Life as a 4 year old!

Dylan,

What can I say, buddy?!? I love you with my whole heart.  There are many times a day where I laugh at your wit, energy, and smarts.  There are also many times I want to just let out my own little scream because of that energy and strong personality! Ha!

But, you know what, I love the person God made you to be.  You are a lot like your Daddy.  It is already pretty obvious that you are a leader. You are not shy.  You want to PLUNGE into new adventures such as: preschool, gymnastics, being line leader, swinging from the highest monkey bars, climbing the tallest jungle gym, etc.  You are a spit-fire and a bit of a chance taker.  This can sometimes be seen when things aren't quite going your way as well.  It just means we have to be super consistent with you buddy.  You know what you want, which is one of those leader qualitites.

Fun things and milestones:

1. You love to color!  You are doing great at staying in the lines and you love to do the mazes, matches, and word searches in the coloring books, too!

2. You love playing board games.  You just recently got Hungry Hungry Hippo and Don't Spill the Beans.

3.  You enjoy riding your bike and are starting to pedal super fast!

4. You experienced the duck blind for the first time and fell in love.  You took your toy gun with you and practiced your shooting.

5. You got your first BB gun thanks to your Pawpaw!

6. You have officially started swimming on your own!  On the very last swim of the year, you would jump in, pop up, and swim back to the wall!  SO BIG!

7. You love preschool so very very much!  Your favorite things are still P.E. and the playground!

8.  You are such a great big brother.  You are always checking on Caleb when he gets hurt, and you talk to him soft and sweet.

9. You love all things cowboy.  You wear your boots daily with your jeans and sometimes your belt buckle.

10.  You can recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

11.  You can count to five (almost six) in Spanish!  And you know several words!

12. You love to dance and sing to music.  Some of your favorite songs (thanks to Radio Disney) are Roar by Katy Perry, Pom Poms by Jonas Brothers, What I Like by Kelsie Luck, and Chocolate by 1975.  And you still have some serious rhythm.

13. Your favorite foods: pizza, yogurt, cracker chicken, fruit, chicken nuggets, and spaghetti, and sweets (you can thank me for that one buddy, it's in your blood)!

Favorite phrases and words you use:
-of course
-well actually
-prolly (probably)
-well sure

Your smile is contagious.  Your energy lights up the room.  Daddy, Caleb, and I are thankful for you!  We are proud to be YOUR family!  Mommy loves you with my whole heart!

D man's Birthday DAY!

(Disclaimer: It's a little hard for me to admit D-man is now 4!)  The little one that made me a Mommy is growing up quickly!
Well, not really.
You see, growth is a sign of God working in wonderful ways.  So, in regards to Dylan growing, I praise God for his growth, his development, and his life.

Dylan turned 4 on Wednesday, August 28! In my crazy birthday Mommy fashion, I wanted the day to be filled with things that Dylan loves!

We started the day with birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy.  Dylan is real into board games here lately, so he got Ants in the Can and Cupcakes! ("a little fun and a little educational" said the former K teacher).

Our plan was to go to Playtime Pizza for lunch with all of the grandparents.  We all drove 30 minutes to West West West Little Rock and found out it didn't open until 4pm.  And yes, I had researched online about their hours, but apparently they had just switched over to fall hours.  Oops.  So, grandparents and all, trekked over to Wendy's (per Dylan's request) for lunch.  This is one of the many reasons I love his age.  Life is simple.

At exactly 12:05pm today, we were at the gas station filling Mama's car up!

After chicken nuggets, fries, and a frosty, we headed home.  Dylan got a much needed nap on the way home.  (Mommy may have drove around for a while to ensure a good nap on birthday day).  Then we played a little Jake and the Neverland Pirates Matching game from Pop and Mawmaw.  This boy is good at memorization!

That afternoon, we headed back out to Playtime Pizza.  Pawpaw wasn't able to get away from work, but 3 out of 4 grandparents on attempt #2 isn't too shabby!  We played, played, and played for 3 hours! His favorite was the mini-bowling.  The place is huge and we were one of like 3 families there!  I will be suggesting this place over Chuck E. Cheese anytime!  Dylan had a great day!
 (Pictures overload has arrived.)

Caleb loved this car.  He rode in it multiple times.  

Daddy and Dylan played the frog toss game and shot a few basketballs!

Black light miniature golf was really neat!

Dylan says skee ball is his favorite! 

