My 4-Year Old

I can't believe I have a 4-year old. But, I do. Yes, as of 7:09 this morning, Grady is 4 years old.

Even 3 years old didn't seem so old. But, kids who are 4 do things like go to preschool. 4 just seems way older than 3 to me. I know...people have kids who are now 7 or 12 or 23 or even 40 something (gasp!!). :-) But, yeah...I'm having a little difficulty with the 4 thing. It was also fun to have a 3-yr. old, a 2-yr. old, and a 1-yr. old. That is no longer...and it will never happen for our family again where we have children in sequential ages like that.

But, on to Grady, the birthday boy...

OH MY GOSH!! I love this boy!! He's so great. He's super sweet and lots of fun. He tends to be more reserved than his sisters, is very thoughtful about the things he does and says, and let me just tell you...this kid is clean and orderly. One day a couple of weeks ago, I had some laundry I was going through on the couch. This particular pile had, yes...been there a couple of days. Grady is very helpful anyway, but I think he was just tired of seeing the disorder too. He came and told me that he could put his clothes away himself. Nice. At first I was leary, but I needn't fear. I went to his closet and it had been completely redone. He had taken each pile and put it exactly where he wanted them to be...it was superbly done. Then, he proceeded to climb up to hang up his own shirts. He moved all of the unused hangers to the left side of his closet and put all the shirts on the right. I got a shirt down for him a couple of days ago and just took it off the hanger. He kindly informed me that I needed to move the hanger over to the left side of the closet. Hilarious!! Of course I obeyed. I am NOT going to thwart this behavior in any way, let me tell you. It might actually get a little irritating sometimes. For instance, today he asked me what we were going to do with the Christmas tree. I told him nothing right now. He told me, "Well, I don't want it just there." Translation: "Come on now, Christmas is over...let's get this house back in order." :-) I am not a slob...but, I do think that he took more after his father in that area (I tend to be a little more "relaxed"). Still, I plan to put this particular trait to good use for the next 18 years or so. What a great role model and example he will be to the rest of the children. :-)

Although he can be more pensive and serious, he is a hoot too. Some of the things he says are hilarious. He loves to pick around and laugh. He has the greatest laugh. He continues to be VERY social. At church the other night, one of the college-age girls came and told me that when he grows up he's going to be a supermodel. She said that she took her camera out with all of her friends and he turned on the charm. He loves playing games. Grady still loves his movies, that's for sure. But, really he is into everything these days...playing outside, doing activity books, doing "school," reading books, playing with his sisters, pretending he is a knight fighting soldiers to rescue the princess (that would be Hadley), he and Hadley like to run from the "monster" (that would be Eissa...she doesn't get it yet, so she loves it...runs after them just laughing her head off...we already limit that game, but when she gets older it will probably be eliminated altogether). Grady is just a great all-around kid.

We will be having a birthday party for him on Saturday. I had asked him what kind of party he wanted. He proceeded to tell me that he wanted "ummmm, a blue party, a red party, a green party, a skateboard party, a superman party, a bunny rabbit party, a frog party, a sword and horsey party..." It went on and on like that every time I asked him. :-) So funny. Well, we finally just gave him options ourselves. I asked him if he wanted an airplane, cars, or sword and horse party. He said he wanted a sword and horse party, so he could fight the soldiers and rescue the princess. Well, he also got a Cars movie, small dry-erase board, and Lightning McQueen car for Christmas from our friends Thad and Wendy Cooper and their family. He is SUPER into that now since he got those gifts. Well, I realized that night that I'd said "Cars" party instead of what he calls it..."Lightning McQueen." So, although I personally preferred the sword and horse party (I'm not into character-type themes for parties, nurseries, etc.)...well, it's not my party. So the next day I gave him his options again and instead of saying "Cars" I said "Lightning McQueen." Lightning McQueen it is. So we will be having a Cars birthday party on Saturday at 3pm at the seminary playground. Stop by if you can. :-)

We love our little Grady Lester Ebersole who is no longer little...definitely a big boy now. Happy 4th Birthday, Grady!!