4

Jansen will be 4 on Sunday. I cannot even tell you how many times Nate and I have said to each other, "He is such a good boy." He has his moments like any kid his age, but he is a pretty darn good kid and so smart. He was an insanely hard baby and I remember thinking, this could turn out two ways. This crazy baby will be a crazy kid or else he will totally change and probably be a pretty easy toddler/child. The latter is definitely true.

Jansen loves to run and ride his little bike/trike thing. He has endless energy when it comes to these two things.

He is still completely obsessed with trains. He loves all the Thomas stuff, but he also really loves all the realistic type locomotives and steam engines. He would honestly really enjoy watching a documentary made for adults about locomotives. He pretends everything is a train, tapes his race cars together to make trains, knows all the names of all the parts of a train, etc.

He has recently become a coloring maniac. It was only a couple months ago that he was scribbling once or twice on a page and calling it done. Now he will spend an hour or two just coloring different train pictures.

He likes routine and is set in his ways. There is a certain color of plate and fork he likes to use with every meal, ALWAYS sits in the same seat, etc. He can easily get hung up on details like this if things are not the way he wants them.

He loves to type on the computer and play games. He uses the mouse really well and is learning about the computer almost more quickly than I feel comfortable with!

He seems to be naturally drawn to writing, drawing, and reading. I sure can't take credit for it.

Now that I know we are having another boy, I am so excited to think that Jansen will be this

baby's older brother and example. I can't think of a better role model.

He loves peanut butter sandwiches, pancakes, and Yoplait's key lime pie yogurt. He's not big on food and rarely tells me he's hungry. Eating seems to be more of a nuisance and something that takes away from playtime so it's not worth it to him.

Jansen is often overly cautious and wary of things like dogs, amusement park rides, other people, etc. He's sort of the opposite of a dare devil...except when it comes to playing on the playground.

Love this kid. So much that it almost hurts. He's an awesome big brother...he and Natalie are having some wonderful times playing together these days. I am so grateful to have him and frankly, he is a mini Nate and I can't ask for anything better than that!