Recent things

Finn:

• Major news story: Finally, potty training is here. We have officially been in underwear for about 2 weeks, with only 2 accidents. He seems (knock on wood) to have it down pat!

• Current obsessions: Mario, swinging on his new swingset, riding in the bottom part of Kate's stroller whenever we go for a family walk, Mario, reading a Mo Willem's Pigeon book we got from the library, and did I mention Mario.

• Unfortunates: Occasionally says "I don't want a baby" (referring to Kate), melt-down city whenever we turn off Mario (note: Mommy is NOT happy about how much Mario watching is going on), fusses about any food we put in front of him (including things he likes, like PB&J sandwiches, and don't even ask about fruits or veggies). Also a few bad words have snuck into his vocabulary (see above re: Mario time).

• Good things: Had our first trip to the dentist (mine too, at least in a number of years) and it went smoothly. No cavities for either of us. Finn let the dentist brush his teeth with no fussing (and sat through my longer part of the visit).

• Common sayings: Maybe (as in, maybe we could go to Krisna's house later, or maybe we could play Mario more after lunch... it's the way he says it--it's hard to describe).

Kate:

• Major news story: Almost walking! Crawls everywhere, does stairs like a breeze (although she can't really be trusted on them by herself), and stands and "hovers", maybe taking 1 step, but note quite ready to step out fully.

• Current obsessions: Talking, going in the bathroom and standing by the tub, going up stairs, "reading" books, saying hi (except when prompted to).

• Unfortunates: High high high in the stubbornness and will power--she knows what she wants to do and she's damned if she's going to let you stop her without expressing her displeasure. Places she likes to go that are a nuisance: up the stairs (because she can't be trusted to do it on her own), in the bathroom, into the bedroom to open up the poopy diaper pail. Still very difficult to put to bed, and has a habit of waking up around 1am.

• Good things: Starting to get past the issue with other people holding her, although she stills cries for me when I don't pick her up or take her from someone else. She's so chatty; that's my favorite thing. She picks up new words so easily!

• Common sayings (this is for Grandma, who said I hadn't posted enough of Kate's words): Hat, duck, kitty, book, Mommy, Daddy, milk, goosey-goose, hi, bye-bye, more, sorry, no. This week she's working on Grandma and Grandpa, since they are visiting.

All about our birthday boy!

We now officially have a 4-year-old. Yikes! Perhaps this is good, though. Supposedly there are the terrible 2's, but my husband thinks that the real "terrible" age is 3; it's just that nobody says so because it's actually SO terrible that you repress it. The year of "3" was harder for us with Finn than the year of "2" but we'll have to wait to see how it goes with Kate before we generalize. But anyway...

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY FINN!

Things about Finn:

He's still not greatly interested in potty training, even though he knows that he can't go to school until it happens. He uses the potty, but it seems fairly random when he'll choose to do that versus going in his pull-up. For myself, I think he's ready to be transitioned over full force, but because I'm not at home full time, it's not completely up to me.

He speaks very politely a lot of the time, which makes me really happy and proud, but he has a short fuse for frustration and he still hits when very frustrated. I have a hard time figuring out how to help him along with that, being as I have a horrible temper myself. He also can't always tell when something is a game and when it's gone beyond a game. When he plays with other kids who want to play games that involve throwing balls at each other, or pushing objects toward each other (swords, boxing-esque gloves, etc.), he can easily go too far with it. I never know exactly what to do about that either. If he hits another child because the other child instigated a very physical game, I always feel bad but I also feel like it's a shared responsibility there. But it's hard to communicate that to a young child (i.e., Finn OR the other children involved). I just tell him to apologize and not to hit and hope for the best in the long run.

He's getting sneakier. Just today, hubby relayed to me via phone that Finn snuck into the kitchen and ate the tops off of several of the birthday cupcakes we baked. He then put the rest of the cupcakes into the trash. Now that's definitely strategically impish behavior.

Our current favorite misused word: constructions--like "Let's read the constructions to the game."

He was an extremely gratifying birthday boy in terms of getting presents. He didn't do the grabby gimme approach (which would be normal for this age, and not necessarily indicative of greediness in long-term, but it's still nice that he didn't). Instead, he responded with supreme (and honest) excitement at every single gift that was open, using the phrase "WOW, it's my very own... [fill in the blank]." He did this equally for everything from the large Thomas the Tank Engine tent (below) to the small potty-related book (above). He was a total sweetheart, and it was a really nice birthday!