Oliver is nearly half way through his fourth year. As such, he is changing even more rapidly than his siblings. This post is a summary of things we have observed recently.

• He talks. A lot. A tsunami of words at all times, often preceded with, “Hey Mama!” or “Hey Daddy!”
• He likes to tell stories that meander from place to place with very little rhyme or reason.
• He says “last night” to mean anytime in the past. For example, when referring to a trip we took in December, he might say, “Last night when we were at Grummy and Grandpa’s house.”
• He prefaces many sentences with “I think so.” For example:
  • “I think so, Mama’s at the store.”
  • “I think so, tomorrow is a school day.”
  • “I think so, we need to buy some more bananas ‘cuz I like bananas.”
  • “I think so, we need to buy a new house because we have a hole in the wall.”
• He regularly comes up with linguistic gems that we imagine we’ll remember, but then can’t quite reconstruct. I recall one from this morning when I think he was trying to describe something evaporating: “Maybe it just winded away…”
• He loves it when we set timers. Before bed, he will often ask for a timer so that he can have “five more minutes!” to play. Usually, when the timer goes off he is happy to go upstairs.
• He has ups and downs with emotional regulation. Sometimes he is easygoing and chill with changes of plan. At other times, he is stubborn and gets wildly upset over minor things: “But I wanted to put my toothbrush away MYSELF!!!!”
• He loves to help in the kitchen and is getting better at it. He can often pour things into mixing bowls, stir things, count things out, or chop vegetables with his special chopper.
• He is entirely potty trained except when he isn’t. We have trouble understanding what the key factors are. Sometimes he has no trouble for many days in a row. At other times, he’s on his third pair of pants before lunch. He can’t quite clamber up on the big potty yet, but loves to use his little one.
• He still naps for 1-2 hours in the afternoon. Naptime and bedtime routines are straightforward: read a few books (or chapters from longer books) and then say goodnight. He often asks me to stay for “a little bit.”

Some additions from Griffin and Maggie:

• He’s really annoying.
• Maggie: He hits, kicks, and pinches a lot for no reason. (Griffin adds, “Actually, for a reason, because you do it.”)
• Maggie: “This morning, Oliver was kicking me on the bed while I was doing HouseParty. I didn’t do anything!”
• He interrupts a lot, saying, “But I’m talking!”
• He’s a DUPLO master and is pretty good with regular legos too.
• The Mandalorian was too scary for him. She-Ra is just right.
• He often doesn’t finish his food and says that he wants us to “save it for tomorrow” but then never eats it.
• He always wants to play with you in the least convenient times.
• He always touches the screen when me and Griffin are playing on our iPads.