Nathan is 4!

At four years old, Nathan weighs 45.4 lb (Kayla's weight when she was 5.5) and is 44 1/4" tall (Matthew's height when he was 5.5).  He wears size five clothes very comfortably, and has moved up to some size 6 pjs already.  He wears size 12 shoes.

Nathan is usually a very enjoyable child.  He is very inquisitive: if I use a word that he doesn't know the meaning of he right away asks me, "What does _______ mean?"

He's shy, but at the same time he is very confident around those he does not know really well.  He's not scared to talk to other children that want to play with him.

He enjoys learning, but it's not something we focus on.  I'm trying not to rush him in growing up.  He is learning how to recognize and say larger numbers (ex. 57), is learning basic addition and subtraction, and is just starting to learn how to spell words by listening to the sounds of the letters in the word.  I'm sure if I worked with him daily on the above things he would be much further ahead of where he is at, but I don't think it's necessary.  He'll do fine in school as is.  He's picked up a lot from hearing my interactions with Matthew and Kayla.

Nathan still loves princesses, but has now also added dinosaurs and super heroes to the mix.  

He eats the same thing for breakfast and lunch, 6 of the 7 days of the week!  For breakfast he typically requests a bowl of corn pops and then a banana, and for lunch he likes to have one slice of bread with peanut butter and jam and another slice of bread with chocolate icing on it.  Sometimes he asks for a third slice, which I hesitantly give to him. 

We still have regular discussions about God/Jesus/Heaven.

When he is short on sleep, he will likely call anyone who frustrates him a "baby."    

Nathan is loving being in soccer.  He plays only on Saturday mornings, and it's just soccer drills with a scrimmage at the end.  He has no problem being mixed with different kids each Saturday and follows the instructions for each drill quite well.  He has a good attitude and doesn't complain if his team loses in the scrimmage.  

We moved him up to a 16" bike and he transitioned very well.  

AND...because he's now four, he was old enough to be "interviewed" by me (just as I do with Matthew and Kayla at each birthday).  He did really well!

1. What's your name?  Nathan
2. How old are you? 4
3. What is your favourite color? Orange
4. What is your favourite toy?  Airplanes
5. What is your favourite fruit?  Bananas
6. What is your favourite tv show or movie? Elsa is my favourite movie.  Paw Patrol  
7. What is your favourite game?  The searching one.  Remember you need to try to push to get to treasures.
8. What is your favourite animal? Cheetah
9. What is your favourite song?  Elsa
10. What is your favourite book?  Superheroes
11. Who is your best friend?  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? I don't know
14. What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast?  Corn Pops
15. What is your favourite cereal? Corn Pops
16. What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch?  Chocolate icing and Peanut Butter and Jam
17. What is your favourite thing to eat for dinner?  Rice
18. What is your favourite thing to do outside?  Play with Carly
19. What is your favourite drink?  Chocolate Milk
20. What is your favourite snack?  Little bit of everything
21. When is your bedtime?  7:00
22. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Dinosaurs (on his night table), Baby (his doll), Puppy, Blankie
23. What is your favourite holiday?  Of course, Christmas
24. What do you want to be when you grow up?  A Dad.  And I'm going to work.  I'm going to work probably where you work.
25. Name one thing you do really well?  Helping Olivia
26. What makes you feel sad?  Matthew not letting me invite (?).  Carly not letting me be the really winner.
27. What makes you feel happy?  Olivia hugging me
28. If you could choose a different name, what would you choose? Matthew
29. Where do you want to go on vacation?  Where you did go.  Where you'd go on a date.
30. What is your favourite thing to do?  Play with Carly
31. What is your favourite thing to do with Mom?  Play with real rice
32. What is your favourite thing to do with Dad?  Wrestle with him
33. What is your favourite thing to do with your siblings?  Group hug

Olivia is 26 Months Old!

Although her birthday was only two months ago, it seems like we have done a lot since then!  Time sure flies...

Olivia now weighs 28.4 lb.  She wears her size 3T clothes easily and wears size 7 shoes.

We attempted to potty train her mid-September, but that was quite unsuccessful and so we stopped after a solid day of trying and will try again in the future.  I wasn't frustrated since she's quite young; I'm just eager to stop having to buy diapers!

Olivia has been doing jigsaw puzzles non-stop for the past two months.  She quickly graduated from 4-piece to 6-piece to 9-piece to 15-piece puzzles.  She definitely looks at the piece to determine what part of the picture is on it, and tries to match it accordingly.  She just doesn't tire of puzzling!

