F O U R

It's happened again. 

I blinked, and this time they turned four!

I can't believe how much joy these two add to our lives. 

They are happy, funny, giggly, opinionated, chatty, playful, imaginative, loud, busy, caring boys.

I absolutely adore being their mom.

Here are some tidbits about our cute boys right now:

They are really into sandwiches with "salad" {not so much peanut butter sandwiches for whatever reason, but considering they used to not like either, I'll take it!}

They are obsessed with the aquarium ("aqarion") and ask to go there multiple times a week.

They have been asking me lately what different animals eat. All day long I hear, "Mama, what do sea turtles eat?" "Mama, what do sharks eat?" "Mama, what do owls eat?" etc.

They also like to point out where different animals live and mostly focus on zoo or aquarium animals.

They have started being such better listeners lately.

They are mastering the art of sharing. I frequently hear them talk about whose turn it is and watch them play with something for a little while and then hand it over to their brother for a turn. They aren't always great at sharing with other kids, but they are sure great with one another. 

Since we moved (which obviously deserves its own blog post) the boys have been moved down to the basement and have transitioned to being a floor away like champs. In fact I'm pretty sure we all sleep better a floor away from each other. 

They have drastically improved in their social skills. We have worked really hard at saying "Hi" to other kids and playing nicely with them instead of roaring at them. We still have some work to do, but they are doing so much better. 

They always tell me they don't want to go to preschool, but once they are there, they usually do fine.

They love putting ties, fabric, yarn, blankets, or anything else they can find in the back of their pants and pretending they are cats, Mater, peacocks, or anything else they can come up with. Their cool grandma made them some peacock tails for their birthday and they have been big fans of them!

Ian

He does really well going to Primary

He has been potty trained since about last Sept, and was good nearly from day one.

He got a betta fish for his birthday and he calls it a "pirate fish." We don't know why but it's adorable.

He loves to sing and sings frequently throughout the day.

At bedtime lately he has really enjoyed snuggling in Briggs' bed with the three of us and reading the "Z is for Moose" book. He even tells me sometimes, "I snuggle Briggs" and fortunately Briggs has been OK with it because it hasn't always been that way in the past. I even went to check on them the other night and they had both fallen asleep together in Briggs' bed which is unusual because Ian typically crawls back into his bed before he falls asleep.

I frequently hear, "deal, mama?"

Asks for ice cream anytime we go through a drive-thru (which unfortunately has been increasing in frequency as of late.)

Several times a week he asks to go for a hike. He loves being outdoors.

Loves getting kissed by me. One day he commented on how many kisses I was giving him and that he liked it which of course made my mama heart grow and I smothered him in more kisses.

Briggs

He always wants me to stay in Primary with him. He does better if Jesse drops him off.

He's had very little desire to be potty trained, but we forced him into it for the past several weeks and now we are basically there! He even tells me that he needs to go potty now instead of me just taking him frequently.

He is very aware of baby sister and loves to touch my belly and baby talks and sings to her. Every day he asks to feel baby sister and tells me how cute she is. He also tells everyone he meets that there's a baby in my tummy.

He likes to have his "stuff," which includes his two pillows and blanket, especially at bedtime.

He also loves to sing and will announce what song he is going to sing before starting.

He wants me to hold him all the time. This doesn't make Jesse so happy these days. He's convinced I'm going to speed up delivery of Little Miss by 10 minutes every time I pick up one of the boys. He may be right...

He got two little tetras for his birthday and he calls them his "buddies."

Asks for my permission to be different animals throughout the day.

He's been very intrigued by his dimples lately and likes to look in the mirror and move his lips around so he can check out his dimples. It's one of my favorite things right now.