May 2013

In addition to celebrating Dawson's 4th birthday this month which I have already blogged about, we have had a lot of fun things going on! 
We have enjoyed the warm weather this month.  The boys both LOVE to be outside, so we have spent the majority of our time outdoors! 

One evening Dawson decided he wanted to find a big, big hill and roll one a toy Jeep down it to see how fast it would go.  So on our evening walk, we walked back to what he calls "the airport hill" (hill where we can watch planes land and take off from our neighborhood).  Dawson drove his John Deere to the top, and he and John rolled the toy down to Carter and I at the bottom.  He thought this was so cool!

Carter loves our after dinner walks.  He either rides in his stroller, on Dawson's Gator, or in this tricycle!  He loves going on our walks!

Dawson and Daddy always love to be silly in the yard.  Two peas in a pod!

We made a couple of trips to Dollywood this month!  Our first one was on a weekday before schools were out of session, and we got there right as the park was opening.  We felt like we had it all to ourselves!  Not only were there no lines, there were no other people on the rides for a little while.  Here is John getting to enjoy a ride all to himself!

Two handsome boys at Dollywood watching Daddy on a ride!

Dawson had fun walking through the mist over and over again!

Dawson and Daddy riding River Battle!

Carter enjoyed snacking and watching John and Dawson on the water ride!

Dollywood day!

Carter's first ride!!!

He LOVED the carousel!

One of Dawson's favorite parts of Dollywood is letting the ducks eat out of his hands!

We stayed at Dollywood WAAAY past naptime, and this little guy fell asleep in his stroller (never happens anymore!).  He's so relaxed-look at his legs!

Dawson and Daddy on a ride 70 feet in the air!

(They're in the left of this picture)

We celebrated Pop's birthday this month.

Dawson, of course, had to help blow out candles on Pop's Key Lime Pie/Birthday Cake.

Pop with the grandkids on his birthday.

One more of the boys with their Pop on his birthday!

I wanted to share this picture even though it was taken at the end of the day (aka when the playroom is utter chaos before clean up time!).  Carter has (finally) started to enjoy books more this month, and John and I both LOVE it!  He will now ask to be read to.  Here John had just gotten up (working nights), and Carter took him a book and said, "Book?  Book?" Which means he wants us to read to him!  He sat and listened to it many times through before sitting through several other books!  This was in early May, and now he is loving reading even more! :)

At the beginning of the month, Carter skinned his forehead on the back patio (sounds worse than it was-he didn't even cry until I picked him up, and then it was just because he wanted to be put back down!), so you will see his skinned forehead in several pictures.  He has started demanding to eat entire pieces of things (yes, with his two teeth!).  He is no longer happy to eat bagels torn into pieces, he wants the whole bagel.  See how happy he was when I gave him the whole thing?!

Dawson and Carter wrestling.  Carter started this, and Dawson was so gentle but made it fun for Carter.

It rained for several days in a row and we were stuck in the house (yuck!), but then it cleared off and we met some friends to walk through the Maryville College Woods!!  Dawson took his net in hopes of catching something great, but he ended up using it to collect leaves. 

Dawson and Anthony in the woods.

All the boys who met up at the Maryville College Woods.

One morning Dawson's friend Colt came over to play.  Dawson thought it was extra special because we spent most of the time outside.  Colt is a happy passenger on Dawson's Gator, and Dawson LOVES it!  They drove it until the battery died!

Dawson, Colt, and Carter also played at the sand table.

This month we celebrated Mother's Day!  Here are Dawson, Carter, Nora Kate, Lolly, and I on Mother's Day.

We also visited Nana on Mother's Day.  John, Nana, Carter, and Dawson.

And then we visited the boys Great Mamaw (and Nora Kate's namesake) for Mother's Day. 

I had a wonderful Mother's Day.  We went to church, I got to take a nap!!, and the boys and John gave me a sweet card, and Ergo and some flower bulbs which I planted and are starting to poke through the dirt this week!!

