March Madness

- Grace has decided that it's fun getting Matthew to eat/drink non-food products.  So far she's given him leaves and hair conditioner.

- Grace has been having total melt downs over things such as not accepting a smoothie out of anything but her "smoothie cup."  On the other hand, I give Matthew his smoothie in the rejected cup and he says, "Oh, thank you mommy!  That smells tasty!"  I'm sure the roles will reverse some day, but thank goodness for the balance otherwise I'd go nuts!  At the end of the day, Grace said that she would find her listening ears for tomorrow.

- Grace is right on track developmentally because apparently kids at age 4 are very curious about private parts...in particular boys.

- Matthew's favorite responses these days are, "That sounds good/great to me!" and  "That's a great idea!"  I love his enthusiasm!

- One day we met up with a bunch of Grace's classmates at the local park to play.  I noticed Matthew saying loudly to two of her male classmates, "Don't poke me with that stick!"  Apparently one of them had taken his stick and then both of the older boys were threatening him with their sticks.  I was very proud of him for sticking up for himself!

- Another developmental milestone for Grace: testing boundaries.  Apparently Grace stopped up the toilet at school with toilet paper (due to the suggestion of another classmate).

- Since Grace has learned how to read numbers, it has gotten more difficult to get her dressed in the morning.  She knows that 4-year-olds are supposed to fit in 4T clothes, so if she sees a 3 or a 5, she doesn't want to wear it.  I tried to tell her that numbers mean nothing in women's clothing, but it didn't fly.

- I was commenting to a friend what a small world it was and next thing I know Matthew starts singing "It's a Small World After All"!

- A conversation between Matthew and Mama Lisa (who was eating Oreos).
Matthew: "You have to dip it in your milk!"
Lisa: "No I don't."
Matthew: "Dip it!"
...this went on for a minute or so.

- A conversation with Matthew:
Me: "Come on pokey!"

Matthew: "I'm not pokey, I'm Matthew!

- Matthew played his first pick-up soccer with a bunch of guys from Azerbaijan while at Brazos Bend State Park.  He had just been asking Jeff if he could go kick the ball when it happened to come in his direction.  He kicked it and all of the guys cheered!  I think Jeff was as happy about it as Matthew was.
 

- The kids have officially graduated into twin beds and have yet to fall out.  I bought some simple pine Ikea beds and decided to paint them (what I thought was a 3 day project turned into a 3 week project...who knew it took so many layers of paint and sanding to make the finish smooth?)!  Thanks to Mama Lisa's help and guidance, the finished product looks great!  The kids were so thrilled about their beds that Grace kissed and hugged her bed and Matthew kissed me and Mama Lisa.  Those rewards definitely made all the work worth while!