From three to four…

"Let them eat cake."
-Marie Antoinette

As is tradition on Ashlyn’s birthday, we took the kids to the zoo.  We broke tradition slightly though in three ways.  First, we went to the Dallas Zoo instead of the Ft. Worth Zoo because we heard that you could feed the giraffes.  Second, we went the day before her birthday because her actual birthday fell on Saturday.  Third, and most importantly, we didn’t go alone.  Ashlyn made a best friend in her new class, Mia.  Mia and her parents joined us at the Zoo and both the girls went crazy when they first saw each other, they ran across the opening plaza and hugged each other like they hadn’t seen one another in years.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little sad seeing her grow up.  It’s part of the journey, and I suppose there’s not much I can do about it.  The girls had a great time, giraffes were fed, goats were fed, and James only ran off two or three times.  All in all, it was a fun birthday trip.

The next morning Ashlyn woke up as an official four year old.  We started the day by opening birthday presents at the house, which included her first real bike and a princess play set.  Ashlyn rode around the house for the next hour in a track that covered the kitchen, living room, and entry way.  James decided to microwave Snow White.  I’m happy to say that Snow White is doing fine.

The birthday party itself was a lot of fun.  The family came over and our house was filled with people celebrating our little girl turning four.  It wasn’t your typical birthday party.  The Happy Birthday song was whispered instead of sung, and Ashlyn opened her presents in a separate room at first to avoid the attention that always sets Ashlyn off thanks to the bashfulness.  We only had one real meltdown when we cheered for the piñata breaking, but over all she had more fun than she did in previous years.  Thanks everyone for making this a memorable birthday party.  I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

The next morning Ashlyn woke up, put on a dress, and ran her remote control car down the hallway.  She then proceeded to put James in a skirt (blackmail picture below).  The kids played outside while we were looking through all the birthday pictures, and the porch paid the price.

Dancing, parks, and piñatas…

"The world is a playground, and life is pushing my swing."
-Natalie Kocsis

It’s nice to live in a home where impromptu dance parties can break out at any moment.  The pictures below were from Rock n’ Roll Elmo™ seen to the right of the pictures.  James’ moves primarily involve him turning around in circles over and over, which doesn’t put him too far off his Dad’s dancing ability.

As Halloween approaches, we are in the inevitable back and forth answering of the “what do you want to be for Halloween” question.  James, for his part, really doesn’t care.  Ashlyn picked out a Snow White costume, but when she saw James in the Yoda costume that Mom bought him, she changed her mind and wanted to be Princess Leia from Star Wars.  You’ll have to check back after Halloween for the end result.

But what about food you ask?  You didn’t ask?  Well, I’m going tell you about food anyway.  Ashlyn and James are both progressing in their eating.  Ashlyn is now self sufficient in making and preparing food several meals for herself, including sandwiches.  James is getting better at using a fork to eat chicken nuggets.  Both are very proud of their accomplishments.

In addition to his cutlery skills, James is also improving his vocabulary.  He still has trouble pronouncing them, but he knows around 17 words in total.  The full list is at the bottom of the blog post.  The pictures below were the result of James pulling us outside to ask for bubbles.  Ashlyn then taught him the joys of pouring.

Mom has been perusing Pinterest again in preparation of Ashlyn’s upcoming birthday party and Party City is appreciative.  Below is the beginnings of a themed piñata.  To see the final version, tune in next week.

The weather turned out to be great on Sunday, so when PePa came over breakfast we spent a lot of time outside running around and jumping on the trampoline.  Ashlyn did her best to send James air born, but James stubbornly refused to keep both feet in contact with the mat.

After naps we took the kids out to the park to enjoy what turned out to be a picture perfect day.  Both the kids had a great time going up and down the playground.  James enjoyed exploring the park and trying to fall into the creek, and then after a juice box break he showed his commitment to the juice box by taking it with him on the swings.  Ashlyn ran, slid, climbed, and jumped on almost every inch of the playground.

The many words of James…

• Mama
• Dada
• Hot
• Cat
• Dog
• Cracker
• No No
• Uh Oh
• Banana
• Eye
• Elmo
• Tickle
• More
• Bubbles
• Fish
• Foot
• Bowl

Signs

• Milk
• More
• Help
• Eat
• All done (this is done in two ways, the actual sign and by throwing food all over the kitchen)