Weight: 41lbs (85%)
Height: 3' 5" (79%)
This is WAY late - but better late than never!!! Hank at 4 years old is really blossoming. Hank can definitely be our most challenging kid, but since turning 4, he has really started to mature. Hank is a very kind, loving, sweet little boy but there were lots of times during his 3rd year of life that the sweet side was extremely hard to see! Lately I feel like we've been seeing more and more of the loving side of him... 4 has definitely brought on some good times!
Hank is a super athletic, energetic boy as well. Usually during a day you will see him jumping on the couch, jumping on the trampoline, riding his bike, running around the house or jumping on the bed. He loves to work out with me or go on runs with Ben and is just overall a very athletic little boy. We often get comments on how much a crazy monkey he is - excelling at doing the monkey bars, doing tricks on his bike, or doing flips on the trampoline we call him our little American Ninja Warrior.
Hank started preschool this past year and has really been growing academically as well. He is close to recognizing all of his letters, and we are working on getting some of the sounds. He has also been mastering writing his name and has become more adept at some of the preschool "skills" - cutting, coloring, counting, etc. I wouldn't say school is his favorite thing, but overall I think he is happy there. Compared with Lucy, most school days Hank isn't really eager to go, and when I pick him up he doesn't have many good things to report, but I do think he is learning and growing there. I'm hoping next year will give him a bit more of a challenge and fun as he will be taking pre-k classes.
This past year Hank did soccer and gymnastics. I felt like gymnastics was right up his alley, since his is such a little ninja, but his reports back from class were always - "I want to do real gymnastics" or "they wouldn't let me do flips". As I watched him, he always seemed to be having fun and seemed to really excel at the skills, but I was torn if he really loved it since he never had many good things to say about it.
This is often how Hank seems to report on things though... Wherever he goes, when we pick him up and ask him if he had fun, he usually shares a lot of the negative. This might be something we need to work with him in the future. So far, it's just been interesting to observe his reactions to different situations.
Hank is still my most sensitive kid. He has the biggest highs but also has the biggest lows and seems to experience his emotions to the greatest degrees. One example of this is when he can't find me or doens't know where I am (which is typically in the basement doing laundry) he will panic and freak out, crying and screaming for me. I've learned to make sure I tell Hank where I'm going if I'm moving around, but I definitely still forget and this seems to happen about once a week.
Sleep at night has been going really well. Hank sleeps through the night almost all the time and has pretty much given up napping since he gave up sucking his thumb right around his 4th birthday. Every once in a while he will take a nap, but it is pretty rare. At night he typically sleeps around 8:30pm-7:30am (ish). We were ready for the naps to go when they did as Hank was taking forever to fall asleep at night, so taking his thumb away overall helped him sleep better at night.
Speaking of getting rid of his thumb - Hank has been taking it like a champ! He gave up the thumb no problem, and was ready to do it. We had prepped him about it for a while and I think that helped. Right around his 4th birthday we told him we were going to paint his thumb with yucky nail polish and that pretty much did the trick! The nail polish tastes so nasty that Hank is never tempted to suck his thumb... when it is on. I will say, we are now 4 months in and I continue having to paint his thumb. Despite going over a month without sucking his thumb, I've found that once the paint wears off he slowly starts mindlessly sucking his thumb, despite reminders to stop. So I've continued to paint his thumb every 2 weeks or so, and that seems to reset things. Not sure when that will stop, but so far it's been working well for us.
Time outs continue to be our main way of enforcing rules with Hank and it seems to work well. He still gets in trouble a little more frequently than the girls, but he does seem to be learning and responding positively to our instruction. And honestly since hitting 4 he seems to be really calming down and following instructions so much better. There have been several times when Hank has come up to me asking how he can help me and doing whatever I ask without complaint. He is turning into a very helpful young man!
We love you so much Hank. You are the best snuggler and always ask for mom to snuggle you on the couch if we haven't had a chance to during the day. You often tell me how much you love me and crack me up all the time with your goofiness. You are the best wrestler in our house and always make sure we have a few tickle fights a day. You are so sweet to your sisters, especially June - we love watching you as her big brother, playing with her, laughing with her, and knowing your limits with her. And you've become such a great playmate for Lucy, using your imaginations to make believe with her, build with her, and run around with her. We are so thankful to have you as our son Hank, we love you!!!
Height: 3' 5" (79%)
This is WAY late - but better late than never!!! Hank at 4 years old is really blossoming. Hank can definitely be our most challenging kid, but since turning 4, he has really started to mature. Hank is a very kind, loving, sweet little boy but there were lots of times during his 3rd year of life that the sweet side was extremely hard to see! Lately I feel like we've been seeing more and more of the loving side of him... 4 has definitely brought on some good times!
Hank is a super athletic, energetic boy as well. Usually during a day you will see him jumping on the couch, jumping on the trampoline, riding his bike, running around the house or jumping on the bed. He loves to work out with me or go on runs with Ben and is just overall a very athletic little boy. We often get comments on how much a crazy monkey he is - excelling at doing the monkey bars, doing tricks on his bike, or doing flips on the trampoline we call him our little American Ninja Warrior.
Hank started preschool this past year and has really been growing academically as well. He is close to recognizing all of his letters, and we are working on getting some of the sounds. He has also been mastering writing his name and has become more adept at some of the preschool "skills" - cutting, coloring, counting, etc. I wouldn't say school is his favorite thing, but overall I think he is happy there. Compared with Lucy, most school days Hank isn't really eager to go, and when I pick him up he doesn't have many good things to report, but I do think he is learning and growing there. I'm hoping next year will give him a bit more of a challenge and fun as he will be taking pre-k classes.
This is often how Hank seems to report on things though... Wherever he goes, when we pick him up and ask him if he had fun, he usually shares a lot of the negative. This might be something we need to work with him in the future. So far, it's just been interesting to observe his reactions to different situations.
Sleep at night has been going really well. Hank sleeps through the night almost all the time and has pretty much given up napping since he gave up sucking his thumb right around his 4th birthday. Every once in a while he will take a nap, but it is pretty rare. At night he typically sleeps around 8:30pm-7:30am (ish). We were ready for the naps to go when they did as Hank was taking forever to fall asleep at night, so taking his thumb away overall helped him sleep better at night.
We love you so much Hank. You are the best snuggler and always ask for mom to snuggle you on the couch if we haven't had a chance to during the day. You often tell me how much you love me and crack me up all the time with your goofiness. You are the best wrestler in our house and always make sure we have a few tickle fights a day. You are so sweet to your sisters, especially June - we love watching you as her big brother, playing with her, laughing with her, and knowing your limits with her. And you've become such a great playmate for Lucy, using your imaginations to make believe with her, build with her, and run around with her. We are so thankful to have you as our son Hank, we love you!!!
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