Walter Turns 4

Walter is becoming much more articulate and has great verbal skills. Unfortunately, his opportunities to use those skills aren’t as frequently as he would like, so he yells, “My turn to talk!”  The kids may fight, but they also have begun to play/scheme together more and are enjoying each other.  Walter greatly favors Mom, especially at bedtime, but the parent who did not just tell him NO is who he REALLY wants.  Walter does not know (or at least won't admit to knowing) his grandparents names.  Instead Wayne and Millie are HIS grandma and grandpa, and Mike and Karen are Johanna's. If you mention something about a grandparent, he requires that you identify them by indicating his or Johanna's.  Johanna thought it was cute at first but is now totally annoyed.  "They are BOTH our grandparents!!!"

Walter decided that dinner time would be a great time to tell family jokes.  I think he got the idea from watching The Muppets and seeing Fozzie tell jokes.  His jokes are pretty much along the same lines - “Why did (insert word, often not understandable) go to the doctor?  To (insert explanation, again rarely understandable)!” Then he ends it by saying “Wacka! Wacka!” And if you don’t laugh, and sometimes even if you do, he says flatley, “You have to laugh.”  So basically, we take turns around the table, saying some nonsense, ending with “Wacka, Wacka” and then all fake laughing loudly.  

He typically does not sit still at dinner and loves chocolate for dessert

Walter’s best play time is in his bedroom at night when it is supposed to be reading time.  He loves playing with this animal figurines and alligators /crocodiles. He does a great job imagining story lines and carrying them out.  Many of the storylines are similar to Lion Guard or Wild Kratts - two of his favorite shows. And thanks to Wild Kratts he can differentiate between alligators and crocodiles and also knows several other animals - which comes up when he is finally ready for reading time.  Walter has specific ways he wants books read and if you get it wrong, he will tell you and you have to do it the right way. For example, one book shows a monkey, but you can’t call it a monkey - “NO! Spider Monkey.” And it is not a bird, it is a vulture or a bald eagle. Or in one story, it is not “Mother and Father” (as the book actually says), it is “Mom and Dad”.  He listens to make sure you do it right and if you do without him needing to correct you, he says “Good Job!”

Walter is a late to bed, late out of bed kind of guy. He plays until he passes out.

Walter had a habit of going up to people and saying “Who are you?”  He really just wanted to meet people and talk to them, so we instructed him to say “Hi, I’m Walter, what’s your name?”  He has done a great job of using that approach, although we often have to repeat the words to the stranger as tends to mumble them.  We were waiting to be seated for dinner and Walter said to a man nearby - “Hi, I’m Walter, what’s your name?”  I repeated it to the man and he smiled and responded “Hello Walter, my name is Eldon.”  Walter responded with surprise, “How do you know my name?!?!”  And we all had a good laugh. 

He loves seeing "his name" - which is any letter W.

There is a picture in Michelle’s baby book of her being upset, and the caption goes something like “Michelle is typically good natured, but when she is mad, she is very mad.”  That is absolutely Walter as well.  He screams, he kicks, he hits, he positions his body so you cannot move him, but he is also getting easier to reason with (sometimes) and he does NOT like having his favorite thing taken away - watching his shows.  In school, Walter tried saying “No!” for a few days but they quickly course corrected.  His teacher Sharon said Walter isn’t very interested in learning, or at least does not show it.  For example, in last year’s evaluation he counted to 12, this year they couldn’t get him to go over 7.  And if an art project is optional, Walter ALWAYS opts out.  But, in the 3 Year Old room they had many lessons involving cooking, and Walter really took to that.

He graduated to a big kid bed with this favorite theme.