Lochlan is sweet, smart, funny, loving, empathetic, and an uncoordinated goofball. He loves music and asks for things all the time (mostly Harry Belafonte, but he also quite likes M.I.A. and Missy Elliot). He is genuinely thoughtful of us in a way that is sort of brand-new to us as parents. Like, a few weeks ago I complained of a headache, and about an hour later, he asked how my headache was! (Maybe this is normal, but his sister has never done it.)
He's obsessed with dinosaurs and watches every dino show there is on every streaming service. He can recognize at least 30 dinosaurs on sight (probably more, but it's hard to say), and usually tell you how he knows the difference between one and another that looks similar, like some detail of the toe claw.
He is not a big risk-taker in some ways. He won't even try riding the little bike I attached via trail-a-bike to mine. But at the same time he's very confident he's allowed to play out front by himself, or ride his balance bike to the end of the block (he's not).
He loves the hot tub we got a few months ago and asks to go in almost every night. We started singing "Hot Tubbing" to the tune of "Hot Blooded," and now he sings it too, stripping naked and yelling, "CHECK IT AND SEE."
He likes to make up new species of animals and pretend to be them (usually some sort of combination breed, like the frog-look-raccoon). Other times he'll tell me he's my "human baby" and wants to be held.
He's a little sensitive, especially to loud noises. He has flatly refused to allow anyone to sing him the Happy Birthday song.
He will try most foods, but he occasionally tells us he's a carnivore and doesn't eat vegetables. The other night I ordered only veggie pizza, and he was so mad at me he refused to eat pizza at all and stared at me wrathfully while shoving slices of ham in his face.
He has lately been telling us he's not a boy, but a girl, and Azadeh's little sister. This will either be a funny anecdote to tell someday, or the thing we look back and and go "OH" about. But he doesn't seem to mind wearing boy clothes, getting his hair cut short, etc. So we're letting it ride and using gender-neutral pronouns as much as possible. No more "you're such a sweet boy," but "you're such a sweet child."
He has his moments of crabbiness, but for the most part, he's an easygoing, sweet, mellow dude. We are so lucky to get to share our lives with him. Happy 4th birthday, Lochlan!
Motherhood P.S. -- You know all those people telling you "it goes so fast?" Sometimes it doesn't seem like it goes fast, but going through these pictures BLEW MY MIND. I was like, "didn't we take that stuffed whale to the river, like... a month ago? Are you telling me it's been almost a year?!?!" Look at his tiny face in that picture with the Christmas lights. That was in December, and he looks like a BABY compared to today! Oh, my heart!