Brayden Preschooler Summary: 4.75 Years Old

4.75 year old life and daily schedule. Learn about this preschooler’s daily schedule and how to handle things that come up with four year olds.

Brayden at 4 years old with his family

Here are some notable things going on with Brayden as he is now 4.75 years old. Things are really, really calm right now.

SLEEPING

Sleeping is good. He sleeps about 11 hours a night. He rarely sleeps during “nap,” but does sometimes. He definitely needs his rest time each day. I find that so interesting. I actually wouldn’t mind him not having it, but if he doesn’t get it, he is very emotional. So we are sure to have rest time each day.

EATING

Brayden is getting more adventurous in his eating. I like to try at least one new recipe each week, and he is finally trying them without shaking in fear first. He has come to realize he usually likes the new stuff. He is starting to eat meat more. He has never been a big meat eater. His eating habits are all good.

DISCIPLINE

Brayden is currently in one of those golden periods that kids go through. He is so good. He does everything the first time he is asked. He cheerfully says, “Yes Mommy.” He is just really good.

He is obviously growing in his maturity level and handling disappointment well. He will often verbalize his disappointment and explain why he is okay with it and how he is working through it. It is amazing to see.

SIBLINGS

Brayden and Kaitlyn are still best friends, and tell each other that all the time. One day as I drove kids to school, a girl told Brayden, “Girls don’t like boys and boys don’t like girls.”

He adamantly responded that wasn’t true. She kept pushing it and he kept telling her no and said, “That’s not true because I have Kaitlyn and she is a girl and I like her. She is my very best friend.” The other girl replied, “Well, your sister doesn’t count.” Brayden wasn’t having it. lol

He is so great with her. He loves to play with her. He doesn’t mind her playing along with him and his friends. He helps her when she needs it.

His relationship with McKenna right now is very much a caretaker/caretakee relationship. He is fine to have her around him while playing, and he likes to peek-a-boo her and make her laugh, but he definitely doesn’t consider her a little friend or buddy.

He looks at her as someone for him to watch over. That is very understandable since she only crawls and babbles. I will be interested to see how that changes as she gets a little older.

BOSSINESS

Brayden’s bossiness is improved. He is still bossy and still likes to correct Kaitlyn with every mis-step, but it is getting better.

SHARING

3 months ago, this was a huge obstacle for him, but not it is really a non-issue. He shares well.

OPINIONATED

Most males don’t have an opinion about decorating and arranging of furniture. Certainly not 4 year old males. Well, not Brayden! As you know we moved almost 6 months ago. I have been slowly decorating the house. He always has an opinion on where things should go and what we should get. I find it so amusing.

He also has opinions about clothes, what to eat for dinner, and what order to do things in. He is just an opinionated boy.

CHORES

Brayden is great with his chores. He loves to put stickers on charts. He is a hard worker.

INDEPENDENCE

I am moving Brayden more toward independence in certain things. He now prefers showers. He brushes his teeth all by himself in the morning. We do before bed just to make sure he gets a really good cleaning. He often chooses his own clothes.

I have prepared him for this over the years. We have talked about things that match and thing that don’t. He understands it for the most part. Some days he chooses a really strange combination. I let him wear it. If there is a reason for him to not wear strange combinations, I don’t let him choose.

I also have him help clear the table after each meal. He removes his own dishes and helps put other stuff away.

LITTLE ENGINEER

Some of Brayden’s strengths are really starting to stand out. He is very adept at building things and figuring out how things work.

We also see obvious signs of things he just isn’t great at as Kaitlyn gets older. He is not great at telling me about his day. I have always asked him about what he did when he wasn’t with me. I get very little detail. It is much like asking my husband about his day 🙂

Now that Kaitlyn is old enough to really respond, I am shocked at the detail I get! I know every song she sang and every emotion she felt. I get word-for-word playback of conversations she had. It is so funny to see the difference between boys and girls.