The day before Dawson's birthday, we let him stay up late and have what he calls a "camp fire" (a fire in our fire pit) on the back patio.  He LOVES doing this.  We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. 

Since Dawson's birthday party was on the Saturday before his special day, we wanted to do a little something on his actual day so we headed to the zoo!  Dawson had a blast being silly with this Gibbon!

 

The Gibbon even jumped down to be in our picture!

Dawson's special request for this zoo visit was to ride the camel which we have never done in all our zoo visits.  John got the privilege of riding along!  :)

They loved it!

We all rode the zoo carousel.

May is a big birthday month for our family, as Lolly also celebrated her birthday this month. On her birthday, she, Pop, the boys, and I decided to go to Dollywood.  Dawson had fun showing off all his favorite rides.  Here are Pop and Dawson on the carousel.

Dawson and Lolly on the carousel.

Carter and I rode too!

The boys and their grandparents at Dollywood.

After getting back from Dollywood, we had a little birthday get together.  Dawson, of course, helped blow out the candles and open the gifts again.

One Monday we went out to lunch with Nana at Five Guys, Carter saw ketchup on the table and cried for it.  I gave it to him, and he started dipping his fries in it?!  I couldn't believe it, but I guess he learned from watching us.  Now he loves dip if he sees someone else using it.

 

This month we visited Friendly Farm for the first time!  We met up with several friends there, and had a blast!!  It is a local goat dairy farm that was started last Fall.  (This is the farm that brought the animals to Carter's birthday party.)  We had a great morning there.  They showed us goats which we also got to see and feed, a baby skunk that we got to pet (no, it didn't spray us), chinchillas, bunnies, ponies, a horse, and pigs Petunia and Max.  The kids got to meet and pet each animal and feed or water many of them.  They learned a little about each one.  We painted a flower pot and planted a flower in it.  Went for a hike in the woods where we discovered frog eggs and Dawson learned how to recognize a couple of different leaves and went across the creek and got to swing on a tire swing!  All of these things made for Dawson's perfect morning!!  Before we had even pulled out of the parking lot, he asked when we could go back.  I want to go back again soon, and take John with us this time!  Dawson loved everything, and Carter loved ALL of the animals!

Dawson, Jay, and Wesley checking out some goats.

Dawson got to water Max the pig.

Dawson got to hold a chinchilla!!  They are so soft!

Ponies and a horse.

Dawson immediately spotted Danny the goat (his favorite that had attended Carter's party), and made sure to feed Danny all the treats from his ice cream cone.

Working on painting a flower pot in the barn.

The boys discovered frog eggs!

After our busy morning, we got out blankets and had a picnic outside the barn.  We soon heard excitement, and one of the goats we had just fed had just had THREE baby goats!  They were amazingly already standing and walking around!  It was so neat to see them just minutes old!

One more May birthday!  On May 30th we celebrate our nephew, Drew's 15th birthday!!  Here are Dawson and Carter with Cousin Drew!

 

We are excited as we look ahead to June because June looks to have just as much fun in store as May did! 

Dawson is FOUR

On Tuesday, May 14th Dawson turned FOUR! I cannot believe how quickly the past four years have gone! Since we celebrated all day Saturday with the tractor show and then his birthday party, we didn't make too big a deal about his birthday being on Tuesday.  We did however spend the first half of the day enjoying the Knoxville Zoo!   

