Four Year Old Ninjabread Boy

Wow, it feels like it's been years since I last wrote a blog post. March was just an awful month full of sickness sickness and more sickness, oh, and tons of snow and cold. Nothing blog worthy at all. We are now about to finish off the first week of April (or at least we were when I first started this post) with another crazy bug going around our family. This one has led us all to live in the bathroom and our beds for a few days before the next person took over. Belén’s 2 year molars decided to stop by last week as well and we were up quite a few nights with her, non-stop. Poor poor girl. And poor us. Really hoping this is all almost done. We went the whole winter without getting sick and I was so happy--until 5 weeks ago. 

Hence my 2 month late four year old post about Shae. I just want to remember every detail of him right now! So I'd better hurry up and get this written before he changes too much more.

...On top of the sicknesses, I really wanted to get some good pictures of him outside and there was just NO day all of March to get outside and take pictures. It was a yucky yucky month. We finally had a day last week where the sun was shining enough that the lighting in our apartment was decent, so we took advantage of that (we did end up getting out later this same afternoon b/c the weather was okay and since his hair was done...).

Okay, let me stop complaining about March and snow and sickness and move on to better, happier things...like this sweet boy! 

This kid has been SOO sweet lately. Constantly telling us things like, "Mom, I love you and I like you," and running around giving us hugs and kisses and "love strokes" (a stroke on our cheeks accompanied by him saying in THE sweetest voice with THE sweetest smile, "Love stroke?" 

I just can't get enough.

The other day we were talking about mailing a letter and he goes, "Mom, remind me to bring the envelope...sigh...I love you."

At the doctors for his 4 year check up: Sitting up on the table while the nurse listens to his heart, he looks over at me and sighs and says, "Mom, I just love you." ha! Right there with two nurses in the room and his shirt off. 

Notes about Shae:

Weight: 36 lbs.

Height: 39"

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite Animal: Super hero dogs

Favorite movie: Cars

Favorite Songs: Wreck-It-Ralph Soundtrack

Favorite Book: Ghost Town at Sundown (Magic Tree House)

Favorite Foods: Pizza, Hot Dogs, Chicken Nuggets, Ice Cream, Tomatoes, and Cantalope

Least favorite foods: Any main dish dinner food that is not one of the above (he will eat all other foods, but not without complaining first) and jello.

Favorite imaginary games: Magic Tree House, Super Heroes, and Paw Patrol (he loved playing "family" but now that is ALL the girls in Joy School want to play and he has started to not want to go to Joy School because, "I don't want to play Family.")

Favorite board games: Trouble, Sorry, Candy Land, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

And now on to a bunch of random things about Shae and things he has said/done recently that I want to remember:

We have stopped giving him milk in a sippy cup, but we often find him hiding somewhere chugging his sister's sippy cup full of milk (since she is the opposite of him and never drinks it). Clearly it's the sippy cup that he is most attached to, not the milk.

He LOVES taking pictures and videos (mostly of himself) with my phone. I gave him an old digital camera to play with a few weeks ago and he had a blast taking pictures of everything. 

When he draws letters in a weird way (and this totally drives me batty) and then says, "This is my Spanish S!" or "This is a monster M!" 

He thinks Ks are unnecessary and always changes them to a C. Thanc you. Jacc and Annie.

We've had to switch things up with quiet time now that Belén climbs out of the pack n' play. She now sleeps in her crib in their room, Shae does quiet time in the living room, and I work in my bedroom. I was so worried about this change, and while it's annoying that I have to move all the toys out into the living room, Shae has been SO great. He has been super in to building towns lately which is so fun to see (Magic Tree House audiobooks have helped a ton too. Some days I let him take a bath for quiet time and he will just play in the tub listening). 

We had a FHE lesson about the Holy Ghost recently and it really stuck in Shae's brain because he will occassionally ask us things like, "Did the Holy Ghost tell you to be nice to me?" (Usually said after I have lost my cool and then have to restart and apologize).

"Maybe I do want to die and go to Jesus so that I know what color the Holy Ghost is." 

While in the tub, "I'm dead now. I'm with the bathtub Jesus."

So many hilarious gospel related statements from kids as they try to grasp all this deep church stuff we throw at them. 

