Lucas Update: Four
It’s getting harder and harder to capture a conversation I’ve had with Lucas on paper. His conversational skills are much greater now, and his ideas are way more complicated than before. Now I can’t hold his speech in my head long enough to jot it down. I mention this because I don’t want anyone to think things around here are less hilarious than they used to be. They’re not!
Four is shaping up to be volatile and exciting!
Four is boastful, hot-tempered, sweet, fascinated, and full of brilliant ideas. Four wants to be a fire fighter when he grows up instead of a train engineer (gasp!). Four wants to do it himself, all by himself. Four is still a girl, but is still sometimes a baby girl and sometimes a 7-year-old and sometimes a “17-year-old in the 7th grade.” Four loves to dig, play tag, and race you. In fact, if you accidentally arrive anywhere before Four, he will scream and cry and insist that he beat you and came in first. Four is very quick to tattle and freak out if we break a rule, whether we know about the rule ahead of time or not. Four is good at censuring parents who say no to any request: “That’s not nice, Mom. You’re not allowed to say that to me. It’s rude! I’m mad at you.” Four also has new interests: robots, astronauts, fire fighters, dinosaurs. Four is helpful around the house, but only when he wants to be, meaning that anytime you ask him to help around the house, he’s “busy”: “I’m sorry, Mom. I can’t do that right now. I’m very busy doing something else. Sorry!”
Four has developed an alter-ego (besides Tidoo). This character’s name is Nukey or Nukey Monkey. Nukey Monkey is atrocious and rude and teasing and full of gibberish songs and tricks. Nukey Monkey makes me think of Loki or Coyote; I really don’t like it when Nukey Monkey comes visiting.
Four is obsessed with drawing! He can’t get enough and is producing many masterpieces each day (crayon, paint, pencil, and ink). Four now draws human figures, complete with eyes, mouth, nose, hat, body, arms, fingers, legs and feet. Four likes to draw volcanoes including Mount St. Helens, cannons, pirate ships, army people with swords, robots with wheels or big claws, fire, suns, trees, clouds, trains, cars, and Nukey. I’ve seen him draw exactly one picture with flowers in it: he gave it to Ambrosia for her third birthday. (I’m jealous.)
Four leaves the house to start his day each morning with ease and he hardly remembers to kiss me goodbye. Four fights me each day when I pick him up from school because he’s so involved in playing with his friends he doesn’t want to come home. Four would rather eat with his hands, or even by picking up food from his plate with his mouth, like whenever he’s playing beaver, for example; this is not allowed.
Four likes salsa! Four can get dressed by himself, but won’t if you ask him to do it. Four still prefers to be naked at just about any time of day. Four doesn’t want me to cut his hair because he wants it to be long like Ella’s. Four is getting along great now with Jackson (4), Joseph (5), and seems to look up to Quintin (7) quite a lot. Four would like me to arrange play dates with almost every classmate. Four is very excited about starting Kindergarten in the fall.
In a nutshell, Four is wild.
May 16, 2006 at 12:53 am
he cleaned up his playdoh today, after I asked him to do it… once. (Usually I have to ask him 3 times, tell him 2 times, and do half of it for him)
May 16, 2006 at 4:17 pm
Four interjects into adult conversation with comments regarding the topic being discussed. You can’t talk over Four’s head anymore. 🙂
May 16, 2006 at 4:29 pm
Yes, and Four asks pointedly when adults are speaking to each other, “Guys, are you talking to me too? Can I talk too?”
May 16, 2006 at 4:29 pm
Uh oh. Now he starts remembering all the words we say? Time to crack open the “Ol’ Timey Cursing” book, dagnabbit.
May 16, 2006 at 4:39 pm
Perhaps this post is a little too negative. Four is also clever, funny, engaging, and extremely creative. Four still likes to snuggle, give kisses, and read stories. Four is better at napping than he was at three-and-a-half (thank the gods!). Four can walk from the Davis train station all the way to the UC Davis campus without complaint. He can then walk all over the place for hours, and only needs a little carrying on the way back to the station because it’s past naptime. Four can eat! Four likes Thai food. Four gets so excited about a party or a play date or seeing friends (adults or children) that he jumps up and down, beaming. Four can’t wait for swimming lessons to start. He can turn on the backyard hose all by himself, and will water my plants for me. Four doesn’t have potty accidents (knock on wood). All of this is very, very good.
May 16, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Yes, please!
Spelling curse words or similarly undesireable language (k-i-l-l-i-n-g) works for the time-being, but won’t work for long. Some words spelled out sound just like the word (d-i-e-), as I have discovered, to my dismay, when Lucas correctly guesses what we’re talking about.
May 16, 2006 at 4:45 pm
ahhh, I’m doomed. I’m going to **** it up. I never know what’s undesirable until you get that look, but I try to be sensitive.
May 24, 2006 at 1:53 am
I am so happy that Four is a new exciting chapter in the book of Lucas. I can’t wait to see him again to experience Four. Just wait until Five comes around, and what adventures he’ll have then!