Matthew and Kayla are FOUR!

**WARNING:  This is a super-duper long post!!

You would think that since I haven't blogged about Matthew and Kayla's personalities for a whole year, that I would have a ton to say.  That's not the case.  I just re-read their "three year" entry and so much of it still applies.  

Matthew and Kayla are still best friends.  They spend 99.9% of their time playing together.  It's so fantastic for them, and for us!  They seldom fight (once a month, maybe?).

For their birthday, they had a party with their Struik and Vander Ende cousins on Tuesday, March 17th.  Jon was on spring break, so he spent the morning at their party and then went to work.  He took all of their actual birthday, March 18th off.

A portion of Matthew's gift was that we took him to the 'Thomas' train at Art Knapp's nursery.  It was cute.  I was expecting the train to run on tracks, so I was a little disappointed, but Matthew enjoyed himself and that's what matters.

When we were about to leave to go to the train, Matthew said, "It's too bad that Grandma can't come with us."  I told him that if he wanted Grandma to come, he could ask her when we dropped Nathan off at her house (she was going to watch Nathan while we took just Matthew and Kayla).  Matthew was excited that she (and Nathan) came along, and loved the skewer of candies she bought them from the store (and the Diesel steam engine we bought him!).

A portion of Kayla's birthday present was getting her ears pierced!  I didn't go into detail over what would happen, I just said it would feel like a pinch.  She did fantastic!  Not a tear was shed!  She loves her earrings, and is very proud to show people.

We had my family over for dinner the night of their birthday, and then once all of my siblings left, my Dad and Jon bunked Matthew and Kayla's beds and switched their room with Nathan's.  They were so excited!  My Dad had designed the beds when he built them so that they could be bunked eventually.  I figured they were mature enough now to do it, and I wanted to give them the fun of being bunked together before they possibly get split up into separate rooms (Matthew and Nathan eventually, and Kayla and Miss Baby Struik eventually).  Kayla is on the top because she is a more solid sleeper (although Matthew seldom is up during the night) and because if/when she shares a room with Miss Baby Struik, she won't be in a bunk bed...Matthew will then move to the top and Nathan will get the bottom.  Anyways, they LOVE their new room and new beds.

Matthew

Matthew is a great kid.  He loves to have fun, and is typically the first to warm up to a stranger.  His giggle is still amazing.  

He is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine right now.  It consumes him.  He eats, sleeps, and plays Thomas, literally.  He sleeps with a Thomas fleece blanket and a stuffed Thomas, he drinks from a Thomas cup, and he has Thomas bath toys, a Thomas bouncer, and a whole lot of Thomas trains and tracks.  I'll often hear him say, "Oh the indignity!" or "Cinders and ashes!" while he's playing with his trains, since that's what Gordon and Thomas say.  It's hilarious!

Matthew has become a much better eater this past year.  Yes, he still has his days where we have to strongly encourage him to take another bite, but more often than not he eats just fine.  He feels so proud of himself after he's eaten really well because he knows that food makes him grow bigger.  

Matthew is still skinny, but not as skinny as he used to be.  He's now 40" tall and weighs 34.4 lbs (upper end of the 15-50%-ile).  He still drinks homo milk whenever he is at home, just to help give him extra fat.  He easily wears all of his 4T clothes and is starting to move into 5T shirts.  He wears size 9 shoes.  He isn't at all discouraged that he is smaller than Kayla, because he knows that one day he will be bigger than her.

Matthew has mastered pumping on the swing, and has just learned how to start on his bike himself.  Although he has been able to ride his bike by himself since August, it has taken a while for us to teach him how to start by himself just because we haven't found the time to practice.

