Vance Palace Tales: ODE to Jesse! What you are like at 4 years old

Well, Yesterday was a very eventful day for the fam jam. Jesse had his preschool graduation concert, AND it was his 4^th birthday. We all headed into a gymtale in the later morning, and enjoyed some songs, stories and the wee ones getting their diplomas. Jesse took the whole thing very seriously, and most definitely grasped the concept that there were a hundred people staring at him. He was certainly more reserved than last year, when he did the whole graduation ceremony with myself leading it.

After a good play outside, lunch, and a later nap, the moment Jesse had been waiting for finally arrived. Supper/cake/and gifts. Jesse got to choose whatever he wanted for supper, and his request was pepperoni pizza and peaches. I actually forgot to serve the peaches! But- Jesse was quite excited for his cake, and so forgot all about it. I thought I had a better supply of cake making ingredients in my pantry, but was rather surprised yesterday afternoon to realize I really had barely anything! The resulting cake was a rather hilarious one, but we all enjoyed it! Aunt Katie was over for supper, and so we had some gluten free cupcakes as well. This year, we decided to coach Jesse on “present opening etiquette” before he dove into the gifts. He was instructed to always 1. Read the card first and slowly 2. Thank the giver of the gift 3. Hold up the present high to show everyone while saying WOW afterwards. He did pretty well at following said instructions, but his reaction to some undies from daddy was quite hilarious. It was the most monotone and serious WOW I ever did hear and he held them up sort of frozen and staring into the distance.

I wanted to blog about what Jesse is like at 4 years old. I find myself unable to recall many details ALREADY of Jesse and Janna’s first few years, and so think a good tradition would be to blog about them each on their birthday. So, to begin, I asked Jesse’s these questions this morning, and there were the answers. All quite accurate based on my observations.

Jesse’s Favorites:

Superhero: Spiderman

Sport: Soccer

Game: Pirates

Show: Berenstein bears

Book: His school bible

Breakfast: Honey nut cheerios

Lunch: Tuna melts

Supper: Toast???

Dessert: Ice cream

Color: Blue

Person: Bus drivers???

Music: Veggie Tales

Toy: Lego

Jesse is still a very sensitive and talkative soul. Sometimes this can be exhausting on the heart AND ears, but we just love him for it. You always know exactly what Jesse is thinking because if he hasn’t said it- it is ALL over his very expressive face. Jesse feels things deeply, and is quick to empathize with others. “ Poor Robyn” he will exclaim as he rushes to her every cry and need. Similarly, he feels bad when Janna gets in trouble, BUT has made a great punching bag for Janna and her funny little sense of humor. She knows how to push his buttons, and enjoys teasing him and getting a reaction. Some of his best friends, also can be found playing little tricks on him, like turning off the lights, or locking him in a room. I think it is because of his tremendously emotional reaction. It’s hard not to laugh sometimes as he laments, “Oh mom...that was just SO terrible, that made my heart SO sad when my best friend said that to me!” On Jesse’s progress report from Nursery school, one of the comments was that “Jesse always consoles an upset friend.” A\and That he is extremely patient with all his class mates. That makes us pretty proud.

Despite his easily conjured angst, Jesse is a pretty happy kid, all around. He wakes up at 6:30 am most mornings and we hear him singing and talking and chattering away to Janna in the most chipper of spirits. Janna is usually trying to sleep, so is glaring at him, with a stuffed animal hugged over her ears. As I am making breakfast downstairs, Dave goes in to get Janna out of her crib and tells Jesse he can come downstairs. Every morning I look forward to the pitter patter of his feet splashing down the steps, and monstrous thumps as he tears down the hallway and into the kitchen. “HI MOM!” He beams and leaps into my arms like he hasn’t seen me in a year. We have a bear hug and short snuggle, and I feel so lucky to get this treatment each and every morning. What a fantastic start to my day.

Jesse loves using his brain, and is often found doing puzzles. He can do 64 piecers now, and we were so happy to get about 5 new ones from different people for his birthday. He also loves looking at books, or piecing together lego. He ADORES stories, and always asks for made-up ones from me. He is also a great story teller, and his adventures are epic and hilarious. This year, we went through a reading curriculum for preschoolers that started with books heavy with pictures. As the year progressed, the pictures slowly decreased. He is now able to sit and listen to a story maybe 15 minutes long with just one or 2 pictures for the entire thing. His little eyes will look up into the air, as he is imagining all the words I speak.

Jesse loves his friends and sisters, and spending time with people. Every day he wants to know who we are going to see OR who is coming over. “ I just love them SOOOO much,” he’ll declare. He is less interested in running errands or being out and about as he used to. But, he loves to have people around, or go “bisiting.”

