Noah Four and a Half Years: A Portrait

Our happy and smiley little guy at 4.5 years (the pictures were taken a day or two after he turned 4.5 years old despite the dating of this post):

For the stats, Noah is 19.3kg and about 109cm.

Since the last portrait post a while ago, the main changes, I think are: 1) he is a big brother! (yes the last of such posts was quite a while ago) He loves his little sister and overall has adapted very well to sharing our attention and is generally helpful and caring; 2) he started a new school, since September Noah started going to a bilingual English-French school called la Petite Ecole. It follows the French system but half of his time is English and half in French. The approach to learning is different than in his old school and he seems to like it a lot. Noah has also been spending more time at school. He gets home around 4:15 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and at 1:15 on Wednesdays and Fridays, 3) he is even more independent physically - Noah will play for long stretches of time on his own with his legos or his cabanes and we hear him inventing scenarios - also choosing his clothes and dressing himself without prompting, going to the bathroom on his own both at home and out, 4) along with the physical independence, Noah also developed greater intellectual independence - he has clear opinions about how things should be and wants a say in everything - this sometimes translates in asserting a difference in opinion when he didn't really care (or so we think) just to have his say; and 5) since his ear operation, he now hears well (so no more shouting NOAH, NOAH 10 times before he can hear us) and his pronunciation is getting better and better (he is still working on and will be getting a little help perfecting his "s", "ch", "k" and "g" and the English "r" at the beginning of a word).

Note that we are not doing a bullet point "Noah CAN" section because at this age it no longer seems applicable - in summary, Noah can now can swim better (they teach him the crawl as well as the doggie paddle and the breaststroke). He can ride his two wheel bike well and his two-wheel scooter well. He is reading better and better (though still simple words) in both English and French (we play games like find the note or ball where he has to read the directions "go look on Maman's bed" or "go look under Daddy's desk"... and we play a variation of charades - I wrote out in English and French names of animals and he reads the names and then acts out the animal and we have to guess). He is better able to tell stories and understand more complex and longer books. 

At 4.5 years old Noah according to Noah LIKES

• Swinging - which he has been able to do on his own now for about a year;
• Staying at home (Noah can be a bit of a homebody at times);
• Playing games like Busytown, sets, connect 4, Naviplouf (battleship for kids);
• Riding his bike (he has gotten very good on his bike); and
• Riding his new two-wheel scooter.

.... and then he lost interest in this exercise!

Noah on his old scooter

and again

The new  2 wheel scooter

In addition to the above, at 4.5 years old, according to us, Noah LIKES:

• Building "cabanes" out of pillows and chairs and tables (our living room is constantly being rearranged) and hiding in them;
• Playdates: Noah still has regular weekly playdates with his friends around Singapore. Some friends he has seen every week for over 3 years (Daniel, and Matthias and Jeanne - Kathryn left the country unfortunately) and some new weekly playdates (with our new neighbor Kien) and occasional playdates with friends from his new school and from his old school;
• His sister;
• Playing hide-and-seek especially with Maya;
• Putting on shows for Maya (and us but mostly Maya);
• Feeding Maya;
• Cooking - I took him to a kids' cooking class a few weeks ago and he LOVED it and has been asking to go back for another one every day since then. He also loves cooking with his father and has become a helpful sous-chef. His favorite thing is breaking eggs... and tasting everything;
• Food and eating - Noah is still a big foodie - planning his gouters and writing menus and helping decide what we will eat for the week;
• "Art" - he loves drawing and painting and collaging. He recently started an after school art-science class where they learn about animals  or nature and then draw/paint/recreate them;
• Cutting paper into pieces or cutting along lines;
• Legos - during his "quiet time", Noah makes buildings out of legos;
• New books - Noah is less excited than before about hearing the same books over and over and more interested in reading new longer books. In English, he loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Great Glass Elevator, Boing Boing the Bionic Cat in Space, Pippi Long Stocking. In French, we have been reading the Pere Castor collection of stories;
• Sesame Street - he does not get to watch it very often but enjoys it a lot and talks about Super-grover and elmo quite a bit;
• Going to Sentosa: Sentosa is still probably his favorite place to go to -especially since we went to Universal Studios but he also loves luging and riding the elevator ride and watching people fly in the wind tunnel and taking the monorail or the gondolas;
• Toy and book exchanges;
• Giving and receiving kisses and hugs - he is still very affectionate and cuddly both with us and his friends; 
• Telling us he loves us (and hearing that we love him); and
• School and his friends at school:  he comes home telling us all kinds of stories about dragons and wolves and about his drama class and his friends.

Kissing Maya

He looks so caring and big-brotherly in this picture 

Talking about school, Noah just got his first "report card" from the Petite Ecole and this is what his teachers had to say about him: 

"Noah is an exceptionally bright and caring child. He displays characteristics of a natural life-long-learner. Throughout the first semester Noah has exhibited many characteristics that make him an excellent communicator. He enjoys expressing ideas, information and opinions and is able to state his thoughts clearly. Noah is inquisitive and frequently asks questions relevant to the topic, therefore demonstrating his skills as an inquirer. He is responsive to the needs of other[sic] and shows sensitivity towards differences and diversity. Noah cooperates well with classmates in a variety of situations. He has developed his skills to gain facts, ideas and vocabulary and is able to retain this information. Noah listens carefully to others, directions and information. Noah is able to recognize his letters and form them correctly. Keep up the wonderful things you are doing Noah! It has been an absolute pleasure teaching Noah :)" 

And his French teacher:

"Noah est un petit garçon actif, perspicace, toujours souriant et très agréable. Il est responsable, et toujours partant pour toutes les activités.

Très sociable, et respectueux des règles de vie du groupe, il participe avec enthousiasme à la vie de classe. Noah est serviable et toujours prêt à aider que ce soit ses camarades ou bien lors des moments de rangement de la classe.

Lors des ateliers, Noah est de plus en plus appliqué, il est autonome et sait faire preuve d'initiative. C'est en outre, un petit garçon intéressé et passionné, qui n'hésite pas à poser des questions pertinentes et exprimer sa volonté d'apprendre. Noah a d'ailleurs fait de véritables progrès en langage qui est de mieux en mieux construit et qu'il utilise de façon de plus en plus précise pour partager avec ses camarades des idées astucieuses. Un très bon début d'année dans les domaines de pré-lecture, graphisme et numération-dénombrement. Noah a toujours beaucoup d'idées lors des activités de création et de production et il est toujours enthousiaste à les partager avec ses camarades.

Félicitations pour un très bon début d'année, bravo Noah!!! Continue ainsi, c'est très bien!"

The above, pretty much captures him these days - curious about the world and interested in learning and helping out. At home, he is also sometimes stubborn and contrarian, especially if he is hungry or the food selection is not what he would like it to be or he wants more attention. 

At 4.5 years old Noah DISLIKES:

• Being told what to do and when to do and how to do it - he is a big boy and knows how things work and has very clear opinions of what he wants and how things should work;
• Not having food the instant he feels hungry;
• Photoshoots and taking lots of pictures - this is new - he used to love taking pictures but now is less excited about it and is less comfortable posing;
• Not having the food he would like to eat (mostly this comes up at breakfast and gouter); and
• Not having as much attention as he would like.

4.5 year old Noah