A few days ago: 54 months

Isaac turned 54 months old a few days ago.

Family: He finally loves Ben infinity much.  He insists on telling me that "I love you more than you love me."  I've tried to stop it since I don't really like it, but it hasn't worked.  He seems to be enjoying Joshua more...he likes making him laugh and helping him say new words.  Isaac happily still holds my hand; something I love.

Eating: Isaac has been extra hungry this month.  Several times he would eat dinner, his treat, a graham cracker, and then start in on the fruits and veggies.  He is a slow, slow eater, but with all of that food it isn't uncommon for it to take 1.5 hours for him to eat.  He has a few foods that he definitely will not eat (scrambled eggs, for example) but isn't too picky over all.

Silliness: Isaac loves to be silly.  (Above is his silly picture.)  He is always a puppy, although he refers to himself in third person and in a funny voice when a puppy.  This month we learned that puppy is still learning how to eat, and so somethings took a few extra tries.  He's been doing more climbing, standing on one leg, hopping, etc things...it makes me wonder if gymnastics influenced it.

Playing: his favorite things are still marbles and legos.  (I often hear the marbles when he's supposed to be getting dressed.)  He got some new fun things for his birthday and he's been playing with those a lot too.  I put the puzzles away since he hasn't gotten them out for months, and then he asked for some during quiet time.  I brought a few up, and am not sure that he did them.

Attitude: Besides a few minor listening incidents, Isaac has been really good lately.  He's really fun and tries really hard to get people to laugh and smile.  He's trying to scare Ben and me; he's gotten Ben once but hasn't really gotten me yet.  Oh, I'm not sure if this fits in this category, but Isaac is amazing at delayed gratification.  We got donuts on Wednesday and he decided that he didn't want to eat his until Thursday because that was his birthday day.  We've noticed this in several other places too.

Work: Isaac has been somewhat willing to do work around the house, but we just set up a chore chart for him.  He gets some money just for being part of the family.  The chores are to say 5 s-blend words (snow, stop, spit, etc.), feed Flurry, put away the clean silverware, water the plants (4x/week), help with laundry (1x/week), and clean his room (1x/beginning of the week).  So far it's worked pretty well.  Most of the chores take him a total of 15 minutes at the most, so it's easy to have him do even if it's at the end of the day.  (Cleaning his room, on the other hand, takes a while.  Especially since he doesn't want to do it.  Our solution is that he doesn't have to, but no ipad (or other fun things), until he has done it.

Conclusion: Isaac is usually a lot of fun to be around and while he prefers "playing" with us he's really quite happy to do anything with us.  He's becoming quite independent while still enjoying having us around.

Sunday: puzzles and fireworks

I had a few extra minutes this evening and so worked on some puzzles with Joshua.  He was a pro.  So I got out the four piece puzzles.  He had the right idea, but execution wasn't great.  But that is good...something to work on.

Isaac got to go see his first fireworks tonight.  He took a nap this afternoon, as part of the deal, and then he and Ben went to Travis' neighborhood for them.  He loved them.  They were rather loud, but he just covered his ears.  Ben said that Isaac was saying "Bang, bang" in between the explosions and bouncing all over the place.  When they lit off a small one he would get a bit disappointed and wonder when the big ones were coming again.

Saturday: assorted pictures

Another one from Cheryl's birthday:

We got our worms yesterday.  Joshua seemed a bit squeamish and even though Isaac didn't flinch away he didn't want to touch them.  We put them in and they wiggled around.  I've checked them several times, and mostly can't tell they're doing anything.  I did find one group that had escaped through some holes in the bottom, so stuck them back inside.  They quickly went down into the dirt again.

Isaac wanted this picture taken of him.  It was a pajama day.  He also did an amazing job with Joshua Friday morning...sharing his new toys and helping him a few times without being asked.

A few days ago: 23 months

Joshua recently turned 23 months!

