The Bush's: Happy 4th Birthday Jake!

I can't believe our Jake is 4 years old today! 4 years ago, we were going about our Christmas Eve, thinking we still had another 4 weeks to get ready before we met our little boy. We went to Christmas Eve service in Chattanooga, out to eat & then to a movie with Robbie's family. We had gotten home & I was making a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and heating up some left over pizza (geeze, I wonder why I gained so much weight pregnant!). Suddenly I felt water. I thought my water broke until I went to the restroom & realized it was blood. We go to the hospital & I expect them to put me on bed rest. We were shocked when they said they would have to do an immediate emergency c-section. Yikes! Less than 30 minutes later, at 11:24 PM, our little 5 pound Jake came into the world. He certainly made that a Christmas Eve to remember. And our lives would never be the same. He was our very best Christmas present ever.

So what's going on with this 4-year-old?...

He gets up around 5 or 6 AM. That's around the time Robbie is getting up to go to work, so he comes to our bed for some cuddle time & extra sleep. We get up & get our day started around 7 AM.
He loves having a nutri-grain bar & milk for breakfast. Sometimes he'll have cereal. If he had his choice, he would have pancakes everyday for breakfast. This child loves pancakes & waffles with syrup.
He goes to school 3 days a week in the mornings. He loves his school. He has 2 girls & 5 boys in his class & his teacher is Mrs. Christy. 5 of the kids were in his class last year, so he has gotten very close with his school friends. His favorite part of school is music and his music teacher Mrs. Sarah.
Jake still takes a nap, but truth be told, we should probably drop it. He goes to sleep so much better (& earlier) at night when he doesn't take a nap. But I still need him to take that nap or at least rest, so I can finish up work. So for now, we keep it. Some days he actually sleeps, and other days he just rests & reads books.
After he gets up from his nap & I've finished up work, we usually spend some time outside. We'll either walk to the park or ride his bike. He has a Batman Cave that we keep in the garage, so he plays with it a lot outside.
Once Robbie gets home, we start supper. We are trying to get Jake better on eating what we are eating. (Usually he just wants a Gerber meal or mac & cheese.) He is slowly getting there.
To get ready for bed he watches a little PBS Sprout, takes a bath and we read some books. I'd love to say he is in bed at 7 PM, but that would be a lie. We are not the best at early bedtime.
Food - Jake loves pancakes, waffles & muffins. He loves chicken fingers, fries, mac & cheese & pizza. He recognizes Chick-fil-a and loves it. His favorite snacks are applesauce, yogurt, goldfish, cheese or fruit gummies. He loves milk, apple juice & lemonade. We try to give him water as much a possible. As long as we put some crushed ice in it, he is actually pretty good at wanting it. His favorite reward treat is Cheetos. He likes some candy, but is not a big candy eater.
Inside Play - He is starting to play with his trains & cars a little less. Right now he is going through a big superhero phase. He loves Batman & Power Rangers. He loves to read books and color. He loves looking at toy catalogs. He calls them his magazines. He likes playing with his Woody & Buzz characters.
Outside Play - He loves riding his bike and playing soccer. He also loves the park.
Things he loves but I wish he didn't - He loves electronics. He has a little kid type iPad that he loves. But his favorite is to watch You Tube videos on our computer. His favorite things to watch are Toy Story videos, Thomas the Train videos and Power Rangers videos.
Favorite movies & shows - He goes through phases on which stations he loves, not really just one particular show. It rotates between Disney Jr., Nick Jr. & PBS Kids. This month, it is PBS kids. His favorite movie is still the Toy Story movies. He can almost quote them now. He loves to reenact the movie with his Woody & Buzz.
Loves - Jake loves to sing, but he sounds like the reject kids from American Idol. It's so bad, it's funny. It's hilarious to hear him sing. He loves going to the RV. He LOVES his grandparents. He cries when we have to leave. His favorite though is going to their houses, but Robbie & I not being there. (So he can get away with more stuff!) If we are there, he'll tell us we need to leave.
Does not love - Bugs & dogs that he doesn't know. He is actually scared of a lot of things, but he can go overboard with that sometimes.