Last year I decided that every year starting at age three I will ask him the same 20 questions to see how they change over the years. So here's the interview with Dawson at age four (I put his 3 year old answer from last year in parenthesise just for the sake of comparison):

1. What is your favorite color? Green
(Green)
2. What is your favorite toy? My Gator, Mower, Trailer, Campfire (we had a fire in the firepit the previous night and he calls this campfire), and my horse hospital-a new birthday gift. 
(My trailer and my John Deere!!)
3. What is your favorite fruit? Red and green apples
(strawberry)
4. What is your favorite tv show? Word World!!!
(I don't know!)
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Macaroni and Cheese
(Chicken Salad)
6. What is your favorite outfit or things to wear? My Ninja Turtle Shirt from Target (we purchased this the day before), shorts NOT PANTS, I really like khaki and white shorts the best!
(Gym Shorts, boat shoes, bow ties (hopefully he doesn't want to wear these three together!))
7. What is your favorite game? Candy Land and playing Temple Run on Mommy's Phone
(playing ROWDY with Daddy (laughing!))
8. What is your favorite snack? Goldfish
(Suckers!)
9. What is your favorite animal? Kittycat
(owl)
10. What is your favorite song? Wagon Wheel
(Veggie Tales)
11. What is your favorite book? The Cat in the Hat and Charlotte's Web
(The Three Little Pigs by Dr. Seuss (any book title he talks about right now, he always says it's by Dr. Seuss))
12. Who is your best friend? Wait a second, Mommy, I'm trying to tell you something about working in the yard and you asked me another question!  -proceeds to tell me about how he needs to mow the grass, then answers the question:  Colt, Charlie, Carter, and some more like all the ones that were at my party
(Charlie Gibson, Daddy, and Jude)
13. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms
(I don't know!)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing and ride the John Deere Gator
(Ride mine John Deere and chase the birdies)
15. What is your favorite drink? Apple juice
(Juice)
16. What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas!  Hey, do you think Charlie the Elf will hid in our house again at the next Christmas?
(I don't know!)
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Panda
(Panda! Panda Doggie and Panda Turtle and BBB (big brown blanket))
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal
(Biscuit with the butter not melted (??))
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Corn (?!)
(Mac and Cheese)
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? I'm going to be a farmer!
(Bentley!)

