Ahhh I cannot believe I have a FOUR year old!!!! Four seems so much bigger than three!! One more year and then KINDERGARTEN, WHAT?! I know, so cliche but it's just flown by. It's crazy how you don't really see your kids grow and change because you're around them every day all day and then out of nowhere you look at them like, 'Where did my baby go?!' I tell Clark all the time I want him to stay my baby forever and wrap him up in my arms and he just smiles and humors me but then says something like, "Mommy, I have to grow up! I will always be your baby."
We started out Clark's 3rd year super social and busy, involved with soccer, gymnastics, SPARK, music lessons, swimming lessons, playgroup, Primary, and ended it in quarantine! But these past few months stuck at home have forced all of us (especially me) to really slow down and enjoy the present moment. There's no one I'd rather be in quarantine with than these people!!
This year Clark requested a "Spider-Man Pool Party" so we celebrated at my mom's house with the whole family! Everyone wore superhero shirts, the boys swam, Mark grilled BBQ chicken and cheeseburgers (Clark's fave), mom made her yummy potato salad and baked beans and Mark made a homemade peach cobbler randomly but we also got Clark a Spider-Man cake (completely forgot to take pictures!), and Spider-Man himself stopped by for Storytime & Hero Training!
Wish I had gotten a picture of just our family! It was a pretty crazy day but so much fun!!!
♥ ♥ ♥
Clark is growing up to be such an amazing, smart, hilarious, adorable, wonderful little boy! He is so loved by all of us, and just adored by his little brother! We are SO grateful Heavenly Father sent us this sweet little spirit to be part of our family. He makes our family so wonderful!!
Some ways Clark has grown and changed this year include improved speech and increased vocabulary (he says some big words which is always hilarious - one of my favorites is "I realized something"), learned the days of the week and months of the year, how to spell 'Clark', Dylan', and 'toy' (currently teaching him to spell Spider-Man!), knows most of his letters, can count to 20 something, loves playing ABC Mouse and is learning sight words, loves getting himself dressed (he will get completely naked and start with his socks and work his way up!), he has been potty trained now for over a year for day and night (never has accidents), switched from loving cars to Spider-Man (thanks to his dad being my official Spider-Man!), learned to ride a bike, still loves to help me with chores including laundry, sweeping, mopping, cleaning mirrors, toilets and tubs and helping daddy with the yard, knows the words to most Frozen songs and the Spider-Man song, and loves sleeping over at Grandma's!
m o r n i n g r o u t i n e
So ever since Dylan learned to climb out of his crib, he has become our early riser. He gets up between 6-6:30 and lately has started running into Clark's room and opening the shutters!! The joys of more than one child. During the quarantine I've gotten into a bad habit of putting on a show or movie for the kids (usually one of the Toy Story movies since Dylan will sit and watch that all day long) until I feel like getting up. Yeah not having anywhere to go ever is really not very motivating to get up and get ready for the day but I'm working on it.
After mom wakes up (dad feeds them breakfast), we start morning chores (laundry, empty dishwasher) and then do Home Pre-School. We sing our "Days of the Week" and "Months of the Year," do the letter of the day, some workbook pages and then try to get outside before it's a million degrees. Sometimes I take them on a run or let them ride bikes out front or we run through the sprinklers / play in the dinosaur pool out back.