Family: The biggest news is that in the last month he switched allegiances.  Ben used to be the preferred parent, but now I am.  This has lessened a bit in the last week, but still hasn't changed back to Ben.  He and Isaac have also started interacting a lot more.  I won't say that they're playing together, but they're playing next to each other and laughing at each other.  Joshua keeps pretty close tabs on Isaac.  He's started to recognize extended family and be excited to see them.

Sleeping: We just got him an ok-to-wake alarm clock.  He was waking up a little bit early, and he really needs that last half hour of sleep.  I'm not sure it's helped a ton yet, but he does seem to not be so loud when it is time to wake up.  He's more or less sleeping 8pm-7am with at least a 1.5 hour nap, sometimes up to 2.5 hours.

Playing: he's been enjoying fiddling with stuff...the circuts, legos, duplos, etc.  He loves to read books and enjoys drawing.  He makes sure that he gets his allotted Ipad time every day.  He also really enjoyed this photo shoot, so there were lots of good pictures.  He's also started doing some games that he makes up.  It might take me a while to figure out the rules, but there is a pattern to them.

Eating: ug.  He'll eat carbs and some dairy.  And applesauce.  I haven't been able to get him to touch the veggie pouches or any fruits lately.  (But I keep putting them on his plate!)  Cheese and yogurt work sometimes.

Attitude: I feel like I always write these on days that weren't great.  I'd say overall things are getting a little bit better...and it's not as though they were that bad even at the worst.  There are a few small tantrums here and there.  But he still listens well and that's half the battle.

Speaking: he has many words/phrases.  It's still the odd stage that he can understand pretty much everything you say, even if he can't respond well.  Many of the phrases aren't very understandable, but since I've heard them in context so often I get them.  He knows to repeat the last word of phrases when we're praying and does a good job trying words he doesn't really know.

Overall, he's a very fun kid.

Flashback: Disney

Here are some of my favorite Disney pictures...it took a while to get them from everywhere.  And so, in no particular order...

Family picture in animal kingdom

Ben and Amanda in Magic Kingdom on date night.

Magic Kingdom with a fancy border.

Gear flowers.  Isaac is the one that wanted the picture here, and we happily obliged.  Besides the animals on safari, it was the only thing he asked for a picture of.  But the sun was bright, so both boys got some hand shades.

Goofy at breakfast.

Joshua.

Waiting for Jake to get to our table during a breakfast.

Finally!  Jake!

Storm troopers up close.

Giraffe on safari.

Date night again.

Playground after Disney.

With Mickey.

 Joshua, waiting for Ben and I to ride a ride.

With Mickey at breakfast.

This is one of my most favorite pictures.

More storm troopers

Thursday: Birthday party!

Today was birthday party day!  Isaac was so excited.

Joshua was pretty cute too.

Isaac got a Magna Doodle - well, a different brand, same thing.  We have a tiny one and both boys play with it a lot.  Joshua has already enjoyed Isaac's present.

Before the party Joshua was playing a game that involved opening a door, skipping to the bathroom, skipping back, repeat.  I enjoyed the rhythm his feet made.

Wednesday: this and that

This morning Joshua wanted to draw.  He drew on paper, then on the chair, then on himself.  Happily, we used ultra washable markers and everything cleaned up easily.

We decorated Isaac's cake.  Well, I frosted, Isaac sprinkled.  We're collecting quite a collection of sprinkles, since it seems we get a new bottle every birthday along with some at Christmas.

Joshua worked on his "circuit" for about a half hour.  He needed help getting the pieces on the board, but did a lot of the other connections and all of the designing.

We also got the birthday balloons today, which were a hit as normal.  However, at dinner Ben mentioned that Helium is actually a non-renewable resource and that at current usage we have a surprisingly small amount left.  (Some estimates put it around 15 years.  It was shorter, but they just found a large deposit.  Hence why he knew this.)  I thought it was renewable/easily made...I'm not sure if we'll get any more helium balloons.  Party balloons make up 5-7% of the current usage, but it was unclear if the balloon helium is left over from the purification process for important applications or if some of it is used directly for balloons.  I know it's a small statement in a large economy, and might not even matter, but we can find other fun ways to decorate.