Although we haven't practiced very much, Matthew can pretty well write his own name.  He can recognize and name all of the letters in the alphabet, and can probably write about 10 of them?  He can also recognize all numbers from 1 to 10, and then knows all of the multiples of 10 (ex. 20, 30).  Why the multiples of ten,  you may ask?  Well, that's because speed signs are usually in multiples of ten, and Matthew likes to be a back-seat driver.  "Mom, you're allowed to go fifty.  How fast are you going?  You better slow down or you are going to get a speeding ticket."  He is also quite interested in knowing which direction we are driving in (ie. north, south, east, or west) and which direction we will be turning (left or right).  He loves it when we have to drive down a steep hill; he makes sounds as if we were on a roller coaster.  He also loves to drive under patches of fog.  When it's snowy (so almost never!), he reminds me to drive carefully because it's slippery out.  Such a back-seat driver!  

Kayla

Kayla is great.  She is very smart and mature, but can also be extremely goofy.

Kayla loves princesses.  Correction: she loves everything girly.  So long as it's pink or purple and frilly or sparkly, she loves it.  Some days she'll go around collecting the pink objects and then will display them on the couch and will ask me to take a picture of her with it.  The objects will be anything from princesses to dolls to pink trains to pink books.  It's pretty cute.  She doesn't like to just wear one necklace at a time, it's usually at least two.

Often after dinner she will get quite hyper and will be goofy.  She'll joke around and giggle and try to wrestle anyone she is close to.  It's hilarious.  It's also super annoying when you are trying to be productive and she is just grabbing at your legs trying to stop you, or trying to provoke you so that you'll tickle her or throw her in the air.

She knows all of her letters and is really learning what sound each letter makes.  "Mom, does bear start with B?"  She's learning which numbers are greater in quantity than others, and is beginning to understand addition and subtraction (verbally).  "Kayla, would you rather have five candies or ten candies?  How many candies would you have if I gave you two, and then gave you four more?"

Kayla is 41 5/8" tall and weighs 39.2 lb (upper end of the 50-85th %-ile).  She easily wears her size 5T clothes, and wears size 10 shoes.  

Speaking of clothes, Kayla LOVES clothes.  She loves to pick out her clothes, when I allow her to, and always takes into consideration which colours and items match.  She's very quick to tell me if she likes what I'm wearing, "Mom, you look beautiful."  She loves to try on clothes to see if they fit, and is so excited when we get a bag full of hand-me-down clothes from her cousin Annika to try on.  She's really cute to watch shopping, because she is very vocal on what she likes and doesn't.

Kayla loves to clean.  If I'm wiping anything with a cloth, she bugs me until I allow her to help me.  

Kayla is a great eater.  We seldom have to say anything to her, she just eats her food quickly and neatly.  She doesn't ask for seconds very often, unless it's sausage or corn (from a can) or raw veggies.  She LOVES raw veggies.  She also loves salad, but since we never have salad she only gets to have it at my parents'.  Kayla also LOVES cream puffs.  LOVES them.  She can pound them back so fast it's unbelievable.  

When Kayla has a meltdown, which she seldom does, it takes her a long time to stop crying.  She just can't stop sniffling and can't catch her breath.  It drives Jon nuts.  I just send her to a different room until she's composed herself so I don't have to listen to it.

Kayla can bike completely independently, although it always takes her a few minutes of each biking session to gain her confidence with starting, since we don't bike often enough. 

She loves to jump on the trampoline and can do a knee-drop, but can't do a bum-drop.  She'll jump and jump and jump, and when she's finally mustered up the courage to attempt a bum-drop she'll just stop jumping and fall onto her bum.  It's absolutely hilarious.  She's starting to get the concept of pumping, but isn't quite there yet.      

Kayla loves knowing if what she is eating is healthy or not.  "Mom, is this healthy for me?"  