CABIN FEVER

Toward the end of winter, Brayden gets really restless. The last couple of weeks have brought along much nicer temperatures. Our snow is melting and he is playing outside much more. This really helps with overall behavior and sleep.

4.75 year old preschooler routine and schedule

OUR SCHEDULE

His schedule changes a bit from day to day. He has a “preschool” day schedule and a “non-preschool” day schedule.

Preschool Day

7:15 AM–wake, say prayers, come find me. We then go set the table for breakfast. I get Kaitlyn up and we eat. We have a short music time. We then do a fast shower and get ready for the day.

8:05 AM–Sibling Playtime with Kaitlyn

9:05 AM–finish getting ready for school (hair, shoes on, coat, and back pack)

9:15 AM–picked up for preschool (we carpool)

12:10 PMish–home from school. Eat lunch. Play with Kaitlyn until nap time.

1:00 PM–TV Time

2:00 PM–Rest Time

3:00 PM–Learning time with mom. Independent Playtime. Chores if there are some for this time.

4:30 PM–nintendo time/PBSkids computer games time/TV time. When weather is nice, he will go outside instead. Sometimes he plays with neighbors instead.

4:30 PM–Daddy home. Activities vary from that point forward.

7:00/7:30 PM–start getting ready for bed. Stories. Prayers

8:00 PM–in bed

Non-Preschool Day

Non-preschool day is pretty similar. We start similarly. Differences are that we take a shower after McKenna goes down for her first nap, so sibling playtime is longer. We also start lunch earlier. Our non-preschool day is much more relaxed. It is kind of like we have three Saturdays a week now 🙂

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10 thoughts on “Brayden Preschooler Summary: 4.75 Years Old”

  1. This was so fun to read – my first born is just about the same age. He'll be 5 in May. I have the same observation about 'rest' time. Though he rarely sleeps, he just NEEDS it. 😉

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  2. This was fun for me to read not because I have as preschooler but because I can see the results of good parenting. It gives me a little preview of what can happen if I stick with it! Thanks for all your work and your willingness to share your family's experiences with us!

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  3. Loved reading this. I am nowhere near this period. In fact, my Thomas who is my first is closer to McKenna's age. We are now awaiting our second one to arrive in early May (yes, ~12 months apart) and some days I get a little anxious about it. However, thank you for all of the wonderful insight. All I need is a deep breath!AA, on the right, you will find a list of blog labels and Rest Time is included. Upon reading the two blogs under this label, Val does allow books for rest time but she does require that Brayden stay in bed.

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  4. I so love these updates on the older kids! So useful and I am keeping in mind for mine. I read with interest the section about moving him more to independence in certain areas, like picking out his clothes. Does he do this daily? Does the "Choice Addiction" issue apply at this age? I know according to the funnel concept their freedoms expand as they get older. My LO just turned 3 and is clearly in a different phase of life. If I would give her the same choices every day, it's definitely create the "wise in her eyes" issue. In fact we are having some major testing right now! Not sure if it is more of a developmental thing or what (the major change we had was the BGB but we have sleep rules,etc.). Anyways, I am just curious about Brayden's choices now. At that age do they have a lot more choices. Could you briefly list the ones you allow every day at that age? And is this just something you kind of figure out on your own? I don't think the book gets that specific on guidelines for various ages (in Preschoolwise).Anyways, thanks for this info.

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  5. Johanna, good luck with that! It will bring unique challenges, but I think a bonus will be that your Thomas will still be taking two naps, so it will give you more chances to rest after baby comes. There will be good things 🙂

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  6. YS, he doesn't pick daily. He would choose "Steelers" shirts every day (football team). I like him to wear other stuff, too, espeically to school.Typically, I choose on school days and Sunday and let him choose the other three.The choice addiction does apply for sure. I like to choose every so often just to make sure he is okay with it. If he isn't, I choose every day for a while.I think it is something you can figure out on your own just by seeing what happens when you make the choice. But I will think through it and write a post. Perhaps I will do one every six months and list choices each child can make…that way it would go through various ages at all times.

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