2 Years Old - Holy Hell that was fast

 

2.

My darling baby boy. We always joked about how you were our "normal" child. Katie was so smart and advanced that we tried very hard NOT to compare you.

You have more than surpassed our expectations.

You're talking, singing, you understand EVERYTHING and you are very very social.

You are completely obsessed with Toy Story and the Wiggles.

You wear your cowboy hat everywhere. (you know, the one we bought you for Halloween but you refused to wear) You also refuse to wear your Woody costume but ONLY want to wear Buzz and Woody shirts and pj's. 

Katie is still your favorite person on the planet - she is the first thing you look for in the morning and the last thing you ask for at night.If we tell you that you can have a snack - your response is "Tatie Too..."

You've gotten over your Daddy Only thing and actually cuddle with me before bed and call for me in the morning.

We have to sing goodnight to all the characters on your nightlight before you go in your crib.

You still have a binky for bedtime at home - but you gave it up at school with no questions. We let you get away with it because you're cute - but your time is coming to an end with your dear dear friend and I'm not looking forward to having to take it away from you.

You will go pee pee on the potty before bathtime and we keep the M & M's in the linen closet for easy access for your reward, but you won't go any other time.

You call yourself Benny Boy because that's what they call you at school. 

You're smart and you're cute and you know it.

 

We love you so much - even more, now that you sleep all night long and don't wake up at 5 too regularly. I hope you enjoyed your party. I spared no time on detail for you because it's fun for me and I hope you liked it too:)

Where has the time gone?

Oh Katie... Where has the time gone? 4 years old - already!

You are the smartest little person I have ever met. You practice using new words all the time and it always cracks me up. You can write your name in crayon. You are a picky eater - but you eat bacon and raw green peppers... Sometimes I wonder if Baba will ever leave your side. We (I) have been able to keep Baba number 2 a secret for quite some time now. But I know if you were to find out about him right now that you would fully understand what his purpose is without me even having to explain it.

You went from a little tom boy who insisted on potty training in Thomas the Train underpants to a beautiful princess who wears tutu's all the time, even to bed and tiara's with everything. You still refuse to wear jeans. You are obsessed with the Disney Princesses only you won't watch any of the movies - you just know them from all the books we read.

You gave us a really tough time with going to bed for about 4 - 6 months this past year - and now you get 2 - 4 books a few minutes of rubbing your back and you sleep like a champ. You love your brother even though you don't quite know how to be around him yet. Whenever you are away from him, he's all you talk and ask about. You insist that you want him to sleep in your room with you but when he tries to touch any of your toys you freak out.

You prefer skyping with your grandparents to regular old phone calls. You still rub noses with Baba all day long. You outsmart us all the time in arguments and negotiations.

I can't wait to see what the next year is going to bring us in terms of you. Happy Birthday my love!

Katie Turns 4

We had a Royal Tea Party for Katie's 4th Birthday!

The girls game dressed to the nines and the boys came as super hero's. 

It was a HUGE success - 11 kids and all the parents somehow fit in our teeny tiny house and it wasn't a disaster.

 

The girls all go their makeup done and got jewelery and hair barrettes to take home and I made super hero capes for all the boys. It was a crazy 3 hours but everyone had fun. I'm just bummed that we didn't get group pictures because it was just so crazy, hectic there just wasn't any time!

Bad blogger

Holy Cow things are busy.  Our days and nights run in a continuous circle of chaos. Luckily - our chaos is cute!

Here's the run down  -

Ben moved into the toddler room at school and has drastically changed into a little man. He is not only trying to say single words - but he's trying to put 2 words together. He can request things like - asking for the Wiggles on the radio and asking to watch Buzz and Woody. He also requests his favorite song Wake Up Jeff over and over and over.

He's crazy smart - like - another little genius - he understands everything you tell him - can follow direction - and has a great sense of humor. BUUU,(Buzz) Hi, Bye Bye, Wooo(Woody), Wigg (Wiggles), Bubba(Bubble Guppies), RU RU (Uncle Ruben), Yodelahihoo (what Jesse Says), Hat, NA)Snack, NO (he's really good at that one) Yes, thank you, Katie, Ba Ba , Ham, Wa Wa, Milk- and that's just the beginning.

He loves his sister and they have so much fun together - it's total chaos all the time because they both demand so much attention and Ben can't do all the things he wants to do (like user markers....) so our nights after work go by in a blur of mediating arguments between the kids, avoiding injuries, feeding, playing, bathing and then - finally bedtime! Exhausted is not the word.

They feed off each other and get absolutely crazy sometimes - they definitely suffer from my cabin fever and do better when we have things to do outside the house. They are perfect kids anywhere we take them - very rarely do we have a tantrum  - and they LOVE sitting next to each other in the carts at stores:)

Katie has become one of the popular kids in school it seems - I think it's because she is one of the ones that was in PreK 3 last year - so she knows the ropes - she's also very amenable to anything (Dave style) so I think the kids love that she's always down with whatever.

She did have a bad day in school yesterday  - enough that they had to write it up - apparently she started copying a bad kid all day and doing all the things that kid did - not good. Of course we have a birthday party for that kid this weekend so I'm afraid that's perpetuating the desire to be just like her... I hope today is better.

She loves school and is doing very well although I had hoped she'd be further along in her writing - so I have to make sure to spend time with her at night on that because she was so far advanced when she started and now she's just right at the same level as everyone else - so I'm not super worried - but I'm not super happy about it either...

I have been knitting/crocheting like crazy. I'm not exaggerating - I've made about 20 things in the last 2 - 3 months and just had one of the teachers at daycare order 6 hats - yes 6 . So that is what I will be doing at night until Christmas for sure!

Dave has been running 5k's again - and we always go to watch him  - the kids get a kick out of it:)  Funny story - the first place runner last weekend (who was running CRAZY fast) passed the turn to run down into the finish line (they hadn't marked it well) so blew past the turn - and then ran about another half mile before he ended up at the finish line... I felt SOOOOOOOOOOOOOo bad. I know the organizers tried to adjust the time he would have made it but still - it was funny, awkward and sad all at the same time. The kids had a great time because the finish line was near this big football field they got to run all around:)
They also love the mini van and since it was cold that morning - after we saw daddy start the race - I went and put them in the car and they played in the backseat for about 15 minutes! Best purchase ever!