Friday: wall

A year and a half ago, we made a wall.  Well, Trump is still president, so Joshua and I made another wall today.  We've gotten a few Duplos since that time and it wasn't as wide, so it went up higher.

Isaac was surprised to see it blocking the way into his room when he got home.

It's an odd wall in that it moves rather well.  The very top was just shy of Isaac's shoulder.

We also have Joshua jumping on his second bed.  Apparently his room tends to get spooky around 1am, and so he comes to sleep with us.  This was being rather disruptive, but I couldn't quite convince myself to tell him no, especially in the middle of the night.  So he now just has a second bed...he comes in and goes right to sleep.  Once he even came in when the lights were still on and went to sleep without saying boo. 



Oh, and this morning Joshua finished his fire plane.  I think he started it...Wednesday afternoon perhaps?  He only needed help a few times.  He does build them a bit odd, as when he turns pages he often turns several at once.  He just makes his plane look like the picture, but once in a while it got him into a bit of trouble with small and hidden pieces.

Wednesday2: Lego League

Yesterday was Lego League.  One of the first things we did was think of questions we needed for our greenhouse.  I had a great time coming up with them.

Wednesday: Giraffe

Isaac's lovie is Giraffe.  Isaac has gone through several lovies in his six years, but Giraffe has stayed around for quite a while.  Giraffe doesn't go everywhere like Grey Bear does, but whenever Isaac sleeps somewhere other than his bed Giraffe usually comes.

This weekend Giraffe got lost.  Now, I'm pretty sure that Giraffe is somewhere in the house.  But Isaac was in tears the one night he had to sleep without Giraffe in the basement.  (He then slept without tears for two nights, but it was his own bed.)

Anyway, it turns out that Giraffe had walked all the way to Aunt Allison's house*. 

*Just kidding.  Somehow we both ended up with the same animal and they were generous enough to give us their copy.  I'm hoping that when the other Giraffe is found Isaac doesn't really realize there are two; hopefully I can pull it off.

**I'd also like to let future Isaac know that once we find the original Giraffe I replaced Replacement Giraffe so you still have the right copy...even if I don't mention it in the blog again.

Tuesday: conversations

In the car, going to pick up Isaac:

Joshua: and Grandpa hit a tree!!  hahahaha
Joshua: and so did Uncle Nathan or Aunt Liz! hahahaha
Amanda: oh really?
Joshua: yeah, it's what Evelyn said
Amanda: do you think Uncle Nathan or Aunt Liz was driving?
Joshua: um, Aunt Liz. hahahaha
Amanda: well, lots of tree hitting happened.
Joshua: no, only two trees.  By Grandpa and Aunt Liz.

Monday: conversations and storms

Amanda: which is bigger, a house or a bus?
Joshua: um...a tree!
*as we go down a tree lined road where most of the trees are taller than the houses*
Joshua: like, that one!
Joshua pauses for a few seconds.
Joshua: and that one!
Joshua: oh, that one is super tall!  It's the tallest in the world!

Also, Tropical Storm Paul is here at the same time as Tropical Storm Isaac, which I find neat.  I really wanted the Atlantic to get to Isaac, but then I felt really bad about wanting that.  Thankfully, my desires have no impact on the hurricanes.

Weekend: wedding and visitors

Friday morning started out with cleaning.  However, the cleaning was led by Joshua.  He decided it was time to clean the basement, so we did.  Then we cleaned his room.  Then we cleaned the guest room.  He finished with a few odds and ends, after having worked hard for an hour and a half.  He kept saying, "Dad and Isaac will be so surprised!"

In the evening we went to Joel and Emily's wedding and it was beautiful.  (It was Isaac and Joshua's first time to a wedding.)

Joshua really wanted to show Grandma a Lego set in a magazine.

I brought some new small sets of Legos for the kids...it was a nice distraction.

Isaac danced with Pat, but I don't think he was a fan.

Joshua danced with Ben, and he was just a blur.

Isaac laughed super hard about this strawberry in his dessert.  I'm not really sure why.

Saturday Evelyn tried to get Joshua to dance; it didn't work well.

We went to the critter barn.

Isaac wanted his picture with Cnl. Sanders, who is apparently a super nice rooster, but didn't really want to be very close.

This small goat kept coming by me and nibbling at my pants.  It was a nice warm goat, so I didn't mind that it wanted to be friendly as it was a slightly cool day.

We got to watch them put hay in the loft and it was apparently the best thing ever.  The kids watched for the whole wagon load.

We went downtown for treats.  I think everyone was fine with holding hands; I just got a poor picture.

Sunday Dad and Pat brought bagels and then we went for a walk at Riley Woods.  Dad barely hit the parking barrier, but Joshua could only see the tree and kept saying, "Grandpa! You hit the tree!"

There were many sticks picked up.  The nice thing about taking a walk with the cousins is that all the kids seemed to be excited about it.

And then they left. :(

Joshua: 47, 48 and 49 months

Google made this video of videos a few months ago.  It has some super cute moments.  (It also has some that are more Isaac than Joshua, but Joshua's at least in all the clips.)  My favorite are laughing on Ben's lap, the dance/guitar with Isaac, "I'm on an elevator" with the fork, and the orange juice on the airplane.



47 months

Playing: Joshua still plays Dulpos and Legos a lot.  Whether or not I play Duplos with him for at least 10 minutes seems to make or break his day, so I try I hard to remember that it is important to him.  He enjoyed having Isaac home and played with Isaac a lot doing assorted things.  He also likes putting together big Lego sets with Ben.

Gross motor skills: Joshua did a great job in gymnastics and enjoyed it a lot, so we're going to keep doing that into the school year.  He also loves to jump.  Isaac's bed and the crib mattress get jumped on a lot, but there is random jumping even when the 'floor' isn't bouncy.

48 months:

Social: Joshua is more social than Isaac and was always excited to see the neighbor across the road.  He can also remember people's names.  He has regularly been making crafts for the grandparents to likes to give them away.

School: Joshua is now in Preschool.  While he still is more excited about home days, he willingly goes to school.  They've been working on the letters in their name.  He is very good at giving me a  step by step breakdown of what they did in school.  It always includes the clean up times, but sometimes omits circle time.

On being a puppy: While Joshua is still a puppy, it hasn't come out quite as much lately.  There's a chance it is because his imaginary mouse's name is Puppy and so it was too confusing to have two Puppys.  (At least, I found it very confusing.)

49 months:

Chores: Since Joshua turned four, he got more chores (and an allowance).  He now needs to put the silverware away, put his laundry away, clean his room, feed Flurry, and clean up the downstairs for a few minutes.  He transitioned very well to these new chores and wants to get a new Lego fire plane with his money.

Overall, Joshua has been very fun to be with and he seems to have grown-up quite a bit over the last few months.