The Frog's 4th Birthday!

Before we commence The Frog's birthday celebration, this was Peach, earlier that day proclaiming: "I'm goin to gramma's house."  

Grandma and Grandpa stopped by briefly and I thought this picture was really funny because they are both making the same funny face:

Every time Grandma comes, Peach tries to go home with them- she climbs in the back seat and asks to be buckled in, and it's clear she fully intends to go.  We let her go around the block one time, (while The Frog bawled that Peach was leaving) and then she bawled when we took her out and she realized she wasn't actually going to get to go with them.

The Frog requested homemade pizza with his favorite: pepperoni and pineapple.

It took me awhile to get his cake request.  He kept saying "blueberry" but I knew he wouldn't like that since he doesn't like blueberry pancakes.  So, I took him to the grocery store and had him look at all the different boxed cakes to help him decide.  He finally settled on brownies.  Unfortunately, Peach and a pair of tongues got at them RIGHT after I removed them from the oven.

So, I just flipped it upside-down on the cake plate:

I can't believe The Frog is 4!!

He has matured SO MUCH in the last, even few months.  He's starting to play much better with Peach (and probably because they can actually have conversations about things now that she is speaking so well) and sometimes they will play together for minutes... no, TENS of minutes together without any intervention!  They beg to sleep together every night (which we have learned is a bad idea because they stay up WAY too late playing)  This may sound meager, but it's a great milestone for us :)

I love it when The Frog knows that something Peach does is silly and baby-ish and is able to point it out and laugh about it with me (and Peach loves to make people laugh, so she loves it too).  One of the most rewarding things about being a mom, I've decided, is when it's clear your kids love each other.  Though mine don't always get along, they clearly do.

The Frog is loving preschool and is essentially potty trained.  (finally...)  He still sleeps with a diaper, but I'd rather do that as long as necessary, rather than wake up with a wet bed every night.  I love it when he does things that make him proud of himself.  He's becoming very competitive, and (like most of us) isn't yet great at losing- especially to his little sister.  But if you want something done, a pretty good way of getting it is by making it a race :)

He's had a glider bike for a year now and he's obviously ready for the real thing, so we got him a bike.  However, they all come with training wheels in that size and he won't let me take them off yet, though I know he could do it.

He still loves spiderman, cars, sharks, dogs, dinosaurs, space ships, and anything related to Halloween.

He loves books and is more interested in fine-motor activities now, especially mazes and "to-dot to-dots".

I sure love this little man!