4 Year Well Child Visit

My doctor has a new office. It's close to the hospital where Mason and I were born. Mason's been there, but today was my first time. I got weighed and measured.

• height: 41.5 in (76 %ile)
• weight: 39 lbs (75 %ile)

When we got the exam room, the nurse asked me to change into an exam gown. That was the first. Mommy's sad that she didn't take a picture. Maybe she'll have another chance next year.

My doctor came in to examine me. I played a game where I touched her finger then my nose. I was so good that she asked me to close my eyes and do it. So, I did. She was pretty impressed. I have no idea what she was testing, but it was fun. Unlike Mason, I was calm and laid back the entire time. My doctor told mommy that I was "perfect."

After my exam, it was time to have my vision and hearing tested. We tried a chart with the alphabet letters, but then the nurse decided to do a chart with a bunch of Es pointing in different directions. I'm happy to say that my vision is 20/20. However, I had to repeat my hearing test.

The nurse told me to raise my hand when I heard sounds through the headphones. When she started the test, I never raised my hand. So, she asked me if I understood the instructions. To make sure that I understood, mommy and the nurse demonstrated what I was supposed to do. After that, I got it and passed my hearing test. If I had failed, mommy would know why I sometimes don't listen.

I ended my visit with two immunization shots. I didn't cry at all. Go me!

After my appointment, mommy and I grabbed a snack at Starbucks before she dropped me off at school. I was really disappointed when we got to school because I was hoping I'd get to spend the entire day with mommy.

Homework

Now that I'm in Pre-K, I have homework. I've had it for about two months now. Mommy was surprised that I'd have homework so early in my education. Welcome to the 2010s!

It turns out that my homework isn't graded. The purpose of giving us homework is get the kids (and parents) used to the idea of homework -- having something I have to practice at home and turning it in.

So, what does my homework consist of? Well, on Friday a new assignment is added to my homework folder. It's due back on Wednesday. It's usually two sheets of paper. At the top of the first page there's a line where I write my name. It also has a place where my teacher writes the letter of the week. The rest of this page is blank so I can glue 3 pictures that start with the letter of the week.

The second page has lines where I can practice writing the following: letter of the week, number of the week (e.g. 5), and writing out the number of the week (e.g. five). I'm pretty good about doing my homework so that it's done by Monday night. Mommy or daddy encourage me to do my best, and they help me when I get stuck.

I am 4 years old!

Happy 4th Birthday to me!

To celebrate my birthday, mommy made cupcakes to share with my friends at pre-school. They were strawberry cupcakes with chocolate frosting. We ate them for afternoon snack.

For dinner, we went to at my favorite place: Panera. When we got home, I showed mommy the sign my teacher's made for me. It said "Happy 4th Birthday Logan!" and there were pictures of balloons on it. Mommy and daddy had a surprise for me - an ice cream cake!


They put four candles in it, turned out the lights, and sang me happy birthday. I blew out all the candles! I was a little disappointed with the cake. I wanted chocolate, but it was strawberry ice cream with white cake. That didn't stop me from eating it. Mason didn't eat ice cream because it was too cold. Silly kid.

Here's a run-down of the things I like, things I'm good at and things I'm working on:

Things I like:

• The aquarium. my favorites are the jellyfish and hammerhead shark
• Eating out. whenever mommy or daddy ask me what I want to do for dinner, I immediately say I want to eat out. I think the food tastes better at restaurants than the food mommy or daddy cook at home.
• Playing with the LeapPad. I'm only allowed to play for 30 minutes/day on the weekends
• Singing to Mason. When we're in the car, I'll ask Mason if he wants me to sing to him. He usually says yes and then tell me what to sing. His requests change, but generally include: small world, you are my sunshine, somewhere over the rainbow or jingle bells.
• Reading. I can't read by myself, but I can recite a lot of books from memory. When mommy asks me to read short 3 or 4 letter words, I think it's fun for the first couple of words. Then I tell her I don't want to do it anymore.

Things I'm good at:

• Going potty. I don't have potty accidents anymore, not even at night. Whenever I have feel the urge to pee or poo, I just stop what I'm doing and go to the bathroom. I can even wipe myself after I go poo. 
• Asking Mason to play with me. By the way, asking him to play with me is not the same as sharing. We play Disney vacation where we pretend to go to Disneyland. Sometimes mommy and daddy will find us sitting in the laundry basket or against the wall pretending we're on a ride at Disneyland.
• Riding my plasma car.

Things I'm working on:

• Not talking back. Mommy and daddy say it's very disrespectful. They get very angry when I do it. I know that I'm doing it, but I still do it. Mommy really hopes it's just a phase.
• Going to bed when it's bed time. Since I nap at school, I have lots of energy for the rest of the evening. I usually come out of my room 4-5 times before I'm finally down for the night. When I come out of my room, I tell mommy and daddy, "I'm not at all sleepy."
• Writing: I've started writing letters and words at school. And I also have homework. I can write my name, but sometimes my G's look like 6's or I write a P instead of a G. I also don't understand that I should write the letters from left to write to make a word. In my book, if all the letters are on the page, it's good.
• Getting ready in the morning. I usually don't want to change out of my pajamas or brush my teeth. I prefer to hang out in my PJs. So every morning is a struggle for daddy (he usually gets us ready for school).

