My Sass-Master at 4 years

---During her 4-year well visit, Finn weighed in at 34.5 pounds and was 3 feet 4 inches tall.  She is in the 45th percentile for weight and the 52nd percentile for height.
---She is right now in size 4T.  She seems to be be still fitting in them fine.  Some of her skinny jeans she says are too tight -- but I'm not sure if that is more they are actually too tight, or they are more constricting then her stretchy pants that she wears a lot.  I know that I feel like my jeans are tight when I wear yoga pants constantly, even if they aren't really tight.

---So, all I can say is she eats.  She doesn't eat well.  But she eats.  She became quite the picky eater when Fish came.  It's my fault because our variety that we had before he came was quickly replaced with fast and easy meals, leading to her not wanting to eat anything.  Her current favorites are mac & cheese, pizza, chicken nuggets, chicken, apples with peanut butter, donuts, & fruit snacks.  Also anything candy (of course) -- it amazes me that she will try candy that she has never had before, but when I get her to try regular food, she refuses immediately saying it's yucky.  And she now refuses red sauce and ketchup -- like straight up refuses to eat anything that has touched either.
---Finn is super smart.  We just had a conference with her teacher for her preschool and she is doing amazing.  She is very bright and catching onto things quite quickly.  She loves books and we are working on recognizing & writing all her letters.  She can write her name quite well.

---She loves dancing and gymnastics.  She will make up routines and perform them for us.  The music has to be really loud or according to her, she can't dance right.
---She is also a big comedian.  She always says things or does things that she think is going to make us laugh.  Right now, her current favorites are dirty bathroom jokes.  I'm trying to steer her away from the poops and the pees of the world.  But she thinks that it is one of the funniest things now to talk about butts and farts.  Definitely a boy in that category.

---She is starting to get her girl routine into full swing.  Lots of dresses and headbands with bows on them.  But the big thing that she is passionate about right now is makeup.  She always wants to put on my makeup or put on the little-girl makeup that we bought for her.  Last week, I let her get into my eyeshadow and it didn't end up on her eye lids -- but she had dark black all over her cheeks and chin.  It was really fun to see how proud she was that she did her own makeup.

---Her current favorite TV shows are Paw Patrol, Mutt & Stuff, My Little Pony, Barbie and watching videos on youtube about My Little Ponies.

---Her favorite songs right now are Katy Perry's "Roar", "Shut Up & Dance", Taylor Swift's "Shake It  Off" and Katy Perry's "Firework".

Where a kid can be a kid!

Finn's birthday was quiet just like Fish's.  We made it special by making it her day ALL DAY!  She got to eat whatever she wanted for breakfast and lunch.  And dinner was spent at the only place where a kid can be a kid.  That's the motto for Chucky Cheese, right? She even got to wear a tiara!  While E wasn't the most excited to be there, once he saw how much fun the kids were having, he seemed to realize that it's okay to say that you are having fun at Chucky Cheese.  And hey, the pizza wasn't as bad as I remember it being!

The Birthday Girl!

The partner in crime

Aunt Tara

The horse game was the biggest hit!  It moved and would "jump".  You were supposed to race other horses.  The kids just went for a ride. I think that Finn finished the race but way behind -- Fish just ran into fences and walls.   

This was Mommy, Daddy, Tara's favorite!  The top one was our first one -- which just showed the top of her head.  So we raised them up and we were getting them so excited for the photo to be taken.  The countdown came and we were all like "Smile big!  Say cheese!" ready for a beautiful photo.  And then, Fish ended up looking like a stoner...

Fish was too little to get up into the tubes that were circling the play area.  So I had to climb into the tube and contort my body into the little tubes to help Fish get up to the top so he could play with Finn.

For all the games that we played and all the tickets we tried to win, they just ended up wanting to "buy" candy with their tickets.

Happy 4th birthday, Finn!

Fish's birthday

For Fish's birthday at the beginning of February, Mimi and Papa came out.  I had a big project for my dad to help complete here.  He built some built-in drawers for our closet so we could make a walk-in from a small alcove that was left from the addition the previous owners completed.  The drawers worked out fabulously and I'll update on that in a later post.  But Mimi and Papa were here for a long weekend and we had a great time!  We made Mimi's famous sugar cookies on Fish's birthday.  The kids really enjoyed themselves.  And we finished off the birthday with cake and ice cream and of course, singing "Happy Birthday" to the birthday boy (video at the very bottom of the post).

Gone fishin at 2 years

---For his 2-year well visit, Fish weighed in at 29.5 pounds and was exactly 3 feet tall.  His weight is in the 65 percentile and his height was at the 90th percentile.

---He is in size 4 diapers and is currently in size 2T clothes.  Although, we are in desperate need of upsizing his pants.  The poor dude has the biggest high-water pants I've ever seen.  I was hoping that I could get away with keeping him in size 2T until after summer.  My thought process was that they are fine around the waist -- just really really short.  So if I could make it until it was hot weather and we would be wearing shorts constantly, I would be okay.  But the warm weather isn't getting here soon enough and I feel bad that his poor ankles are getting frostbite and wind chaffing.

---Fish is a great eater!  He still tries everything and will eat almost everything until recently.  Now he watches his sister and sees what she does and if she doesn't want to try the food, he doesn't want to eat it either.  Some of his current favorites are pizza, muffins, applesauce, chicken with BBQ sauce, breakfast sausage with ketchup, mac 'n cheese, apples with peanut butter, grapes, raspberries, fruit snacks, & chicken nuggets.

---He is definitely a physical boy.  He can run and jump.  He loves to jump down from any last stair.  He is also the world best climber (at least I think so when I walk into a room and he is standing on top of a super high table) -- I lovingly refer to him as my mountain goat.

---We have __ teeth.  He also has the same gap between in his front teeth that his sister does, which I think looks just as cute on him as it does on her.

---Fish is a little behind with his speech.  When he went for his 2-year check up, they recommended that we see an early invention speech therapist (we have that appointment scheduled for the end of March).  They recommended early invention because he wasn't saying two-word phrases and also because his pronunciation of his words weren't easily understood by anyone that wasn't his mom.  But since seeing the pediatrician, his speech has increased dramatically.  He is now saying lots of two-word phrases and there has been a slight increase in his pronunciation.  He has always been a month or two behind schedule with his speech.  I think it has a lot to do with the fact that his sister won't stop talking long enough for him to get a word in.

---He loves to sing songs.  And although he isn't singing songs on his own yet, he loves to sing with you when you are singing a song.  He likes to sing along with the "ABCs" as well as "The wheels on the bus".  His absolute favorite thing to sing along with is part of the chorus to one of our favorite songs (Michael Franti's "Say Hey, I Love You"), which is us singing "But I know one thing, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you.

---He is also starting to get into counting.  He can count to five with a little help.  His favorite is 3, 4, 5.

---He is amazingly compassionate and nurturing.  When he thinks that he has hurt you or if you are hurt, he drops everything and comes running over to you, smacking his lips like he wants to give you a kiss.  He gives you a kiss to make you feel better and then goes off and continues doing what he was before.  He also loves to help distribute things.  If I give him something, then he asks for another so he can give it to his sister.  While he isn't the best sharer all the times, he is really good at helping and sharing most of the times.

Chapter Four -- Little Miss Sass-Master Flash

Our dear girl turned four earlier in the month.  And I've finally put together her yearly video.  I am a little disappointed in myself as I felt that I had to use too many iPhone photos, instead of my "big girl" camera.  I have vowed to myself that I will be busting her out more this year.

Also see:  Chapter Three

Chapter Two

Chapter One