transformers. also tonka trucks in the sand (legos, but he does get a little frustrated when they come apart)
Song: 500 miles and the song about the dad and his boy (Cat's in the cradle) (also Free Falling...me and Julienna are the good girls and him and dad are the bad boys and they are sorry for breaking our hearts)
Movie: Transformers #3 Lost Autobot and #4 Old Optimus (he also likes the lego movies and dinosaur movies)
Transformer: Optimus, Sentinal, Grimlock, Predaking, and Megatron (the others come and go, but Optimus is the ultimate favorite)
Dinosaur: T-rex like Grimlock
Thing to make/bake: Cake with tractors and cones like the one for his 3rd bday (he loves to help in the kitchen and is a pro at making banana bread)
Shape: triangle with orange on it
Thing to do outside: ride real RZR and not real RZR (little hotwheels truck) and play in the trees
Place: transformer store, Target (they have icees and transformers), and the cabin
Questions......
What do you want to be when you grow up: worker, driller (digs holes), and/or transformer
What is your favorite thing about Julienna: making her laugh
What is Julienna's favorite color: pink and purple
What is your favorite thing to do with daddy: play transformers
How old is daddy and what is his favorite color: 25 and green and blue
What makes daddy sad: when I yell at him
What makes daddy happy: when I can play!
What is your favorite thing to do with mommy: help take care of Julienna
How old is mommy and what is her favorite color: 5  and pink and purple
What makes mommy sad: Julienna gets taken away (not sure on this)
What makes mommy happy: when she gets Julienna
What is something you don't like: beer (funny!) and yogurt with big and little chunks
What makes you happy: cake
What makes you sad: something gets taked away, Julienna gets taked away, leaving the cabin
Tell me a joke: How does water eat cereal? Out of a box! (I don't get it either, but he laughed)