Love this picture and his concentration! Pretty good at air hockey! (Mommy's fav!)

A post-pizza picture with Pop & Mawmaw!

 Post-everything shot with Nana! Makes me laugh, love!

 Mini-bowling!

22 months and TONS of fun!

I am probably a broken record once again, but I'm quite certain age 18mo-2yrs is my favorite age! Caleb is so full of life. Everything is new and exciting and an adventure in his eyes!

 

Here are a few things to cherish:

-You gallop everywhere! (Left foot first)

-You love to cross you pointer and middle fingers. You do it all the time!

-You notice "Dy-wan cool" (school) every time we pass by it. 

-You love picking Dylan up from preschool. Not so much dropping him off. You want to stay too!

-You want to do everything your big brother does!  

-You let us know when you aren't a fan of something with that phrase "I on't wike it!" (I don't like it)

-You are still very particular about your shoes, but really like your Croc sandals. You call them your "fip fops". 

-You always want to "wide Poppy's twuck" and you got to go with him and Dylan to work for the first time!

-You can sing along to most of the songs on Radio Disney, or at least hum the tune.  It's hilarious!

-There isn't a thing you can't say! Your vocabulary is soaring and you add words daily. 

-You love to say that you are a "poo-poo potnus" (poo poo potamus) when I am changing your stinky diapers! You also tell us now when you are going #2. Awesome. 

-You love tractors and foxes. Although, we are going to have to work on your pronunciation of "fox". Hehe. 

-You love to be outside. You don't mind getting dirty. But you do not want your hands dirty at supper time.

-You are my pleaser.  You are usually compliant after me telling you something once. You love your Mama. You cuddle after naps. And I cherish it because I know it won't last forever. 

-You are still crazy (even more than ever) about "Nelli giwl" (Nelli girl). You want her out in the big yard with you every time we go outside!

-You enjoy playing with your brother's tool set!

-You are feeding yourself really well. It's just a BIG mess!

-This is what I see most Tues/Thurs mornings when I have to wake you up to get Dylan to preschool on time!

Fun phrases:

"Look, come see!"

"I see Dy-wan!"

"I pway (play) twactors (tractors)!"

"Tank you!" "Bess you!"  You really have the BEST manners for a little guy!

"Want mores" I love the -s at the end of more!

We love you to the moon and back! You are our joy! 

PreK-3 at CAC!

I'm not real sure how my little boy is old enough for preschool?! He started PreK-3 at CAC on August 20, 2013.  He goes Tuesday/Thursday half days.  He was more than excited to start.  He told me on the drive to school, "Mom, I'm a little bit nervous."  I told him that it was OK to be nervous, and that he was going to have a wonderful time at school!  He met Mrs. Workman last May, but we also went up to school earlier that week for him to see his classroom and meet Mrs. Workman again.  

So proud he is writing his name!

Handsome little one.

Ham-bone!

I love how big the backpack looks!

He found his cubby!

He also found his cousin Jackson, right next door, in PreK-4!

Strikin' a pose!

Best buddy at school, Hoover!

 I always ask him about his day, and every time he tells me he played on the playground with Hoover!  I love seeing him make friendships at this age!

Before school picture with Cooper!

Before school picture with Blakely!

 I know there are several pictures of Blakely's mom and myself starting school together!  Blakely is in PreK-4, but they get to play together on the playground!

Strikin' (yet another) pose!

He had a great first day of school!  He was very red, sweaty, and stinky when I picked him up.  On the way out the door, I asked him to tell me his favorite part of school.  He said, "Mom, we got to go to recess TWO TIMES!" Oh, the simplicity of a child.  It made my heart glad.  And he also mentioned P.E. with Coach Hall.  He loves Coach Hall!

We had a celebratory dinner with ALL of the grandparents!  Dylan picked Larry's Pizza.  It was great to celebrate his first day of preschool!  We are now a few weeks in, and he still loves it!  He loves Spanish with Ms. Jamison, P.E., Gymnastics with Mrs. Tani, recess, circle time, and Mrs. Workman!  She gives lots of hugs and high fives which I love to see too!  His first unit was about frogs and his Bible lesson was "The Bible is God's Word."  He also has had his turn being line leader, and he was pretty proud about that! 

I'm thankful that he has the opportunity to slowly emerge into the school scene.  I'm thankful for loving, Christian teachers, and I must say, its pretty cool that he is starting out where his Daddy and Mommy graduated.  Here is the video I took of him on the way to school that first day: