Liam's 4 year check up & other updates

First up, some stats:

Height: 41 inches (67th percentile)
Weight: 36 lbs (52nd percentile)

At his 3 year check up, he was 38.5 inches and 33 lbs so he's grown 2.5 inches taller and weighs 3 pounds more than he did a year ago.  And for another comparison, at Jake's 4 year check up, he was 38.75 inches tall and 33 lbs.  So basically, Liam was the same size at age 3 that Jake was at age 4 :)  Which explains why Liam is almost always a size ahead in clothing over where Jake was!  (in fact, I'm pretty sure that they will be able to share clothes sooner rather than later....) 

Everything else at the check up looked good for this happy kid; at his last visit, he still had 1 stubborn tube in his left ear, but that has since fallen out so we don't have to worry about getting it removed.  We are grateful that the tubes made such a huge difference for him while they were in and we are very happy that he never had to have them replaced.  Hopefully we're past most of his ear issues. 

He got his shots like a champ (last set until he's 10 or so), and was super cooperative, even though our pediatrician took for-e-ver to make it into the room (and he was actually examined twice, a physicians assistant in training did a "practice" exam on him first, then our actual pediatrician did one) 

My only concern going into the appointment was Liam's speech; he still says a lot of his letters incorrectly (most notably his Ls, so when he says his name it comes out as Yiam, and sometimes he says his Ls as Ws...he struggles with Rs, too, those tend to come out as Ws)  Thankfully, the doctor wasn't concerned yet and said there's a good chance he will outgrow it by kindergarten, and if not, they will evaluate him in school at that time if they feel it's necessary and we can go from there.  So at least we don't have to worry about it right now (and to be honest, I kind of like the way he says those things!!)

He's starting to wean himself off of naps (at home at least, he always naps at preschool); I knew the day would come, and even though I adore those afternoon naps when we're home, sometimes they do get in the way of trying to plan things in the afternoon.  So it's nice that if necessary, he can now power through the afternoon...although it's still a toss up, sometimes he's totally fine and just goes to bed early...other days, he falls apart in the late afternoon/early evening and it's miserable.  So, if we have something going on in that late afternoon/early evening time, I really push to try to get him to nap so that he's not a mess wherever we are.  Most of the time he will comply...if I let him sleep on his floor in his sleeping bag.  Fair enough.

And he is FINALLY getting to the point where, if we let him stay up late, he will actually make up for it by sleeping in the next day.  Hallelujah!!!  I really didn't think we were ever going to get to this point; for so long he would wake up at his usual time (a disturbingly early 5:30am) no matter what time he had gone to bed the night before.  So this new development is so exciting to us!! 

So that's what's going on in Liam's world right now...happy, healthy, and ready to take on year 2 of preschool next year!