Belated 4th Birthday

This boy turned 4 on Thanksgiving and I realized that I never posted a thing.  Below are his preschool pictures from this year:

At his recent pediatrician appointment he was in the 65th percentile for weight and the 67th percentile for height.  I think I posted plenty about what he's been up to less than a month ago, but he enjoyed having some family visit for his birthday and especially loves the Star Wars toy that is on the table in the pictures below.  He spent a large part of his birthday throwing tantrums for one reason or another (actually he's spent the last 3 days mostly whining and throwing fits for seemingly ridiculous things.  Having to eat food that he picked out himself, needing to put on different pants after you have an accident in the pair you're wearing, having to wait for lunch because it needs to be in the microwave for 45 seconds.  The list could go on.  That's just a partial sampling from this morning).

At any rate he's 4 now.  He can be so sweet and is truly in love with his brother.  When he's having a rough time a good book is always helpful and he loves to hug his big teddy bear.  He's a boy who needs routine and structure, and to know what's coming next. When he's not losing it for one reason or another he can be so fun and creative, thinking of really witty and funny ideas.  He loves Legos, outer space, and Pixar.  He's very particular, articulate, and inquisitive.  I'm so glad that I'm his mom.

  

I told him we needed to put lights on first, but when I came back
from doing some laundry this is what I found. Hard at work. 

A couple of chefs helping to make some soup

Corban had his 15 month appointment when Gabriel had his 4 year one (oh the screaming in the room after they both got shots.  So loud.  Glad it was a "both parent" outing).  Corban was 24 lb 6 oz (47th percentile), head circumference of 18.5 (44th percentile), and 33.25 inches tall (95th percentile).  He's wearing 24 month clothes (some of which are still too short) and climbing onto everything.  He is a total ham and loves attention.  He has no problem standing in the middle of a room of adults and turning to make sure that everyone has smiled at him.  He just waves and says "bbbbyyyyyeee" when I drop him off at the church nursery.  He likes to "dance", look at books, run around with Gabriel, stack Mega Blocks, brush his teeth, and push chairs up to the counters to explore.  He's a fan of "Mary Had a Little Lamb", "Twinkle Twinkle", "Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes", and "Old McDonald." He enjoys taking all of Taylor's dress shoes out of the closet and putting them on the floor in our room (my shoes are not interested apparently).  Yesterday he was trying to put on Tayor's boots.  He gives silly hugs and kisses and generally just makes me laugh.

Random Things These Boys Do

Some random things about these boys:

I like my brother's chair

Corban is starting to figure some things out.  He can point to some of his body parts (eyes, hair, nose) and he likes pointing at animals in books (cows, cats, dogs, elephants).  When you ask him to find something on a page he gets the biggest smile on his face before he points it out. 

He still puts his arms up and makes a funny noise whenever you talk about a monkey or thumps his chest when you talk about a gorilla.  He frequently waves both hands and says "bbbbyyyyeeee."  He likes to clap, especially when he accomplishes something, like putting a shape in a shape sorter or when you finish singing him a song.  He loves to have music on and to "dance".  

Brushing his teeth is exciting (speaking of, he now has 12 teeth.  I didn't even realize that a set had come in back on both sides on the top).  He has very dry skin and puffy hair. Shoes and socks are fascinating.  He will hand you each shoe in turn to be put on.  Books are a major source of entertainment, especially if they have flaps, as is pulling DVDs off of the shelf and examining them. He frequently makes a very strange face and makes a sound like a gremlin.  

If you give him a Buzz Lightyear toy he makes a whirring sound and pretends to make it fly.  When he's choking on a drink he pounds his own chest on the front with both hands.  He has started going to storytime at the library and is loving Romp and Roll class and the Children's Museum.  Bubbles are hilarious.  He usually only naps once in the afternoon now, although he sometimes takes a morning doze if we're in the car. He can now climb. . .onto the chairs. . .onto the tables. . .from under our high top table and onto the tall chairs. 