My favorite songs:

• All the songs from the Frozen sound track. I especially like the ones that Elsa and Anna sing together. I learned it's called a duet.
• Firework by Katy Perry

My favorite books:

• Disney story books. Between Mason and me, we have 4 of them. I usually ask to read a story from one of these books for bedtime.

Mason's 2nd Birthday Party

Nope, that's not a typo. We celebrated Mason's 2nd birthday the day before my birthday (and almost 3 months after his birthday). Mommy didn't plan it that way. We were supposed to have the party at the end of February, but everyone got sick. When we rescheduled the party, the gym even asked if we were sure the party was for Mason.

Mason had a Little Gym party for his 2nd birthday. Mommy only invited a couple of my friends to the party. They only got invited because they have younger siblings close in age to Mason.

Everyone had a great time playing with the parachute, jumping on the air track, chasing and popping bubbles, and exploring the gym equipment. After the gym time, we had pizza, sang happy birthday to Mason and ate cupcakes. Yum!

Thanks for coming to celebrate Mason's birthday everyone! Hope you had as much fun as we did.

Jumpin' Birthday Party

My BFF (that's birthday friend forever) Edison had his 4th birthday party at Pump It Up this afternoon. As soon as we walked into the room, I took off for the inflatable obstacle course. Mommy had to grab me to say hi to auntie Ann, uncle Newton and Edison. She said it's polite to greet our hosts before we go play. I had a blast running, sliding and jumping on all the inflatables.

The inflatables were a little bit big for Mason, but that didn't stop him. He wanted to go on the obstacle course with mommy. So she took him, but he got stuck and would cry. Mommy did her best to encourage him to go. Eventually daddy came along and carried Mason up the stairs so he could slide down.

We all had a great time. Happy Birthday Edison! Thanks for inviting us to the party!

Happy Birthday Caylie!

We celebrated Caylie's 2nd birthday today. First, we went to Build-a-Bear to make stuffed animals. We've never been here before so we had to learn how it works. In case you're interested in going here's how you make your animal:

1. Choose an animal. They have a wide assortment of animals from bears and dogs to My Little Pony and Hello Kitty.  The price ranges depending on what you pick. I chose Harajuku Hugs Panda; Mason chose Frosty the Snowman; Caylie also chose Harajuku Hugs Panda.
2. You pick a heart and give your animal personality traits like sporty, strong, cute, and playful. 
3. Add sound to your animal (optional). You can choose a pre-recorded sounds like phrases your animal would say or song snipets. Or you could record your own voice. I chose Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. It was a tough choice between that and Roar by Katy Perry. I like Katy Perry and know a lot of her songs. Caylie chose a selection of phrases. Auntie Lia was trying to get her to pick Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, but she wasn't into it. Mason used the record his voice option to record someone singing Do You Want to Build a Snowman on YouTube.
4. Add a scent to you animal. We didn't do this
5. After you've made all your selections, they put the heart into the animal, stick the sound making device into the hand and then stuff it!
6. The very last step is naming your animal (oh and paying).  You can also pick out clothes and accessories for your animal. They had a Sharks uniform, skates and a stick. But mommy said no because it cost $31

After getting our animals, we went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. We had a great time hanging out with Caylie, Nathan, Uncle Eddie, Auntie Lia, and PoPo.

Happy 2nd birthday, Caylie!

Sharing a room

Not only did grandma and grandpa spent the entire day with us yesterday, but they also stayed over night! I offered to let them sleep in my room/bed. Since they were going to stay in my room that meant I didn't have any place to sleep.

Mommy and daddy said that I could sleep in Mason's room. Mommy said it would be a good experiment to see what it would be like if Mason and I were to share a room permanently. They brought out an aero bed for me and put it in Mason's room.

Needless to say, Mason and I did not got to bed when it was bed time. Mason got out of his toddler bed and came over to my bed. We started talking to each other, then we got out of bed, turned on the light and took all the books of the bookshelf. I even decided to jump from the lower railing of Mason's bed to my bed.

Grandpa said it was like a slumber party. Mommy and daddy had to come in and split us up. Mason ended up in mommy and daddy's room until he fell asleep. Then daddy moved him back to his bed.  Daddy says the Brady Bunch is false advertising. Bobby, Peter and Greg all shared one room, and they went to bed when it was time to go to bed.

Now that I know how fun it is to share a room, I want to sleep in Mason's room all the time!

