What I've learned from living with a four-year-old...

Disclaimer: My four-year-old may be different from yours. Also, despite the challenging points listed here, I love every piece of him.

Mine is ALWAYS right.

Mine will argue about anything if he gets the impression you are saying he isn't right. About anything.

Mine still needs naps but will assure you repeatedly that he doesn't. Meltdowns may ensue.

Mine truly thinks he is/should be the boss. About everything.

Mine has learned the art of complaining. "I don't like that soup" "That makes me puke" "I'm allergic, I swear".

Mine has learned the art of manipulation. "Mommy said I could do this" (when Mommy said no such thing). He will move on to the next parent/adult in the room immediately after one says no - right in front of you!

Mine has lost most of the baby features about him. It makes me sad when I notice this across the dinner table.

Mine is all boy. 500% boy. Wrestling. Ninja. Transformers. Star Wars. Dirt. Battling of any kind.

Mine is mischief. He doesn't know who knocked his sister down/peed on the floor/broke the toy, but surely it wasn't him.

Mine is a protector. Constantly checking on his sisters' whereabouts and making sure they are okay. 

Mine is sweet (yes, despite all characteristics listed above!). He says "I love you mommy/daddy" before leaving for his day. He still offers hugs and kisses freely. Still says he loves me more than dinosaurs or chocolate - or, my favorite, anything in this world. His prayers before bed make my heart melt, even when he prays for dinosaurs.

Mine is smart. The words that come out of his mouth are impressive. He's covered the basic addition, telling time and is figuring out reading.

Mine is brave. So many new things tackled this summer. Fears overcome. Growing up before my eyes.

We're back!

In the midst of pure chaos all around us right now, we have decided to take another crack at keeping up with this blog stuff ;)
At the moment, the house is quiet - three kids napping all at once! But it won't last long, and so for now, just a quick run down of the news (pictures to follow).

Josiah is now four and a half and seems like he's all grown up. Somehow, as much as we try to prevent it, there comes a day when a child wakes up and is no longer your little boy (girl) - but now a full fledged kid. He doesn't look like a little guy any more - the baby features are fading fast. Sigh. He is currently in a great preschool program called KinderChallenge - we had a very proud parent moment when they tested him into this class even though he wasn't quite old enough for the test. He is loving school though. He goes to daycare/preschool in the morning and then to his school in the afternoons - definitely exhausted by the time he comes home! He is very busy mastering his bike and now that there have been some cold/rainy evenings again, he's been working on the wii skills with Daddy too. And of course, he's busy 'taking care' of his little sisters too.

Eden turned one in August and she is our wild child by every definition of the word. She has a very strong personality and is such an aggressive kid - such a difference from Josiah at that age! She is hilarious and exhausting all at once. Right now Eden is home with me while I am on maternity leave. This has been an adventure, to say the least! She isn't quite sure she likes having another baby in the house! She is crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything she can find. Her favorite food is probably ice cream, but don't worry - we don't feed her treats every day ;)

And our newest addition, Delia Grace, joined us on August 28th. She was born at 35 weeks but was still a solid 6lbs 11oz and 19 inches long! Good thing we didn't go full term with that one - yikes! She has been a great baby - a good sleeper, of course, and generally just content unless she's hungry. We've gone on a ton of walks with her and Eden in our new double stroller and she just passes right out. I'm sure there will be some interesting arguments between these two ladies as the years go by: "I'm more special, I was in the NICU longer than you", "No, I'm more special - I was a medical miracle" - that sort of thing. And if Delia's personality is anything like Eden's, it should be quite the ride for the rest of us! Here's hoping she is our one calm child ;)
There you have it sportsfans. More to follow...

Legos

I should have known. I should have listened to my wife. I didn't think ahead 4 years into the future when I decided to dump all my legos into one big ol bin. I didn't realize how frustrated my three-year-old would be with me when it takes me hours(no I'm not kidding) over a course of three days to build a lego train. Have you ever tried to find a 1x1 square piece in a pile of 1000 other lego pieces? I used to like legos and I remember the days at Paul Hintgen's house building legos for hours on end with a big bin 'o legos. I realize now just how much time we had to devote to legos. I didn't own a watch back then or play a lot of sports other than baseball. Josiah luckily is still very interrested in the train but won't be playing with it for probably another 3 days. I think I owe it to the little guy to finish the stupid train due to the fact that we utterly crushed him by not getting this $80 yellow train he saw at Toys R Us that was within eyesight of the return counter a few weeks before Christmas. I will finish the train. I will sort the legos. I won't be buying any more legos for a long time.