Spring

My sweet baby turned 4!!  I cannot believe that I do not have a toddler anymore.  Chase is now in full little boy mode.  We had his party at Pump it Up, or "Pump - i - Dump" as he calls it.  I had a total blast running around with all his "buddies."  That was one room of sweaty boys! He had a superman theme and a really cute cake of course! Zoe insisted that I decorate the hall with streamers and balloons like I did for her birthday!  (which I actually started doing when she decided she did not want a party, but apparently she now thinks its an annual thing).  His favorite toys continue to be cars.  I love watching him lay on the floor and  zoom his cars up and down the hall.  Hot wheels and "Cars" cars are still the favorite.  But he also loves games, light sabers, and all of the sudden, legos.  I have had a bin of the lego duplos upstairs for probably 2 years and he has played with them maybe twice.  But now, he loves building with those teeny tiny legos.  So now, add tiny little legos to the cars that scatter the house and get stepped by me. He still loves his momma!  Many mornings he comes in in the morning and creeps up to my bed and says "I cuddle momma" and jumps in bed with me.  He molds his little body right next to mine and lays his head on my shoulder.  It is pretty much the sweetest ever.  He will give me as many hugs and kisses as I want.   Favorite sayings "I love Momu" (my other name) and "Mommy smell good"  ( he always comes up and smells me which I think is so funny.)  He also smells his lovies and often asks if I washed them because he like them to smell clean.  He is very particular about anyone touching his lovies too.  He sleeps with no covers. J did earn some points by taking Chase camping the other weekend with all his soccer buddies, complete with squirt gun battle. Im not sure who enjoyed it more, Chase or J!  To practice, J put the tent up in the yard for the 2 of them to "campout".  That night Chase cuddled J.  The next morning when J told him he enjoyed the cuddle Chase said, "Daddy, we can't tell momma I cuddled with you, it will hurt her feelings!"  The truth did come out eventually, but Chase's response was "Don't worry Momma, I always save more cuddles for you!"  Zoe and I did a mommy/daughter retreat at Pine Cove as well and we are already signed up for next year!  Sometimes I look at her and just wonder how she is so grown up.  Her face has changed since school started and she is starting to loose some of her "baby" looks.  Her hair, much to her great delight, is getting quite long and hits midway down her back.  She leans back when I brush it just to see how far it will reach.  Zoe and I have been doing Matilda Jane photoshoots together with some other little girls.  During the shoot (which is a bunch of little girls styled in MJ, complete with shoes, jewelry, and hair accessories) Zoe came up to me and said - "Mommy, I love this!"  She looks forward to it!  And of course she loves the dresses she gets afterwards!   I think, aside for her very considerable like for order and rules and extreme girly-ness, I can see some of my personality coming out.  She always wants friends to come over and play - she never wants to be by herself, but always wants to go and do something fun with her buddies.  She wants a playdate every day after school and will literally play with friends until she crashes.  She gets that honest ;)  Im always trying to get a group together to do something or other!  True to J's athletic skills, Chase continues to love gymnastics and soccer and scored 8 goals in his game yesterday.  At his 4 year checkup he was 40.5" tall (50%) and weighs 40 lbs (85%).    I love the way he plays with his sister and always asks her to play parade with him.  Though he is not so patient when she is trying to read to him.  Zoe is reading short books now and I am so thrilled with her progress. I think we will make huge headway this summer while school is out.  They are really at a sweet spot right now where if given the opportunity, they will just play at home together for hours, for the most part, just happy to be together and playing. I am so looking forward to the summer where we don't have much of a schedule and we can just swim and play and enjoy being together - Especially now that they are both such good swimmers!  Yea for lazy mornings and no making lunches!  For now, Im getting an early taste of summer by heading to Florida with Mom and Tete, wahoo!!  Cant wait! Girl trips are awesome!