He is turning into a great little helper and always eagerly grabs things for me, helps me tidy-up, or entertains Robyn if my hands are tied up. He has a few chores that are his regular daily responsibility, and has done well to remember to feed the dog, clear the table after meals, and tidy his room before bed time. He is also quite interested in “rescuing” and “saving.” He helps Janna up when she falls down, or races off to grab the fly swatter if a bug is buzzing around her. He really is sort of a second set of hands- and it’s wonderful that he is so joyful about it.

Jesse is finally spending a little more time doing creative things. Not a whole lot more, but he does now like to color pictures, but only ever likes to use one color on a page. He fills in all the lines, and then will continue to color outside of the lines until the entire page is one color. HE is pretty proud of this, which is pretty cute. HE also loves doing connect the dots and mazes in coloring and fun books. I’m pretty sure of the dozen coloring books we have, most of those puzzles are completed in there.

Jesse likes to know what is going on and what the plan is for the day. Everyday he needs to know the whole run down for the day, including things like what we will be eating for lunch, etc. He WOULD like to know the rundown for the next year I am sure, but the farthest I will currently entertain is the day ahead. He has my organizational spirit, for sure. And I beam when I see him line things up, make patters, or simply tell Janna the plan for the day.

He is like Dave, in that he LOVES to teach. He was CERTAIN that at his first soccer practice he would be teaching the boys and girls soccer skills. He likes to sit Janna down beside him and explain concepts to her, or read her books. He also likes to teach Robyn the ways of the world, and I often hear him saying things like, “And when YOU grow up Robyn, you will get to have a birthday, too. Like when you are 4. Here is how you count to 4. 1-2-3-4. Like that. Ok?”

Jesse loves to be outside. He spends a lot of time on his trike/bike/ and now scooter, motoring around. He likes to pretend he is daddy, and will role play this often through the day. I go along with it and will ask him questions like, “And what did you teach the teenagers at school today, Dave?” His answers are always quite comical though entirely sincere. Some more recent examples are, “I taught the boys and girls how to build a tower of blocks.” Or, “I taught the boy s and girls how to ride bikes with training wheels” Or, “I taught the boys and girls how to play guitar for a concert.” Jesse seems to think that everyone grows up to be a daddy. He will often say “When I grow up to be a daddy, I am going to go to work, too.” However, he also has told Janna, “ When YOU grow up to be a daddy, you will....” And Robyn has also been told when she grows up to be a daddy she can eat better food. Yikes, I hope my girls aren’t crushed when they realize they will never grow up to be daddies. Jesse loves to ask his daddy about his day at work over supper time. “ Dad- how was your day at work?” Is always the first question, followed by, “ And what did you do at work today?” And then he’ll ask Dave about a dozen times, “ and what else?” “and what else?” “and what else?” I actually think I learn the most about Dave’s Day by Jesse’s persistent questions.

Jesse is very persistent. He is a great listener and a good – good- kid, but he will ask a question over and over and over. Or try and spin things to maybe get his way. He is into the question why, as well as ALL of the others. What I really enjoy about Jesse, though, is that he really listens to your answers. He has a great memory and will bring up events that happened when he was 1 and 2 that we have never talked about. Such as, “Do you remember that Big Scary Dog that was at Rebecca’s house?” My friend’s sister who we only visited once when he was one. It’s pretty crazy, actually. I’m interested to see if he’ll keep this great memory of his.

As much as Jesse talks and feels, he is genuinely concerned about how other people feel all the time. At the end of the day, Dave usually does Jesse’s bed time routine, but then Jesse asks for me to go in and say good night. I crawl into bed with him and we’ll snuggle for a minute and then Jesse will ALWAYS ask, “ And how was YOUR day mom?” I’ll tell him how it was overall, and then he asks questions like, “ And what did you do during my nap time?” and “How do you think Janna and Robyn liked their day today?” HE will keep going and going asking me questions while we enjoy a snuggle, until I cut the poor kid off. It’s my favorite time of day with him, for sure.

Well, this bragging blog, would not be complete without a list of Jesse’s DISLIKES. SO, here are a few of his LEAST FAVORITE THINGS at four years old:

Big dogs

Mushrooms and potatoes

Getting dirty hands

Bugs – although he is getting much better

Not being able to explain himself

Getting his head wet

Having to go grocery shopping

People not acknowledging what he has said

Meanness

Mommy counting when he is being slow

Daddy having to so school work on weekends

Janna refusing to play with him