I ate fingerpaint AND
put some up my nose!

Being chased by his brother is either really fun or really overwhelming, depending on the mood.  He could live off of animal cookies if you let him. Bath time is awesome (he got in with his clothes on the other day because he just couldn't wait to get wet).

Sinkland Farms

This inflatable slide is awesome

Why won't anyone let me put my fingers up this animals nose?

Family hike

Not a fan of leaves

Busted nose

Storytime bubbles!

Happy friendly boy

Some random things about Gabriel:

He really got into the Halloween fun this year.  He was Dash from The Incredibles and got lots of use out of that costume.  He wore it to preschool for a party, to an outdoor fall festival at a local church, to his friend Ian's Halloween party, to a Halloween party at Romp and Roll, and out on Halloween itself.  We had a really fun and busy weekend (obviously).  On actual Halloween we went to a local assisted living facility to trick or treat.  Every resident participating had a little pumpkin attached to their door.  It didn't take Gabriel long to get the concept.  Run down the hall to find the doors with pumpkins, knock, and get candy.  Loads of fun.  Then we went trick or treating more at the mall.  He got way too much candy and his parents may be helping him to eat it. . .

Some less than desirable things that Gabriel is into these days: Putting his hands in his mouth for no reason (not excited about this with cold and flu season approaching).  Not listening and being a general terror but oh so sweetly saying  "I love you mommy!"  Knocking over his brother in excitement.  Throwing massive tantrums over things like having to put on shoes, having to wash his hands after using the bathroom, having to wear long sleeves when it's 50 degrees outside, being asked to put on underwear in the morning. . .the list could go on.  He also is very quick to respond to questions like "what did you do at preschool" or "what did you learn in Sunday school" with "I have no idea."

On a more positive note, he really wants to play and run with Corban.  He just gets a little too excited about it sometimes. He even asked his preschool teacher to pray for Corban the other day.  We had high school youth group over here last week and one of the girls asked Gabriel who his favorite person was.  He responded "Corban."  He told me the other day that he loves God, Jesus, and Corban the most.  

He is really getting into playing and building with Legos.  There were some ships and Lego men spread out on his dresser after his rest time today and he told me that he was using them to decorate his room for Christmas.

He loves listening to books on CDs, playing Star Wars, playing Star Trek (he always makes me a Klingon), Batman, and having me read him Magic Tree House books. He likes to tell us what letters words start with when we're talking. He looks forward to going to Home Group every week.  He loves his babysitters.  He likes to play on Daddy's work bench and goof around in the car while it's sitting in the garage.  He sometimes makes himself a bed in the trunk of the car.  During his rest time yesterday he got tired so he turned off his light and curled up under a throw blanket and went to sleep.  He is still trying to figure out his bike and almost rode it down the driveway the other day (I don't think I've ever seen him so scared). He still does not like writing or coloring but he's starting to do it a little bit more.  He talks about his friends and what they play together.  He is non stop energy and fun.  His parents can't keep up :)

Special trip to the Transportation Museum and a lunch at Steak and Shake afterwards.  He very politely told the waitress after I ordered our shake that "we need two spoons please!"

Watching a video of a shuttle launch

Playing in a train

Random Tidbits

Cheese!

Well, Corban is 14 months and Gabriel will turn 4 in a little over a month.  They change so much all the time that there is no way that I can document every silly (or challenging) thing that they are doing.  A few things though. . .

Corban is really starting to understand things.  I maybe wasn't paying too much attention to it before, but he really knows what we're saying.  If we say "let's brush your teeth" he runs to the bathroom.  If we tell him we're going to eat he run to the kitchen.  If we say "let's watch a Baby Einstein video" he goes into the living room and picks one out.  He goes to find Gabriel if we talk about going to get him.  It's hard to tell what actual words he's using, but he certainly says "Dada" and waves and says "Bye".  When I went to get him some milk the other day he used the sign for "milk" and when he's done eating he does his own version of the sign for "all done" by pulling on his bib or shirt.