m e a l t i m e
Clark is still pretty picky and won't touch most vegetables other than carrots. The trick is not letting them snack and then he'll be less picky. New favorite foods below added in red -
Clark's approved food list:
breakfast -
Cereal
Waffles
Pancakes
Yogurt smoothies
Homemade smoothies
Scrambled eggs w/ ham & cheese
Bagels
Dinosaur oatmeal
lunch -
Chicken nuggets
Grilled ham & cheese sandwiches
Ham & Turkey sandwiches
Ham, Cheese & Crackers
Pizza lunchables
Mac & cheese
Cheese pizza (FAVE)
PBJ's
Pita chips & hummus
dinner -
Stir fry
Spaghetti
Cheeseburgers
BBQ Chicken sandwiches
Honey Chicken
Beef soft tacos
English muffin pizza's
Chicken Pot Pie (Marie Callender's)
White Chicken Chili & cornbread
anything on the lunch list
n i g h t r o u t i n e
Bedtime is cRaZy around here!! We start the "routine" around 7 but sometimes it takes hours to put them to bed. The routine goes: bath (not every day), pajamas, story in the nursery while we brush their teeth, split up and one person reads a story to Clark in his bed and the other keeps guard outside Dylan's door so he doesn't escape. If Clark didn't nap (9 times out of 10 he doesn't nap), he will fall asleep fairly quickly after being read to. Mark usually takes care of Clark and I'm in charge of Dylan. We both sing softly outside their doors as we wait for them to fall asleep. Sounds easy enough, right? So the part where it can go haywire is Clark or Dylan announce they have to go poop right when we put them in bed. Now, Clark has always had a hard time pooping and when he needs to go it can take half an hour. Another thing that can delay the whole thing is if I haven't worked out yet or I have to do some work and want to do it before they go down so I don't waste my time with Mark (we are kind of weird and need like a few hours together just the two of us every single day like back when we were dating haha). So one of us putting them both to bed by ourselves is extremely difficult. I've only done it a handful of times when Mark used to have church meetings. No clue how single parents do it! Or my cousin who has 5 little ones and her husband works late a lot! Actually, yes I do know. She practices something called "unbedtime" haha!
But lately they haven't been too bad at night. They used to play this game "Santa Clause" where they run in circles in Dylan's room chanting "Santa Clause, Santa Clause" and it would make them really hyper right before bed. Mark's favorite way to solve that was put them each in their beds kicking & screaming with no story! One of my favorite ways to handle things is literally just sit there and work on my phone until they eventually come to me. It never fails...look busy or try to be productive or sit down to eat (always works) and the kids will come running to you!!! They are such a handful and exhaust me to the max but I sure love my sweet boys ♥
b i r t h d a y i n t e r v i e w
Favorite color: red
Favorite food: Honey Chicken & rice & carrots
Favorite breakfast: Cereal
Favorite dinner: Pizza
Favorite fruit: Apples because they're red
Favorite vegetable: Broccoli sometimes (HA yeah right!)
Favorite snack: fishies
Favorite drink: juice
Favorite treat: Dummy worms
Favorite book: Cars 3
Favorite toy: Spider-Man
Favorite game: Superheroes w/ daddy
Favorite TV show: Spider-Man
Favorite movie: Lion King
Favorite song? “Spider Man, Spider Man, does whatever a spider can, spins a web, he’s ignored, action is his reward, to him yife is a great big man yeah, wherever der’s a hand yeah, you will want the Spider-Maaaan!”
Favorite animal: Lion
Best friend: Sam & Ben
Super Hero: One guess!
Holiday: Christmas
Favorite place: the Dinosaur valley
Favorite thing to do: Puzzles
Favorite thing to take to bed: Cuddles
What do you want to be when you grow up?
the real Spider-Man
What does mom do all day? Work out (HAHA)
What does daddy do all day? Work
What are you scared of? Monsters
Where does money come from? the money factory
What makes you happy? When we’re going to grandma’s house today
What makes you sad? When we aren’t going to grandma’s house
One thing you love about your family? Dylan
♥ ♥ ♥
l e t t e r s t o c l a r k
Dear Spider-Man,
You are FOUR now!!! How did my baby get so big?? I just love you at this age so much. I want to bottle up your innocence and sweetness and keep you this way forever. You are one of the sweetest people I've ever known. You are so loving, kind, understanding, a peacemaker, a wonderful listener, thoughtful, careful, clean, respectful, silly, smart, curious, fun and just an amazing human being! You are the BEST big brother and a wonderful role model for Dylan. You love Jesus and church and love to choose the right. I'm always in awe at how well behaved and polite you are. You do have your moments though, as do I. Whenever I sing Dylan that song, "When you feel so mad and you wanna roar, Take a deep breath and count to four" you tell me, 'You should remember that too, mommy'! You are so hilarious and make me laugh all the time at the funny things you come up with. You're wise beyond your years and always have the best advice for those around you.
You aren't as cuddly as your brother so those times when you grab my hand or let me hug and kiss you are so special! I love when we get to do things just the two of us like going to SPARK, taking you to doctor appointments or running errands when Grandma has Dylan. You are my very best friend Clark Wilde and I live for your happiness. Thank you for being so patient with me, always believing in me, telling me I'm a wonderful mommy and being a rock for our family. I am so blessed to have you as my son. I love you to the moon and back!!!
