Soren at Four Years Old

Chris said he just loves the age Soren is now.  He's playful and sweet and full of imagination.  Plus it can't hurt that he's a daddy's boy.  Like his brothers, Soren is all about dad.  He likes to go wherever Chris goes, whether it's on another Home Depot run or outside to do yard work.  Of course Chris loves this age, he's got a sidekick! 

Meanwhile, I'm mourning the fact that Soren doesn't necessarily want snuggle with me anymore at bedtime.  I still get hugs and kisses, but not the snuggles where he pulls me close until my cheek presses against his.  It breaks my heart, even though he demonstrates that he still needs his mommy.  The mornings are particularly cute/pitiful when I leave for work.  A single hug - or 10 - won't do.  He's got to follow me out the door and get another hug on the porch and then as I walk to the car he needs to open the storm door and scream/cry/desperately proclaim that he loves me and that he's going to miss me.  On more than one occasion, he was getting dressed when I left and he came flying out of the house in his underwear, or that he time he came out in nothing but his socks.  I tell you, we provide endless entertainment for the neighbors. 

On a recent workday morning, I didn't have to say goodbye to him.  He had been sick the day before and couldn't go to preschool and I was home sick from work too.  My other kids were at school and as I lay in bed trying to rest, Soren played quietly with his Legos just outside my bedroom.  I snuggled under the covers and listened to him talk out loud to himself about what he was making with his Legos and to the stories he created as he played. It was an unusual kind of background noise, but so soothing, and at that moment I wished I could have bottled up his four-year-old innocence. 

There's nothing sadder than a kid sick on his birthday and that unfortunately was the case for Soren.  He rang in his fourth year with a super high fever and no appetite, not even for cake.  All the fun things we had planned for his birthday, which was an unusually warm 83-degree day, pretty much went out the window.  The good news is that his birthday cupcakes weren't going to go bad if we put them aside for a day or two until he got better.  He was feeling well enough the next day that we were able to pick up where we had left off and finally feasted on the lemon cupcakes with vanilla frosting that he had requested. 

After I posted Soren's birthday pictures on Facebook and later an old picture from my father-in-law's birthday 29 years ago, my sister-in-law sent us two photos side-by-side to highlight the resemblance she noticed between Soren and his Uncle Andy.  I regretted cutting Soren's hair right before his birthday, because if I'd left his blond mop, he would have looked that much more like his uncle.  It's funny how we had never noticed the resemblance before.  

Soren at age four and his Uncle Andy at age two and a half.