Right after his first haircut (9/3)

And speaking of food this kid can still eat a LOT.  He's a bottomless pit.  There isn't anything huge that he dislikes, but he really likes chicken, broccoli, grapes, banana bread, peas, eggs, graham crackers, cheese, and animal cookies. 

Yummy cucumber

Yes, I realize that he's holding a stapler.  

Gabriel gave it to him and I lacked the 

energy to take it away.  

I'm awesome.

Corban has decided over the course of the last few weeks that he no longer wants much of a nap in the morning.  Sometimes he falls asleep for short snooze (15-45 minutes), but I think it's time to phase it out.  I like having a little break in the morning (especially on days when Gabriel is at preschool) but not having to plan around a morning nap certainly makes things easier if we want to get out of the house.  I actually took Corban to his first Romp and Roll class while Gabriel was at preschool and he LOVED it.  He ran around "talking" to everyone and laughing at silly things like balloons and inflatable animals.  He really liked the musical instruments too.

Corban loves the wander around the children't museum, and he
especially loves the train (and watching the model train too).

Corban falls more and more in love with his sleep sack/security blanket every day.  We're going to rename him Linus.  He drags that thing with him everywhere.  Last night I washed it because he spilled milk on it and it was very tragic.  He got upset again when he saw me put it in the dryer

He still loves books and likes to go in his room and look through them alone
when he needs a little solitude.  He really likes Eric Carle's
 "From Head to Toe" and waves his arms like a monkey and beats
on his chest like a gorilla when those pages come up.

Gabriel still loves the children's museum too.

Gabriel is still enjoying his normal weekly stuff.  Ninja class on Mondays.  Preschool on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  Violin on Wednesdays.  It's fun to hear him talking about his friends at preschool and what they play together.  Apparently they play "Incredibles" and "super heroes" a lot. There is one boy in particular that he likes to get in trouble with.  He's told me many times that "we weren't listening to the teachers".  He does really well there most days though (according to what they tell me), but there have been a couple days when his teacher has told me that he can't stop talking (shocker).

Guess who picked out his own outfit?  Darth Vader costume,
batman jacket, winter hat, and sunglasses.  Looking good.

"Mom, I need my Spider Man
shirt and my bacon tie!"

Gabriel is becoming quite the little sneak.  I got my flu shot last week, so I was talking to him about it since he and Corban are going to get theirs next week.  I was explaining why we get them and that they hurt some.  I also told him he could pick where he wanted to eat dinner afterwards as a treat.  I asked if maybe he could get his first and Corban could see how it's done (thinking that if Gabriel watched Corban get his he'd panic more.  He hasn't needed any shots in a couple years).  He said "Mommy, I don't need a flu shot.  Loki gave me mine."  I told him that dogs don't get flu shots and that Loki lacked the fingers to give him a shot to which he replied, "Well, Loki got her flu shot and then she licked me, so I'm fine.  I don't need one."  There's some 3 year old logic for you.

Helping Daddy mow the lawn

Ready to go camp outside 

with Daddy for the night!

Gabriel still remains a creative chatter box who is full of energy.  He enjoys a little time in the afternoon in his room listening to books on CD.  He really likes the Magic Tree House books and can sit and listen for close to an hour if we have time to read an entire one.  He doesn't like to draw or write much which is frustrating at times.  I want to encourage his coordination to do those kinds of things but even a 5 minutes stretch with a crayon or pencil in his hand is rare.  He'd much rather pretend, look at books, or run around.  Even so, I know he'll eventually figure it out.  Gabriel can be exhausting with his constant questions (and frequent meltdowns), but I love that he is curious and excited about the world.  It's also fun that he can really look forward to things, like camping outside with Daddy or going out to do something special.


I'm sure that I will have plenty more pictures to post with Halloween coming up.  Gabriel is excited to be Dash from The Incredibles.  He has wanted to wear his costume every day since we got it earlier in the week!