My Favorite Four Year Old

Well, I'm feeling a little silly about the fact that Tyler has been four years old for over three months and I've just now gone and done his pictures. But oh you bet I've got my set of excuses!! But I'll spare you the excuses and give you a post all about my man...some things about him at this age that I want to remember. And it was so fun to go on a "date" with him--just me and him--to take his pictures. I mean, if he's going to be my boyfriend and we're going to get married some day, it seems only fitting that we go on a date every once in a while.
So far, I am loving the 4 year old Tyler. I have to admit, the 3 year old Tyler was a challenge for me and him. He tested my patience regularly with his persistence and strong will. He tends to be very particular about the way he wants things done (you know, one that likes consistency and schedules) and he had a hard time accepting things when they were not that way. But it seems like turning 4 settled him down and relaxed him a bit and I feel like we get along a lot better already. He really is a sweet little boy and I'm glad I'm seeing more of it these days...
He still loves trains and airplanes. He is getting to "know" his airplanes pretty well--definitely his father's son. He loves to play the Wii and is getting pretty good at the sports games. His favorite thing to ask you to do with him is "play a quick game of Wii".
He is constantly spelling out the words he sees on signs or anything else as we go around town. He knows his letters and numbers and is starting to really get into making the sounds for each letter. He thinks about them and tells them to himself often. For instance, the other night when Garrett came home from work, he came up the stairs and said "Hey, T" (we often call Tyler "T"). Tyler then said "Hey, Dad." A few moments later, he said "I mean, Hey, D". You could just see the little wheels turning in his head figuring out what letter Daddy started with, it was so cute.
He says the prayers for us on a regular basis, which often result in us cracking up for some reason or another. He still prays for us to be safe from the hurricane pretty regularly and often prays for "Mommy to get feeling better". I must really act sickly since he's always wanting me to get better.
He loves to ride his bike and is getting so good at it. We have been loving going for walks/bike rides in this great weather. He loooooves chocolate, loves to order catfish whenever we go out to eat and has been known to tell the waiter "I'll have the catfish with fries & macaroni and cheese" at PF Changs...yeah, they weren't able to pull through on that request.
He knows we live in Louisiana and pronounces it "Loozziana". I think it's darling. And in fact he usually even goes so far as to call it "The Loozziana".
His day revolves around doing "something fun". He asks me several times a day "can we do something fun now?" and it's usually right after we have just done "something fun", so therefore it gets a little bit old at times! Probably a sign that pre-school will be really good for him this fall.
He has a HUGE vocabulary and often uses words that I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what they mean. I know he hears a lot of these on movies and such and it makes me laugh to hear them come out of him.
He remembers EVERYTHING. I am often laughing at something he repeats or kind of frightened by the fact that nothing gets by him. A few specific examples are as follows:

We drove by the auto parts store and he yells "Mom! That's Pennzoil. Not just any oil, Pennzoil. If you use Pennzoil, it will help you get the sludge out of your car."
We had just sat down to dinner one night when out of the clear blue, Tyler says "Mom, if you have trouble getting around, you just really need to get one of those high powered chairs. Like the ones I saw on TV. They just help people get around better when they have trouble getting around." (seriously I must come off like quite a sickly person...)
Last week Tyler had a 24 hour stomach bug. He was feeling a ton better the next day so we decided to go for a little bike ride. As he was going along, I could really tell that he was getting tired a lot faster than usual, I'm sure since he was still a bit weak from not keeping anything down for 24 hours. And he got a little more and more fatigured and he said "Mom, I'm just getting tired. I think my blood sugar is low." I asked him if he even knew what blood sugar was and he said "well yeah, it just makes you tired when it gets low." That was his answer, I'll take it as that I suppose! (come to find out later he got that from something on Madagascar)

***disclaimer: I promise we don't watch TV all day. Really, I promise! He just remembers everything we do happen to watch!
That's just to list a few examples. Seriously I could go on and on. And last but not least, Mr. Tyler spent a lot of time at a lot of doctors' visits this last year. He had his strange sickness in October, if you recall (I don't really enjoy recalling that one...it wasn't pretty), then he got a skin virus called Molluscum, which required several visits to the dermatologist, and a year ago we started going to an ENT because of his constant congestion/snotty nose issue. After a year of treating him for allergies and trying literally every allergy med out there with no improvement whatsoever, we got a second opinion with a different ENT and she is opting for surgery to remove his adenoids. I know I shouldn't be happy to send my kid into surgery, but I am happy to be at a point where I finally feel like we might fix the problem. It was a frustrating year that way, but hopefully this will finally be the fix. So, our boy goes to surgery on Friday. Wish him (and all of us!) luck!!
We sure do love this boy! It's hard to believe he's already four and big steps are not too far around the corner for him (and us). He'll go to pre-school this Fall and he'll turn five and I'll be the mom of a five-year-old. Whaaaa! I didn't think I'd ever be old enough go have a 5 year old! I guess that means I better enjoy every minute of my 4-year old, right?! I'm going to do my best to love every minute before he goes to kindergarten in a year and a half.
And now that we're to the end of this post, it's your turn. Which picture is mantle worthy (going to replace his picture from last year in an 8x10 frame)? I need help deciding! I'm generally leaning towards the ones in the last half of the post, but that still leaves quite a few to narrow it down to... And to any family members who would like copies of any of these, please let me know which ones and what sizes. (and of course, I have each one in color and in black & white...) I'll be placing an order soon. Thanks!

(I think I might be leaning to this one above. Maybe. Oh geez. I don't know...)