If I’m being honest, so far having two 4 year olds has been kind of difficult. Perhaps it’s because I’m 6 months pregnant and we’ve had a very busy past month; however, I believe it comes from a very marked increase in their curiosity and to put it bluntly, some major moments of not using their thinking abilities. I have caught them doing things in the past months that they have NEVER been allowed to do. For example, they stuck a bunch of stickers on the wall—my parents wall, none-the-less. After a huge talking to about that, a week later they were given a sticker at Fred Meyer and Sam turned and stuck it right to the wall in the check-out stand. WHAT!!!!???? How about this one: I was talking to my neighbors in the garage the other day, and turned around to find both boys groping the furnace and all connecting pipes. Sam was trying to turn the natural gas pipe lever. I wanted to scream! They have never been allowed to touch the furnace and now all of a sudden curiosity has taken over and they think that they are allowed to explore those “no-no’s”. Ben and I have been discussing these brain laspes, trying to reason and find a way to discipline correctly. We believe some of it has to do with the fact that they have been allowed to do increasingly more as they “grow-up.” For example, I’m letting them plug things in, while plug-ins used to be off limits. I can understand why in their minds they might think that everything is “ok” now that they are big four year olds. It sure has been difficult!
There has also been big blessings and rewards. Just as I was about to complain on facebook about a particularly brain dead afternoon for the boys (one that included Sam trying to “help” me put up the electric garage door right after I told them not to touch it), I went out to check on them only to find out that they had cleaned all their toys out of the garage, swept, and put them all back. So sweet. This is my favorite recent story: one afternoon we took them to Toys R Us to pick out a special lego set using birthday money Grandma Luscombe gave them. They both picked out a “big” set and had some money left over, so I brought them four or five small boxes and told them to pick out a small set as well. Misunderstanding what I meant, they both picked out a small set and merrily put their big set back on the shelf. I asked Seth what he was doing, and he held up the small box and smiled saying he liked this one best. When I told Sam that he could have both sets, he replied worried, “But I want Seth to be able to have one.” It is those moments where Ben and I looked at each other as parents, with full hearts, and felt there is hope.
Here’s some other aspects of Sam and Seth at this age:
-They are 40” tall….which means that they have grown 2 full inches since we went to San Diego a month a half ago. Crazy! They are lucky to hit 37 lbs. on the scale. Ben and I are wondering if they will ever hit that 40 lb. mark so that we can finally put them in boosters instead of car seats.
-So full of questions and very, very curious. They want to know how everything works and why God made it that way.
-Love legos. It’s the first thing they do when they wake up and last thing before bed. They love to follow the directions and put each car, jet, etc. together. Sam can do entire sets basically on his own. Seth doesn’t like to look for the pieces and isn’t as thorough so he tends to make mistakes and needs more help.
-They finally are doing much better with their shyness. They will go and play with other children now, without me by their side. It’s very nice. We’ve also been able to leave them with family and a babysitter without crying fits. Thank goodness! When we were in Lakeview, they even introduced themselves to their rarely seen Uncle Mike. “Hi, I’m Sam,” Sam said while looking Uncle Mike in the eye and sticking out his hand for a shake. “And I’m Seth,” Seth piped in, going for the other hand to shake. I was AMAZED! They have never done something like this and usually hide behind my legs when meeting someone new.
-Favorite foods: pizza, french fries, Cheetos, and fruit (especially strawberries, pineapple, cantaloupe)
-We’re still completely gluten free. They eat eggs in baked goods, but struggle with them scrambled, etc. They struggle with too much sugar (which is a nice reason to continue to limit it). Seth’s tummy is doing much better and we just started to wean him off his acid reflux medicine…praise the Lord!
-Sleep still is not their strong point. We now have officially been dealing with sleep terrors for over two years. We’re pretty fed up with this and hope they grow out of it before baby brother comes! They still have a terror almost every night, around 10:30, especially Sammy. They go to bed at 8, fall asleep quickly, and get up around 8 the next morning.
-They love wearing basketball clothes (shorts and tank tops). They love any clothes that are red and black (just like their daddy). But, if they had their choice, they would hang out in their underwear every day, which I’m ok with during the summer!
-When they grow up, they want to be pilots. Sam wants to fly a passenger jet, and Seth a fighter jet. They know all about jets, and build the most amazing replicas with their tub of legos, complete with engines and exhaust pipes in the correct places.
-They love being outside and play for hours upon hours on their own. They play “making food” with dirt, mud, grass, etc. They ride their bikes and race each other. They use wood scraps and make houses, jets and boats. They play baseball with each other. They talk constantly.
-They love our neighbors on each side of our house. Frank and Joyce, a couple in their 70’s, live on one side and the boys just LOVE them. They’ll go feed the baby ducks at the pond behind our house with Joyce, or watch Frank as he’s doing any project. The other day I went out to check on them as they were chatting with Frank and let him know that if he needed to go or if they were in his way, to just let them or me know. Frank’s joyful reply was, “I always wanted sons, and look what I got for neighbors!” 
You do such a great job of remembering and recording them! They are so sweet!
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