Atticus at 4 years (well, 4 1/4th)

I never did a post on Atticus at 4 years, but now that we are 4 years and 3 months, I'll do a quick one:

• Weight: 47.5 pounds
• Height: 42 inches
• Passed Vision/Hearing! 
• At his 4 year old shots, I felt like a mean mother. I told him he was getting shots and we talked about how good they were for him and how brave he would be and he was 100% on board and not worried at all. Well, when that first one came, he gave me the most terrified look and burst into tears! Of course, we were holding him down so he could get the other 3 and even though the nurse wanted to be fast, he is so strong, it took a few extra seconds. I felt like I'd betrayed him so much, but after a few minutes, he was much better. Everyone had said those were the worst ones and I'd decided to not talk to him about shots until the day of and be very positive. Atticus is such a sweet, trusting little boy and I felt really bad that he was so shocked at how much they hurt. :(
• At 4, his deep love is still animals, but now it includes the prehistoric kind. Yes, he still loves dinosaurs and can eat, sleep and drink them.
• Atticus' favorite past time is doing setups of dinosaurs, and sometimes still animals. A common question I get these days is "what can I do with my dinosaurs?" meaning that he needs a new place to set them up or be creative with them. 
• Another cute thing is watching him talk about and do his own dinosaur videos. On youtube, you can find lots of dinosaur documentaries, which is what he first started out loving. Then, we came across some dinosaur cartoons, but now he loves watching dinosaur toy videos. It is amazing what people do for you tube. A person will take a box of toys, and for us, dinosaur toys, and pull each one out and talk about it. That is it. They just talk about the dinosaur and what it does and set it up and then move onto the next one. He LOVES to watch these. He is constantly asking me when it will be the weekend because he is typically only allowed to watch the computer videos on the weekend. And, then a couple of months ago, he decided to do his own dinosaur videos. He sets them up and starts and then gets nervous and puts them away. I like to do them with him, because he will do the "video" a little longer. I actually also videoed him one day and if you check tomorrow's post, I will have those uploaded.
• Sometimes Atticus is a homebody. He likes to go, but he LOVES to be home and play with his toys. 
• He watched dinosaur shows for a little while (Dino Dan and Dinosaur Train), but recently likes Bubble Guppies, which is what Grace likes. It is educational too and he is always quoting something he learned from it.
• His current favorite movies are the Night at the Museum series. They are, surprisingly, very PG. And he has told us multiple times that he "weally wants to go to the museums in London and Washington, DC".
• And he loves museums. We went to a little one here in Bryan, and since then, he is a fan. We took him to a couple during our Camp Erwin trip and he enjoyed those too. Although, I'm learning that for events like that, he thrives on one-on-one attention and dinosaurs/animals to look at, as opposed to all the other cool things museums offer.
• His favorite foods are go-gurt, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grapes and of course chocolate, and anything with icing. 
• Daily nap days are over right now, but he still loves his sleep. He is a good sleeper and will still come into our room early in the morning to crawl into bed with us. He just doesn't want to take naps often. So, sometimes he will just have quiet time in his room and ends up just falling asleep during that time. But, he is a good sleeper. 
• He loves to talk. And ask questions. He just chats all day long, if you chat back. He is full of questions and soaks up knowledge so fast. You have to be careful what you say these days because if it is semi-made-up, he will use it as fact.
• He really wants to please and be helpful. He is so helpful these days with Grace. And, I ask him to help her with things all the time just because I like to watch how he interacts with her. They are both getting to be such good buddies and she typically listens to what he says. I also think she is proud when he wants to help her play with her. But, I will ask him to help her wash her hands or put her toys away or the other day, when my patience was at its limit, I told them to go play in their room and stay out of the kitchen. He just tells her what to do and includes her and she loves it! With washing hands the other day, he had to get her stool for her and then help her with soap, and I heard lots of big sighs and "no Gwace, like this" when he was teaching her. It's so funny because he will be so serious telling her how to do something and then Grace will start doing it wrong and giggling, and then when he realizes she is giggling, he starts to giggle and then it turns not-serious and they are just trouble together. But, he loves helping with Grace and the dishes and vacuuming and any other "jobs" I need him to do.
• I just love him so much. He is growing up. Words I would use to describe him are: sweet, thoughtful (if he thinks you are still asleep, he will never wake you), helpful, smart, a creative thinker, cautious, loving (he will ALWAYS give me a kiss and a hug), hilarious, and excited to do new things, even if he thinks them over a long time or needs help doing them at first.
• Of course, he is a 4 year old big brother who has rough days like anyone else, but I am so glad he is ours!