Four and Fabulous

 As our littlest Martin begins his fourth year as a member of the crew, I've got to take a moment to remember who he is in this moment.  Time is flying and both boys are growing super fast, and I'm enjoying seeing who they become as they get bigger.

We had a beautiful birthday for Nikolai.  It included a Chuck E Cheese celebration while Daniel and I were in the mountains.  Gammie and our boys met up with Zayn and Coach Ross.  Everyone had a great time!

Daniel and I drove back late Saturday night so we were there when Nikolai woke up on his birthday morning.  We went to church and started his birthday by having both boys dedicated to God during the service.

That afternoon, the boys and I made a Gumba cake, as Niko decided he wanted a Mario themed birthday.

The following weekend, with Gammie still in town and Jan having joined, too, we threw Niko's official birthday party right after Alexander's soccer game.

Niko was so sweet, greeting every single friend as they arrived.  He had such a great time playing with his friends.  We are still opening presents from the party and he is truly playing with every item he has received.

Milestones

Our four-year-old is gigantic.  He is over 95th percentile in height and keeps growing.

He is a love.  He has many friends and talks about how much he loves them as well as his teachers all the time.

His big brother is his very best friend, and he is still a mama's boy.  He loves to snuggle and hug and wants to kiss, so we have to remind him that kisses are for family.

He needs his nap and wakes up very early.  He is trying to stay in bed until it is time to wake up, but often he is u out of bed before 5:30.

He is a pickier eater than Alexander.  He eats a lot of vegetables, with cucumbers being his favorite, but also loving lettuce, carrots, broccoli, and our super food smoothies.

He is so smart.  He has a situational awareness that notices any change and helps him find lost items and clean up a room.  His handwriting is coming along beautifully.  In math, he is amazing with one-to-one correspondence and is learning his doubles.  He loves to ask us what the sums of different numbers are and to count to thirty.

His favorite color is rainbow. When asked what his favorite food is, he says, "Bacon, but it makes me cough."  When he grows up, he wants to be a dinosaur.

He is a happy little boy who struggles with sitting through dinner and crumbles when he is tired.  His heart is so, so big and we are so blessed to have him as our little boy!

Alexander hit a climbing milestone this past week, making it over the jutting edge of this wall!