**
Something new I started this year, and hope to continue for future birthdays, is to interview them with some basic questions.  It will be neat to see how their answers change, as they grow wiser.  I did video-tape it, but I've also included their answers here:

Matthew:
1. What's your name?  Matthew
2. How old are you?  Four
3. What is your favourite color?  Blue and green and orange and red 
4. What is your favourite toy?  Comfy Thomas (stuffed Thomas)
5. What is your favourite fruit?  Ap...Oranges
6. What is your favourite tv show or movie?  Miss Spider / Ariel (Little Mermaid) 
7. What is your favourite game?  Thomas games
8. What is your favourite animal?  Pig
9. What is your favourite song?  Jesus Loves Me
10. What is your favourite book?  Cinderella
11. Who is your best friend?  I don't know, Mom.  When I'm are bigger, Mom.
12. Who are you going to marry?  A train.
13. How many kids are you going to have when you are married?  Ten
14. What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast?  Coloured sprinkles (on bread).
15. What is your favourite cereal?  Lucky Charms
16. What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch?  Broccoli
17. What is your favourite thing to eat for dinner?  The thing we just had (Pasta with pesto)
18. What is your favourite thing to do outside?  Go on the slide.
19. What is your favourite drink?  Iced Tea
20. What is your favourite snack?  Little Bit of Everything (a snack cup filled with Cheerios, raisins, marshmallows, and chocolate chips)
21. When is your bedtime?  3 o'clock
22. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Comfy Thomas
23. What is your favourite holiday?  Wednesday
24. What do you want to be when you grow up?  I want to help put Nathan into bed.
25. Name one thing you do really well?  Jumping so high.
26. What makes you feel sad?  Only when that (the fan) hits me.
27. What makes you feel happy?  Only when that fan doesn't hit me.
28. If you could choose a different name, what would you choose?  Gordon
29. Where do you want to go on vacation?  Camping
30. What is your favourite thing to do?  Help clean up.
31. What is your favourite thing to do with Mom?  A hard puzzle.
32. What is your favourite thing to do with Dad?  Hanging up pictures.
33. What's your favourite thing to do with your siblings?  Play with the train track.

Kayla:
1. What's your name?  Kayla
2. How old are you?  4
3. What is your favourite color?  Purple and Pink 
4. What is your favourite toy?  Princesses
5. What is your favourite fruit?  Strawberries
6. What is your favourite tv show or movie?  Miss Spider / 'Punzel (Rapunzel) 
7. What is your favourite game?  The Alphabet (matching game)
8. What is your favourite animal?  Dog
9. What is your favourite song?  Princesses
10. What is your favourite book?  Princess Book
11. Who is your best friend?  Remy and Carly
12. Who are you going to marry?  I don't know.
13. How many kids are you going to have when you are married?  Five
14. What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast?  Salad
15. What is your favourite cereal?  Cinnamon Cheerios (Apple-Cinnamon Cheerios) 
16. What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch?  Salad with some strawberries
17. What is your favourite thing to eat for dinner?  Strawberries and oranges and salad
18. What is your favourite thing to do outside?  Go down slides and play on the playground and jump on the trampoline.
19. What is your favourite drink?  Hot Chocolate and Chocolate Milk
20. What is your favourite snack?  Little Bit of Everything 
21. When is your bedtime?  I don't know
22. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  My white and pink cat
23. What is your favourite holiday?  Wednesday
24. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Play some toys and then go to Grandma's for a little bit, and then help Grandma at Grandma's house, and play on the playground for a little bit and jump on the trampoline for a little bit.
25. Name one thing you do really well?  Picking carrots and strawberries (from the garden).
26. What makes you feel sad?  Hitting me.
27. What makes you feel happy?  Being friends with me.
28. If you could choose a different name, what would you choose?  I don't know.
29. Where do you want to go on vacation?  Disneyland and I like to go to 'Ticton (Penticton)
30. What is your favourite thing to do?  Help Mom make supper.
31. What is your favourite thing to do with Mom?  Play toys 
32. What is your favourite thing to do with Dad?  Play toys.
33. What's your favourite thing to do with your siblings?  Take turns having a piggy back ride on Dad's back.