FOUR!!!!

CET are 4 years old!!!!

I've said this before but 4 feels sooooo old! Three seems really little, still baby/toddler like but four is a big boy! The boys are doing great and becoming so independent, they can zip up easy zippers themselves, Eli is wiping his own butt (and doing a really good job) and the other two aren't far away. They can ride a bicycle without training wheels. Their sense of humor is growing and surprise me all the time at the jokes that they get and laugh at.

Unofficially the boys are 37 inches tall and weigh almost 30lbs (I will get official stats at our 4yr check up a month from now). Still very petite, this summer they wore a mix of 2T (shorts/pants and a few tops) and 3T (tops). They wear a size 8 toddler shoe but I think their feet are actually 7.5. As fall and winter approach I've graduated the boys to 3T pants (yay!) but I have a feeling we'll be in 3T clothing for a loooong time! Seeing as how they only grew 2 inches from 3-4 so from 4-5 they should grow less than that right? Anyways, we are finally tall enough for the ikea play area, woohoo! Can't wait for the next rainy day!

I don't feel that the boys behavior has miraculously changed as we are leaving the terrible threes (which was far worse than two btw) and turning four. But over the last several months there has been significantly less tantrums but still too much crying for my taste (maybe this is a multiples thing, I don't know). After never giving in to a tantrum maybe they think if they just cry loud enough they will get what they want. Sorry ain't gonna happen! I will say one miraculous thing as started to occur, the boys are developing shame (just a smidge but it's there and increasing). Not the type of shame where they are embarrassed to be naked but the kind of shame where they are embarrassed at what people think of them. For example if we are in a public space and someone starts acting bratty I just say, "(gasp)! you stop that! look at all the people looking at you and thinking what a badly behaved boy you are!" It has stopped them in their tracks several times now, ha!

We are also still napping!!! I mean how many kids do you know that still nap at 4?! I can count them on one hand so the fact that they still do makes me very very grateful. Can we go till 5? I really doubt it but for now we are going strong, albeit it's not ideal because the boys wake up at 7 am (or a little earlier) and nap from 2-5:30 pm and then bedtime at 9 pm (or a little later). We occasionally try to see if they can go without it but they always seem to really need it. They can miss one day ok but certainly not the next day or they can skip a long nap if they can at least sleep for 30 min in the car or something. I really should have them take shorter naps and just wake them up early but it's hard to beat the peace and quite especially when I can finally sit down and read or watch some Guiliana & Bill, ha!  I've decided it's just too hard. Anyways, for now I'm milking nap time it for all it's worth : )

Wait how old are we?
They really didn't get the whole get excited cause you're 4 thing, ha!

Three or four, what?

Caleb (it worked better individually)

Eli

Thomas