Bode at 4

Wow. The leaps and bounds you've made this year! You've done a lot of OT and it has helped immensely with your sensory processing issues. You've always been a happy child, but now we see that more frequently.

At age 4 you are:

• using the potty! Woo hoo! Woo hoo!! Maybe someday you'll poop in it, but we're taking what we can get right now

• riding a 2-wheeler with training wheels

• favorite foods are whole wheat waffles with jelly, any kind of treat, chicken nuggets, broccoli

• Phrases: "Oh Brudder!" "Yep! I sure did!" --"i'm cwuisin'!" That's' awesome! Cool! I'm smokin' ya!" One new phrase that is causing a problem is "Dat's not choosing da wight." You say this whenever you're admonished or disciplined (and you're not saying it about yourself/your choices, but about ME). You used it on your friend Mariann who is in the CTR5 class and she was quite offended and you ended up in a timeout for the fight that ensued!
  
• are doing this hilarious "thumbs-up" gesture that totally cracks us up

• favorite toys are the GeoTrax trains and trucks and the elliptical trainer in the basement (not meant to be a toy, but whatever keeps you happy...)
  
• imagination and pretend play is a huge thing lately. You've had pretend friends over for hours and admonished me for not cutting up one friend's "food" very well. Not enough effort on my part. Sorry kiddo. Today there was a lot of lava to be dealt with outside by the playset
  
• are awesome with Keegen. When you were still in nursery and he was crying you really tried to help him feel better and play. Last night, you were so patient with him as you showed him how to recharge and use the remote control cars.
  
  
• do well in your classes. Preschool is going great and you love Sunbeams, mostly (apparently) because you rock at Bingo
  
  
• love to read. You really enjoy storytime and discovering new books
  
  
• are starting to put letters together to make words
  
  
• do a bang-up job writing the alphabet and your name, "DAD" and "MOM"

• are very perceptive and notice lots of details i think most people wouldn't see

• are most willing to talk at bedtime. Not so much during the day. It's almost as though you need the hours of the day to process that day's events and then you have lots to say. So we have a nice little bedtime chat each night where you tell me what was good (or, as you said tonight, "I'm going to tell you everything that made me Super Happy today!") and things that bugged you; etc.
  
  
• are 40 pounds and 42" tall and wear a size 12-13 shoe

Oh and so much more. You are a sensitive, fun, persistent little guy. You are learning so much everyday and it's a beautiful thing to hear you say, "I'll do it myself...I want to try...I can do it...I want to help..."

Happy Valentine's Day!

Gold Miner

Keegen's made a new discovery...

We've honestly never had a nose-picker before. I was presented with one of his treasures today, "Here Mommy." Much like a cat brings a headless mouse to the door. Lovely.

Boy Genius & Slang Kid

Tonight, Keegen was rooting around the pantry (as usual) and brought me a box of Cheerios, which i told him he couldn't have (since I was making dinner). So he pulled the bag out and spilled a few. Eventually he got bored with them and went off to play. Then Doug came home and played with the boys and he saw the mess of O's on the floor and told Keegen he needed to clean them up--"Get a bowl and pick them up." Keegen sat at my feet next to the mess. i looked down and watched as he held an O in his hand, studying it. To which i thought to myself, "it really is just a lot of little moments that make motherhood enjoyable" because it was really such an adorable sight, him and his O's.

After a bit, Keegen was up rooting around in the pantry again. Lots of noise and banging. The child pulled out our little handheld Shark Vac (like a Dustbuster) and went to work on the Cheerios! He cracks me up! Those little cogs in his brain were just a problem-solving away!

On the Bode-front, he and i were playing a game and this is the trash talk i got from him...

• "This is awesome!"
• "I'm CWUISIN'!"
• "I'm smokin' ya!"

And he did. He is the Bingo Champion.

I'm off to make them BG and SK capes...(just kidding. i have zero sewing skills. but wouldn't that be funny?)...

Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee

One happy little guy

This is unbelievable to me. BUT. Bode will be FOUR years old tomorrow! Hello?! Four just sounds so much older the three. And while it feels like he's been with us forever already, time has flown by since he was born and it really seems like yesterday that i held that little 5 pound peanut in my arms for the first time! Oh well. I'll save the sappy stuff for later.

Since his birthday is on Monday and i can't quite wrap my brain around when to celebrate it with friends (or if we will have an official "party"), we decided to take him to get his big bday gift yesterday. He is such a big boy (for real--tall and strong) he's pretty much outgrown his trike. And Keegen is waiting in the wings, more than happy to inherit that puppy. So we took him down to REI and let him pick out a brand-new big boy bike! Oh! Sorry! Excuse me! Bode is yelling at me that it's NOT a "big boy bike" but a TWO-WHEELER! Dur Mom! In fact, as we drove to REI, Doug and I started singing Queen's "I Want to Ride My Bicycle" and Bode made us change it to "I want to ride my two-wheeler bicycle with training wheels, I want to ride my bike! I want to ride my two-wheeler bicycle with training wheels, i want to ride it where i liiiiiiike!" Woo. I'm out of breath.

We walked into REI and found the kids' bikes section, filled with already-assembled bikes just waiting to be tried out. He knew from the start which one he wanted--the red and black Novara 16" Stinger dirt bike! He climbed on and gave it a test drive around the store (which i was informed after-the-fact was a big no-no. Heh, heh. Oops!). The look of glee on his face was priceless. I had another bike pulled down for comparison sake but he never waivered from his first choice. "No Mom! This one is my bike!" I can only hope he will always be so sure of his decisions...

Keegen wouldn't be left out of this fun!

Wild Animals

Ah. I love our zoo. And i finally got to share it with Erin and her chicas. It was a "last hurrah" Wednesday afternoon. Sadly, right as we started off on our zoo adventure, Fiona developed an ear infection to go along with her pinkeye, but amazingly she was awesome at the zoo even feeling lousy. We did a quick tour, just enough to give them a taste and want to come back to CO for MORE, right???

Holy freaking tongue!



Keegen could not take his eyes off the many many giraffes

It was FREEZING but being the true Coloradoans that we are, we weren't phased...(Ugh). Luckily most of the animals were in their warm cozy houses so we just ran from house to house. I love that we can feed the giraffes. What a fun thing. This was the first time i've fed them in their house. Not as fun as outside, but it was definitely warm. All the kids enjoyed it. We spent some time staring at the lion family. Beautiful. Enjoyed my favorite house--the hippos. It's my favorite because it's so random. Hippos, pythons, penguins, komodo dragon and fish tanks. Like i said, random. But again, warm too. And then we ended in the primate house. Lots of babies at the zoo (giraffes, lions, orangutans and gorillas) which is fun to see.


How gorgeous are they??!

We burned home and got some lovely numbing drops into Fi's ears which seemed to quickly do the trick. Got the kids fed (thanks Doug!) and off Erin and I went to meander around World Market and Target and then a late dinner at Chili's. I loved sitting and talking and laughing with my sis. Seriously good times.

Well East Coast Girls are Hip...

Erin and the girls got here late last Saturday night and sadly left Thursday afternoon. But we had a great time! I love love love seeing the kids play together. Fiona and Bode pick up where they've left off everytime. And now Keegen and Chloe really dig each other too. Other than the hard parts of the trip (the flight for them, the pinkeye, the not-sleeping-in-a-new-place syndrome) it's been great. I love having them here and wish they would stay forever and ever and ever...

But back to real life. We enjoyed some tubing and lots of tunnel-time and bouncing in the basement castle. Erin and i got the entire day to ourselves on Monday. Doug took the day off and watched all the kids while we took off to Boulder. It was freezing but so fun. I love that town. And it was nice to be able to take our time and enjoy each other's company and not be interrupted by the kiddos. What a treat.