Jonathan Daniel - Age FOUR

On October 16th, our handsome little man turned 4! In many ways it seems that he never changes (which is nice for my Mommy heart), but in many other ways it is obvious that he is becoming quite the grown up little man.

Daniel adds a whole new amazing dimension to our family simply because he is our BOY. He still takes me by surprise sometimes as I grew up with all sisters and even after four years I am still learning what it means to have a little boy around the house! And as I've often said before, he is all boy!

One of Daniel's favorite things to do is play in sand and dirt. When we were in Sri Lanka he largely ignored the water but LOVED having an enormous sandbox to play in!

Daniel's first moments on the beach - he went straight for the sand!

Nearly everything about Daniel is focused and intense. He doesn't do anything halfway (unless he just doesn't want to do it). If he is digging, watch out because that sand is gonna fly. If he's eating, that's all that matters. If he's coloring, he does it with such intensity that the crayons often break.

Yes, chalk also breaks when he colors with that! 

Riding the "Red Ant" down our street

 When he rides his "Red Ant" down the street, he rides so fast and hard that he often goes faster than Rebekah does on her bicycle! For those of you who knew my Grandpa Hinkle, this is one area in which Daniel reminds me very much of him... and also Daniel's Grandpa Chuck at times. =)

The legs are a blur... and see the intensity on his face?!

Ready to run - another thing he does with great intensity!

The movie Kung Fu Panda is Daniel's latest favorite movie, and he will often go around the house pretending to do Kung Fu. He will come and ask me, "Mommy, can me and Rebekah fight?" By which he means "Can we wrestle or pretend to do "Kung Fu"? His sisters aren't nearly as into it as he is, but sometimes they humor him. =)

Wrestling with Daddy and the girls

 Daniel has been watching his big sister do school for the past two years now, and has been very eager to start "doing school" himself. I have not officially started teaching him yet (although we plan to start in January), but because of his eagerness he has about a 10-30 minute school time each day. If I don't do it first thing, he will almost always ask, "Mommy, when is it time for my school?" The joy of being the second born in a homeschooling family is that he never had to intentionally learn letters or numbers. He picked those up long ago from listening to and watching his big sister. He is a pro with the letter sounds and recognizing all the letters and numbers. And as of a few weeks ago, he is very proud that he is learning to read, write, and add. Right around his fourth birthday he read his very first book which you can hear here. He is happy incredibly excited to be reading, and attempts to sound out every word he sees. Such a fun stage of learning. =)

See the excitement on his face over the beautiful "Fs" he made?!

He loves books, whether he is actually reading the words or not.

 Daniel may be our boy, but he is also our sensitive one. He has a great deal of concern for others and always wants to make sure everyone/ everything is ok. He says the funniest things sometimes without even meaning to, but his feelings get hurt fairly easily, so we have to be careful not to laugh at him (as hilarious as he unintentionally is at times) or he will be highly offended... and he will never let us forget that we laughed at him!

He tries hard to be a little gentleman too, reminding Daddy that "We have to take care of the girls." When we go for a walk he almost always picks three flowers. He brings them to me saying, "These are for all the girls." (One for each of us.) The other day we had a female friend walking with us. As usual, Daniel came running toward us with his three flowers. Then he suddenly stopped and whirled back around to where he got the flowers, calling, "I need to get four!!" Can't leave anyone out. =)

This face just makes me want to squeeze him!

Daniel is also learning how to make compromises to avoid arguments. He and Hannah are either best friends or worst enemies depending on the moment. Hannah can be very insistent on getting her way, but her big brother is learning how to (attempt to) make them both happy. For example, all the kids love to be the one to put in a CD or DVD, press the play and eject buttons, etc. Hannah is especially vocal about the "fact" that it should be her job.

King of the hill with his little sis

The other day Daniel asked for some music and of course both he and Hannah wanted to be the one to get it ready. Before I even made it into the room Daniel had suggested to Hannah that he put the CD in, and she push the button to close the player. She was happy with that, and they carried out their tasks independently with no screaming, arguing, or shoving! Of course it doesn't always happen that way, but with 2, 4, and 6 year olds in the house, I greatly enjoy those victorious, peaceful moments. =) 

A sweet peaceful moment that I had to capture!

 As you psychology types may have figured out, Daniel is our "passive aggressive," meaning that he's good at getting what he wants without confrontation. He can be easily frustrated, but he does not like confrontation. How does that play out in real life? Well, this is certainly a learning and growing process - for him and for us. However, what can and sometimes does happen is that if he doesn't want to do what we say, he just pretends he didn't hear us. Or if he wants to do something but he thinks we will say no, he just does it without asking. I can count on one hand the times that he has actually been outright defiant, verbally at least. In some ways it's nice, but it also means that he is probably the hardest of the three to discipline. We're constantly weighing out, "Is he disobeying or is he just so focused on what he's doing that he 'forgot' to listen?" He is usually eager to please, so that helps. =) 

The face of "I don't care what you do to me, I am NOT going to cooperate!"

A few of Daniel's loves:

He loves raw vegetables (especially tomatoes, but also cucumber, capsicum/ green pepper, and carrots). If you've been in our home for a meal, you have no doubt that this is true! Even if fresh veggies aren't on the menu (if we're having curry and rice, etc.), they usually end up on his menu. He will eat his regular food, then almost invariably say, "I'm still hungry... can I have some vegetables?" I try to keep raw vegetables cut and in the fridge, but he cleans it out nearly every day! If I leave a bowl of sliced tomatoes in front of him, I can guarantee that they will be gone. We joke that we named him well: Daniel eating vegetables instead of the king's food!

Cleaning out the veggie bowl!

He loves one-on-one time, especially with Daddy.

Helping Daddy wash the motorcycle

He loves Spider-Man. He wears this shirt just about every day these days... hardly gives me a chance to wash it!

He loves to cut with scissors... but hates having his hair cut!

He loves everything about outer space - astronauts, space shuttles, the solar system, the moon, etc. He knows the names and positions of most of the planets, and often looks through our book that details the first moon walk.

He loves to help in the kitchen. Like most men that sometimes means he is hungry and looking for food! But he does enjoy helping too. He especially enjoys helping with the dishes, although he usually ends up as wet as the dishes by the end!

"Can I have a grape?" Um... A grape?

He loves marine animals and plastic carnivores of all kinds. He still enjoys his cars, but his animals have sort of taken the place of cars recently. He almost always has at least one tiger or whale in his hands.

He loves music. He's not big on being the center of attention so he doesn't sing too much or too loud. However he does love to sing and really enjoys music and musical instruments. He's always had a good ear.

He loves adventure. He will often ask me, "Mommy, can we do something new?" He gets very excited if we do something that seems like a new adventure to him. He's going to love furlough! Constant newness!

He loves acts of bravery.... like the Biblical Daniel. He claims that he himself is not brave. We remind him that being brave does not mean that you are not afraid. It means that you do what you need to do even if you are afraid. He's still trying to let that one sink in... and trying to be brave in the meantime. =)

As I write and look through these pictures, I can't help but smile at the precious little character our Daniel is.  He is very much his own person, and it's hard to know what to say to help those of you who haven't seen him in 2+ years to know and understand him. He's such a precious boy. Exasperating at times, but also extremely lovable. =) So very thankful that God brought him into our lives four years ago! We love you Daniel!

Our little Indian

Jonathan Daniel, Age 4