Happy 4th Birthday Owen!

I'll probably say this at every birthday for every child, but it's true...I can't believe Owen's 4 years old!!!

This last year Owen has become quite independent and really turned into a big boy. He likes to do things all on his own. He loves to open the sliding glass door and go outside and play in his sandbox. He loves to open the car door and get in. He can go potty all by himself. He's learning to undress and dress himself. He still has a hard time with getting his arms out of his shirts and he doesn't know how to work buttons yet.

Owen loves to help us cook. He can crack an egg almost perfectly and very rarely gets shells in the bowl. Contrary to the belief that kids will eat things they help cook doesn't apply to Owen. Unless he helps cook or bake something that's sweet he won't try it. Doesn't work!

Owen has learned a lot this year he can almost count to 20. Like I posted the other day he can write some letters. He knows all the sounds the letters make. He loves to play games on the computer and yesterday we played a game on PBSkids.org that had to do with rhyming words. He is still in love with books and loves to read the same ones over and over. Right now we've been reading a lot of the Wonderful World Of Disney and The Berenstain Bear books.

Owen loves to watch cartoons or movies and I'm pretty sure he could be a couch potato all day long if we let him. We've been limiting his TV time and trying to encourage him to play more and use his imagination. We've also been trying to do more crafts to keep the kids entertained.

Sleeping has been an issue the last few months. Owen doesn't really nap everyday like he used to, but he still needs to. If he doesn't we see the effect of it with his attitude. We've been having him have rest time and lay in our bed and watch a movie to give him some down time. At night sometimes he can still be up at 9:30 after we put him to bed around 8ish. We've been letting the boys have some quiet play time after we do our bedtime routine and then it's lights out after that. The two times we've done that it's seemed to work pretty well.

I'm going to be honest...this year has been hard for me and Owen. I love that kid more than life itself, but boy we can sure have our moments. I would definitely say for us that it's not the 2's that throw you for a loop it's the 3's. I'm really hoping that there are good things in store for us during the 4's!

Owen - Mommy & Daddy love you so much! Happy 4th Birthday my precious boy!