She continues to love her bald babies and carries a baby with her wherever we go.  Baby comes to school drop-off and pick-ups, grocery shopping, in the car to church, to Grandma's house, etc.  If she can't find her baby, then Nathan's baby is her alternate.

She also continues to enjoy scootering and biking.  She loves playgrounds and has no fear attempting to scale any sort of climbing wall.

Olivia now has all of her drinks in a "big girl" cup with the exception of her post-nap drink, which is in a sippy cup so that she can drink it while sitting on the couch.  I find that she finishes all of her milk with much less encouragement, which is nice.  We have also raised her booster seat and taken the tray off so that she can sit right at the table with us.  So far, everything has gone well!

Since our last camping trip, Olivia has become a phenomenal sleeper.  She goes to bed around 7:15/7:30 with the older three without a fight (so long as she has her baby and water bottle with her), and wakes up around 6:30/6:45.  She never climbs out of her crib on her own (which only has three crib sides and a crib rail on the fourth), so I always have to go grab her...and then I bring her back to my bed where she often will fall asleep again for a little.

She continues to have a love/hate relationship with Nathan.  She loves him dearly, but often gets annoyed with his non-stop pestering.  She is always excited to see Matthew and Kayla after school and seldom fights with them.

{First time having her finger nails painted!}

Matthew and Kayla are 6.5!

 

Matthew:

At 6.5, Matthew weighs 43.4 lb and is 46.5" tall.

He is a bright kid who is full of energy.  He loves to learn, and is fantastic at reading.  It's such a pleasure to sit with him and listen to him read.  It has also made me think twice before spelling something aloud to Jon because Matthew can now figure out what we are trying to keep secret.



Matthew can be in an extremely good mood or an extremely bad mood.  When he is happy, everyone knows it because he has a huge smile and talks so excitedly.  When he is unhappy, everyone knows it because he is crying and screaming and pumping his fists down.  He likes to sulk.  Luckily for us, so long as he is getting enough rest at night his tantrums can be kept to a minimum.



Matthew started soccer this past week and loves it.  The whole time he was on the field he was beaming, running as fast as he could (with his poke-shoes on) to keep up with the play.  I hope his enthusiasm continues since he'll be on the field twice a week, rain or shine.



He has recently found great joy in using our screwdrivers to open up our battery-dead toys and figure out which batteries they need.

He is the only one that ever laughs at Kayla.  He's always rolling on the floor with tears streaming down his face over some comment she has made or action she has done.  Funny thing is though that it's not even funny!  She just has some effect on him.  It's pretty funny to see.

Matthew is great with younger kids.

He is still our messiest eater.  I'm constantly washing his chair or vacuuming under his spot.  He is generally a much better eater than he used to be.  He's very expressive when it comes to letting us know when he does or does not like a meal.  His favourite meals are: soup, green mashed potatoes (boerekool), anything with broccoli.  He does not like anything that is a little bit on the spicy side.

Kayla:


At 6.5, Kayla is 51.6 lb and is 48 1/8" tall.



Kayla is still our easiest child.  She is very consistent with her moods; seldom is she overly happy or overly upset.  It's easy to tell when she is tired, because then she is quick to get emotional over something that usually does not bug her.  A good night's rest always brings her back to her usual self.
She is the second set of hands that I wish I had myself.  If I ask her to help me with anything, she typically listens right away and does it, no questions asked.



Her reading has really come along, thanks do to the summer reading program at our public library.  Being "forced" to read every day really helped.  She is my most willing to write stories or notes, but is also very hesitant when she does it because she absolutely hates to make spelling mistakes.  I often refuse to tell her what letters are next because I want her to just try her best.  I feel like she will make great strides with her writing in grade one because of the confidence she will gain.



I was worried for Kayla starting grade one that she would struggle socially, but within the first week of school she made a good friend and has already initiated us going there for a play date.  She is confident at recess and will run around by herself or will play with a variety of different kids at different times.



Since school began in September, she has really started to be silly.  She gets in these really annoying moods where she acts silly...and Matthew loves it.  I don't know if it's her way of adjusting to having to be on her best behaviour six hours every day (as opposed to only going to school on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays) or if it's a developmental stage she's in, but it's annoying!



Kayla started soccer this past week and claims that she hates it.  She never complains while there and she is expressionless while playing.  I don't think she hates it as much as she claims, she's just not comfortable and confident enough playing because it's so new to her and she does not like change.

She still continues to love crafting, and is always the first to pull out the colouring materials.

Kayla eats really well.  She's fast, neat/clean, and has a good appetite.  She loves chicken cordon blues.