And How

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Our Guinea Pig is Four!

Sweet, sweet Penn...I don't want to believe he's four.  I distinctly remember telling Pack when we had just brought our baby home from the hospital that I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have a four-year-old.  He seemed so still, good, quiet, and perfect, and I loved him so much more that I ever imagined I could.

Now that he's...I hate to say it...FOUR, I love him exponentially more than I did then, but I've learned that he is RARELY still, HARDLY EVER quiet, NOT-QUITE perfect, and sometimes...he's just the OPPOSITE of good...you know, like a regular human being (but, shhhhhh, don't tell anyone) ;-)  But I can't imagine him any other way.

So, this is what "four" looks like at our house:

 Yep, those sweet blue eyes that have won me over since day one.  We think they look like little teardrops when he smiles really big.  And he's got the cutest little eye dimples on the outside corners of each eye that also make an appearance when he flashes a genuine grin.  And that cute little nose!  Oh, and check out those sweet rosy cheeks...if you can kiss the skin off someone's face, his are well on their way to being worn out.  Man, I love that face!!!!



The kid is learning so much!  I know some of it is from the TV shows that we probably let him watch too much of, but he is forever naming dinosaurs that I never knew existed, telling us what pulleys are and finding them all over the place, explaining the difference between a chrysalis and and a coccoon (making his mom--the teacher--feel like an idiot), and learning millions of other new things each day.  Basically, he knows "a-wot" about stuff...



He loves his brother, Baba Jude.  I love when I come into the room unnoticed and see my big boy helping his brother.  Of course, he's not always helping him do something constructive (and I'm thinking of how he taught Jude to jump off the coffee table onto the couch).  He prays every night for God to help him "be thoughtful to his wittaw brover.  I don't always think he know what thoughtful means...like when he tries to coax Jude to sneak downstairs during naptime to see him get in trouble), but I know they are best friends...most of the time;-)

Oh man...he is such a GAMER!  Obviously, a trait he got from his dad and not his "I'm good at trivia" mom.  Penn could have named all the elements of the Periodic Table and his daddy would not have been prouder than the first time he typed in the web address for PBS Kids all by himself.  And not only is he good at computer games, but he's also better than me at all the games on my phone (that don't require reading), he's taken over my pink Nintendo DS as his own, and has mastered all the games on his Mobigo.  Just look at that face...he cheats, right?


He loves making friends, whether it's the 10 year-old kids in our neighborhood, the kids his age from church, or just the shoppers at at our garage sale.  He never meets a stranger.  And if someone refuses to wave back at him, he takes it as a personal insult.


Although he names his brother and cousins (ALL of them) as being his best friends, he also talks regularly about...GET THIS...his future WIFE (Sweet Samantha).  Yep...apparently the two of them have this all planned out.  They are going to get married, at which time, Penn says he will wear "a fancy shirt, a fancy jacket, and tap shoes (????)," and his betrothed will be clad in a beautiful princess dress.  After that, they will both be firefighters.  Sounds completely logical to me!


One of my favorite things about Penn is how much he loves his mommy and daddy.  We often wonder at what point he'll figure out that we don't really know what we're doing...we're kind of playing it all by ear.  Maybe he's humoring us, I don't know.  On thing I do know is that I simply melt when I walk out the bathroom with a robe on and a towel on my head and immediately hear, "Mommy, you're beautiful AND pretty.  And you smell good."  And I'm sure it doesn't hurt Pack's ego a bit when Penn says, "Daddy, YOU'RE COOL!"  It's so easy to love that boy (even though nothing else about parenting is easy).  I can't imagine what the Love of God must feel like!

 
So, whether I'm ready or not...he's four.  And although he barely fits in my lap anymore, he's my first baby and I'll always make room for him.  I hope he'll always know that we couldn't give him everything he ever wanted (and we wouldn't if we could...a boy's gotta have dreams, right?), but that we have prayed our hearts out for him!!!


Happy Birthday to our (not-so) Little Penn!


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