Zula Patrol and the Planetarium

Matthew and Jeffrey invited us and the Tanaka's to watch a show, the Zula Patrol, at the planetarium this evening. It's a show that he watches when he visits his grandpa. We've never heard of it before. When mommy looked it up on the internet, she found out that our cable provider doesn't offer the channel that airs the show. But since I've learned about planets and had expressed interest in them, she thought I might like it.

The planetarium had a dome top and was dark. Perfect for grandpa to take a nap. Mason also fell asleep during the show, which is good because he didn't nap earlier. I stayed awake the entire time. It was like being at the movies. After the show was over, the astronomer (that's a fancy word for someone who knows a lot about stars, planets and space), turned on the star ball which projects the night sky on the dome. I learned about Polaris (or the North Star), the big and little dipper Jupiter, Orion's belt, and the Seven Sisters (also known as Pleiades or Subaru in Japanese). Now every time I see a Subaru, I point out the logo and say it's the Six Sisters. (Mommy usually corrects me, but I insist that it's six and not seven).

After the show, we ran around outside and then went to dinner at the Galleria, a Korean food court. We haven't gone to dinner together in a really long time. I enjoyed hanging out with my friends and running around. Grandpa bought us a giant shaved ice for dessert. It was yummy!

Thanks for inviting us the show, Matthew and Jeffrey! I really enjoyed it.

Grandma, Grandpa and Racing

No, grandma and grandpa didn't do a race. But wouldn't it be neat if they did? They came over this morning to hang out with me and Mason while mommy, daddy and auntie Judy did the Hit and Run 5K race. Last night when mommy was putting me to bed, she told me that grandma and grandpa were going to come over. I sat up and got really excited.

Me: I might be a little bit crazy when they first get here.
Mommy: Really?
Me: Yes. (nodding my head up and down)
Mommy: Is that because you'll be very excited to see grandma and grandpa?
Me: Yes. I love it when they come over.
Mommy: I'm sure grandma and grandpa will be very excited to see you and Mason too. It's good to be a crazy and excited, but it's also good if you calm down after they get here.

Sure enough when they rang our doorbell, Mason and I went crazy. We can't help it. We just get so happy and excited when I see grandma and grandpa. We did our usual Saturday routine with grandma and grandpa - cooking class for me, swimming for Mason and Panera for lunch. M

When mommy, daddy and auntie Judy got home, Mason and I were awake. No one took a nap. So, daddy showed us the video from their race. They said it was only okay because there was a lot of waiting at each obstacle. I thought the obstacles looked fun, like jumpy houses. Check out the video that daddy made:

Science is fun

We had a science fair yesterday and the day before. The day before was the science fair for the Two's. Yesterday was the science fair for Pre-K. There were different stations for the kids and parents to visit.

For the Two's Science Fair there was a volcano table, a moon dough table, a magnet table, a water/magnet table where you could fish and a pine cone table. Mason's favorite was the volcano and water/magnet table. He liked making the baking soda bubble and erupt when he squirted colored vinegar on it. For obvious reasons, he also liked the water/magnet table. He liked splashing his hands in the water more than fishing for fish with a magnetic fishing rod.

For my science fair there was a bubble station, spinning airplane station, paint station, ice & oil station and a rain station. I did all of them expect the paint station. At the ice and oil station, I dropped an ice cube into the oil. Daddy says that station is about density. Uh...okay. I just thought it was cool to drop ice into oil, watch it melt and separate. My favorite one was the airplane station where I made a looper airplane. When you throw it the airplane spins.

Hot wheels and s'mores

Mommy mentioned that Grey (really, it's uncle Edric) has been really into Hot Wheels lately.  So this evening we went to check out their collection and tracks. Mommy wasn't kidding! There was a super crazy, long track in their family room. The beginning of the track was taped to their humongous TV. There were sideways loops, an upside down loop and a jump too. It was a-mazing!

Mason and I LOVED it. As soon as we walked in, we made a beeline for the Hot Wheels track and cars. We loved it so much that we didn't want to eat dinner. But mommy said that we had to eat dinner. Otherwise, there would be no dessert. And dessert was going to be something really yummy and fun.

Turns our dessert was making s'mores at Auntie Luann's house (she's auntie Char's neighbor). They were having a s'more party in their front yard to welcome the Japanese Exchange student they were hosting for a couple of weeks. I had fun roasting the marshmallow and even more fun eating the s'more. So did Mason. If you look really carefully in the picture, you'll see that got marshmallow all over his face.

After eating our s'more, I told daddy that I wanted to go back to Grey's house so we could play more Hot Wheels.

Boys Day Out

Since Mommy was sick this weekend, Daddy took us out for a boys day. He wouldn't tell us where we were going. He said it was a surprise. The last time we went somewhere that was a surprise, we ended up at Disneyland! Hmm...maybe we were going there again. A kid can hope, right?

Well, daddy didn't take us to Disneyland. Instead he took us to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We practically had the entire place to ourselves! There was no one there. I guess Sunday afternoon is a good time to visit. We got to go around the aquarium twice and see all the fish and sea life. And mommy got to rest!