Malcolm's Almost FIVE!!

Mal's birthday rolls around next month, and this morning, I was thinking about how, this time last year, I was starting to get a little concerned (I'd passed "annoyed" about a year and a half before) about how we were going to wean him. I knew I didn't want to make it a traumatic break, but my son is easily traumatized, so even saying, "When you turn 4, you'll be too big!" would have broken his heart.

Then, lo and behold, right after his 4th birthday, he just... stopped.

Same thing with overnight pull-ups. We did use them when we went to Disney World just before his birthday, but that was because it wasn't our bed, and they don't have waterproof mattress covers, and... he was just suddenly dry all night without much of a transition.

Now there's just one developmental thing we're still working on. For some reason, when he needs to #2, Mal's first instinct is still to come kind of hide out in his room instead of heading straight for the restroom. He does then go, but the "brewing" time in his room beforehand baffles me.

Beyond that, Mal can read a bit, mostly small words that follow very strict rules about letter sounds. And he's picking up SO much math with Numberblocks. He watches several episodes a day, and watches them over and over... basically rote math facts, but sung with colorful animation and fun music. It's his choice. I've asked him if he wants me to find him something else to watch, and he'll say, "No, Mom, I need to learn my maths."

Speaking of that... he asks us math problems all of the time. Usually, it's because he wants us to "learn" (i.e. answer incorrectly so that he can teach us the right way). Occasionally, he actually doesn't know and wants to hear the truth. Anyway, last night, I was super tired of math and had kind of zoned him out when he asked me something. I said, "Sweetie, I don't know." He said, "Yes, you do. What is it?" I said, "No, I'm serious. Ask Dad. I was not good at math in school." Mal looked at me and said dismissively, "Oh, Mom, you don't need school!" Guess we've already indoctrinated him?

Mal doesn't know, but he and I are going on a tiny trip for his birthday. He has been begging to go to a hotel recently, especially after we visited my parents when they were overnighting near the airport for their 50th anniversary trip. On his actual birthday (the party is the weekend before), we're going to drive up to Dallas for a couple of days. I'm really looking forward to that.

Right now, Mal's favorite toys are the Micro Machines Millennium Falcon we got about a month ago, his "Numberblocks" (but not really) magnetic blocks we lucked into, and his Sonic the Hedgehog figures. He still plays with his Cars some, but not as much as he did this time last year. He went through a big Teen Titans Go! phase earlier this year, but that seems to be waning. He also went through a Mario stage, and we even got him a Nintendo Switch with Mario Party. I think James and I are going to get games we want to play (like Scribblenauts for moi!) since Mal doesn't seem super interested in it at the moment. He likes to watch Numberblocks and Gumball on YouTube; he watched and re-watched a ton of Clarence before his Kindle cleared the cache so YouTube can't remember what he tends to enjoy.

Oh, speaking of that, we had a second Kindle charge port crap out, so I found a relatively inexpensive iPad 3 on eBay that he's been using the past couple of days. He loves to play Woody Puzzle and Happy Glass.

Now he's saying he wants some Skittles, and since it's 10:00 PM, that sounds about par for the course. Night, all.