4 and a half!

When someone asks me how old Matthew is and I answer 4 years old, if Matthew is standing near me, he'll correct me and say "NO!  I'm 4 and a half!"  Half a year makes a big difference in a child's life!  Matthew is learning so much more and doing so much more in school this year.  Every week he learns a new letter sound and he's constantly telling us what letter different words start with.  He comes home with much more class work that he's accomplished during the day and he even has homework!  Not every day, but he gets a calendar at the beginning of each month and by the end of the month, he has to complete a certain number of activities that are listed out on the calendar.  So far, he doesn't mind doing it so that's a good sign!  Here's a picture of him at home, happily getting ready for his first day of pre-kindergarten (back in September) and then a recent picture that was taken 3 months after the first day of school picture.

Over the summer, he got to experience Cedar Point for the first time.  He loved it, of course!  His favorite ride was the bumper cars (because he got to drive his own car!) and the Jr. Gemini, which is a mini roller coaster.  

His latest favorite show is Wild Kratts.  It's a show that teaches about animals and he loves watching it.  He even asked to be one of the Wild Kratt brothers for halloween.  He doesn't look very thrilled in this picture, but I think he liked the costume - this is him being a Wild Kratt brother as a bat.  They turn into different animals and this was the easiest one to make ;)

He still loves to build things - he's always loved his legos!  But I think as he's getting older now and having more patience to do things that are a little more difficult, he's starting to get a little more into puzzles.  He still asks for help to complete a 25 piece puzzle, but I definitely see a difference in his tolerance level for more complicated things.  But, he still enjoys the simple things too like his train tracks.  He built this and then asked me to take a picture of him and his squiggly track:

And just for fun, here's a video of him reading.

Oh Matthew, we love you so much!