Shae has an affinity for keeping all of his artwork and showing it off on his wall above his bed. Sadly for him, we don't actually let him tape up ALL his artwork, b/c that would be a lot, but the wall is definitely quite filled. We're at a point now where he has to choose something to take down when he wants to put something else up. And I love that he wanted that family picture that I drew right in the center of it all. 

One day at swim lessons I snuck a pic of him and got in trouble for it. I told him later what happened and said, "The pool lady tapped my shoulder and said 'Ma'am' no pictures please." 

Shae: She wasn't talking to YOU! Your name isn't ma'am! 

The picture that I shouldn't have taken of the kids quietly listening to their teacher before jumping in. He's in the navy top on the right.

He LOVES swim lessons and I have been so impressed how different he is in the water over a short few months. Watching him bob in and out of the water when he wouldn't even dare put his chin in the water when he started has been so cool. They always end the lesson by jumping in the pool (little pool) and last week he told his teacher, "Don't catch me this time, I'm going to do a cannonball." And he did! Three of them!

He also wanted to take his swim shirt off last week like the other boys, so I helped him take it off and he immediately covered up his chest with his arms and said, "Put it back on!"

He reads sight words pretty well and will sound out words when I encourage him to do so. He can read better than he thinks he can, he just doesn't like to try. We've implemented a new rule that when we get "easy reader" books he has to read every other page and he knows and follows the rule. "Oh mom, this is an easy reader..." (I've learned to pick out easy readers he gets excited about, mostly Disney, Super Hero, Diego, etc.)

We started taking away his brown blanket that he has been SUPER attached with since he was a baby during the day. We noticed that he is more wild when he has it. He'll swing it around and terrorize Belén with it. When we took it away, it was amazing how much calmer he became. When we take it out of the closet at the end of the night, his excitement is so real as he runs and hugs brown blankie. Silly boy and his attachments. 

Shae (with Eppie): Me and Eppie are playing Mom and Dad and we need to play in your room so that we can pretend it is night time and go to sleep in your bed together.

Cue simultaneous mom laughter and freak out.

While it feels like Shae and Belén are constantly fighting over something these days, it is really cute how excited Shae gets while watching Belén learn things. When she says a word (any word, even if it is one she uses all the time) he will say "Yay! She learned a new word! Good job Belén, you said 'cracker.'" 

It's a bit strange just how excited he gets when she pees in the potty as well (or at least he did for the first few weeks). If she went in the little potty, he always wanted to be the one to pour the pee into the big potty (??) and when she went in the big potty he would run in and say, "Can I see?!" I love that her joys are his joys.

On the other end of this, he also becomes pretty excited about Belén being disciplined. "Mom, she hit me, she should probably go in a time out for that shouldn't she." It just must be SO cool to see your sibling be the one being disciplined and not you.

He really does put up a lot with her though, and he does a good job. It's gotta be hard having someone around who destroys all your block creations and train tracks, someone who throws their food at you during meal time, or draws on your drawings. He's (mostly) a good sport.

Shae considers every movie to be a bad movie if there are bad guys in it (every movie...except Cars, which is why he loves it). We have tried to explain that it can be a good movie, with bad guys in it, but he just hears the word "good" and can't take it since CLEARLY it is bad, if there are bad guys. "Shae, did you like Moana? It was a good movie wasn't it?" 

"No mom! It was a bad movie. There were two bad guys!" 

"But didn't you enjoy it?" 

"Not the bad parts!"

Me (after Shae had a conversation with the mailman): Did you know I wanted to be a mailwoman when I was a kid? Instead I chose to be a mommy and an editor.

Shae: I'm glad you chose to be a mommy instead of a mailwoman.

Oh, my heart.

Shae: When I grow up I want to be a ninjabread boy, and a Dad. 

Shae: I want to help put the gasoline on Belén! Please can I help you put the gasoline on her!
Me: It's VAS-oline, bud. Vasoline. 

Shae is such a joy. He is thoughtful, kind, loving, and friendly. He can be timid when it comes to trying new things and gets upset if his food is cut incorrectly or the milk level in his cereal is lower than it should be. But overall, he has such a big heart. He gives me a hug and kiss EVERY time I leave the house, even if it is just to check the mail. He loves his family and talks about his extended family often and when he will see them again. He notices when other kids aren't included and makes sure that everyone has a turn at doing things. Darin and I fall asleep just about every single night talking about funny/adorable things that he has said or done that day. We just love this kid to the moon and back.