Last year we laughed about how Dawson wanted to be Bentley the dog when he grows up, this year, however, he's going to be a farmer.  He really does talk about being a farmer all the time!
At four years old Dawson keeps us on our toes!  He is constantly asking us questions and loves to talk to us nonstop.  Dawson keeps us laughing too with his questions and comments.  When we first got our new van (he had never ridden in a van before), he looked inside, pointed to the row of seats in the very back and exclaimed, "There's a couch back there!?"  A lot of the time his comments are so funny because they are exactly true, but not something most people (people that are older that 4 and have a filter) would say!  He's very honest!
Dawson has always loved to read, and he still does!  In January we started reading some chapter books with him, and he really enjoys reading a chapter a night out of these books in addition to his 1 or 2 other books we usually read at bedtime.  We do the chapter book after Carter goes to bed so it's Dawson's big boy time which I think makes it even more special.  So far we have read the following chapter books:  Charlotte's Web, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Runaway Ralph, Stuart Little, and Mr. Popper's Penguins. 
Dawson loves it when we have time (aka Carter takes a morning nap-which is rare these days) to do "school" at home.  He picks up on things SO quickly, I'm always amazed.  He asks to do "school" frequently, and he really does like learning new things!  In August he will begin going to preschool a few hours a day two days a week, and although I am SO sad that he will be gone from me for this time, I know he will really enjoy learning and having his "big boy" thing to go do on his own!
Dawson really is a good kid.  Today, in fact, I asked him where all of Carter's snack went so quickly, and he responded, "Well Carter and I shared it because in our family we share."  So sweet.  (John has told him this exact phrase about sharing about 1 million times, but this was the first time he has said it.)
A few more random things I want to remember about my sweet Dawson as he's turning four...
-Dawson gets up at 7am every morning when his "okay to wake" owl clock turns green.  When he wakes up in the morning and after nap, he knocks on his door.  Then we go open it to let him out.  He goes to bed in the evening between 8 and 8:30.  Dawson takes a nap in the afternoon from about 1-2:30, occasionally it's shorter or longer, but he still very much needs this nap as he plays hard during all his waking hours!  He's a good sleeper at nap and at night, and he never puts up a fight about it and usually goes to sleep very quickly!
-His very favorite "treat" is Market Pantry brand "gummies."  He likes to hold these in his mouth, suck on them, and rub his "rubbing spot" on the top of Panda's head (Panda the Pillow Pet).  He also rubs this spot on Panda as he's going to sleep.  I have had to sew this spot up at least 8 times already!
-Dawson likes to play librarian in the playroom.  He sits on a stool and attempts to read books to Carter.  Then he stands the books up when he's done just like the librarian does at storytime each week.
-He also loves building with his Lincoln Logs, playing with his tractors, cooking in his play kitchen, doing playdough, and doing art projects! 
-If he had his way would we spend every waking moment outdoors walking through our neighborhood, playing in the backyard, swinging, playing in the sand, or best of all riding the John Deere tractor or Gator. 
-Dawson loves his Daddy, and he especially loves the silly nonsense games they come up with.  The favorites right now are "Kiss the top of the head game" (John chases Dawson around the playroom, eventually catching him, and kissing him on the top of his head) and "Wild Dog" (John crawls around chasing Dawson while pretending to be a wild dog).  Silliness!
-Dawson loves to stay busy!  If I don't have something (a playdate, an outing, an activity, anything at all) specifically planned, he tries to come up with something to do which is usually an involved plan! 
-Although I wrote this update on Dawson's 4th birthday, I purposely waited until today to post it so I could include his stats from his 4 year check up which was this morning.  I've listed the info here:
Weight: 39.8 pounds which puts him in the 50th percentile for weight     
Height:  42.2 inches tall which puts him in the 95th percentile for weight!
Doctor's Comments (our doctor always gives us a written out sheet of "patient instructions" to leave the office with as a recap of the appointment and any reminders, so this is what Dawson's said from his 4 year check up):  "Dawson's growth is right on track and he really is perfectly proportioned.  His exam is completely normal.  He has excellent vision and hearing.  We don't need to see Dawson back for a year.  Dawson can start kindergarten in 2014 or 2015, but I think it's always better to be one of the older boys in the class instead of one of the youngest-we are talking about 13 years of school-not just the first year."  The doctor had asked when we planned to start Dawson in kindergarten, and I told him August 2015 unsure of what his reaction would be.  I felt encouraged though that he (like John and I) thought 2015 is perfectly fine-allowing him to be one of the older kids AND giving him an extra year home with us!  :)
So at the doctor's visit Dawson had a hearing and vision test.  During the vision text one of tiny pictures they showed was a tiny bird with its feathers sticking up (it was hard to tell what it was for me!).  Dawson looked at it, and said, "Oh, it's a hedgehog!"  The nurse got a kick out of this.  She said on this one as long as the child recognizes that it's an animal, that's an acceptable answer because the picture is so strange.  She did mention that today was the first time she had ever been told it was a hedgehog, and was impressed that Dawson knew what a hedgehog was.  They vision and hearing test were set up almost as little games, and when we were leaving the office Dawson said that he had fun playing all the games!  He didn't have to have any shots, but they did stick his finger to do a blood count.  When they did it, Dawson didn't even blink!  Then he smiled and said, "It's just like when you check your blood sugar, Mommy!  Look, it's my blood!"  (He's been really into watching me check my blood sugar, so he thought this was so cool!)  The nurse also mentioned that a lot of kids are not so excited to have this done!  :)  Dawson had a great check up, and I think he really enjoyed the fact that it was just he and I at the appointment (Pop kept Carter), so he acted even bigger while it was just the two of us!

There are so many things I could write down about Dawson at this age.  He is so tender-hearted, loving, and he has a great sense of humor!  He loves to be silly and laugh.  We have so much fun with Dawson every day, and I cannot believe he's four...but we have loved the past four years! 
Here is a picture of our big four year old!