5

Time has zipped by the last year. Landon and Elliot celebrated their 5th birthday and I'm going to miss my four year old boys. Four was a great age! They were young enough to still need me yet old enough to have some independence too. They also said some pretty funny things this year. It has definitely been an entertaining year. In just a couple of months they will be off to kindergarten which I don't feel quite ready for. Their friendship has grown and I am overwhelmed by the joy I feel when I watch them together. They are so different, but each of their strengths and weaknesses is so good for the other. One of my favorite moments recently was watching Elliot stick up for Landon when someone said something unkind. It wasn't harsh, but he got his point across and made everyone feel included. I only hope they can continue to support each other in the same way throughout the years. Brooks and I waited for so long to have sweet little spirits join our family and now the time is going by way too fast. I tell them almost everyday lately to stop growing and to stay five forever. Landon told me he would try, but he didn't think it would work. 

Landon has grown so much the past year. He still loves cars and anything else that moves. He makes great sound effects while playing with cars. When him and Elliot discuss what they should play, he almost always suggests cars first. He is willing to compromise, but that is almost always at the top of his list. A year ago, I was concerned about a variety of things with him from social skills to sensory sensitivities to potty training. We figured out he has some sensory things going on and knowing made it better for all of us. He has improved greatly over the past year in all of these areas. We had him tested for a couple things and he exceeded expectations in almost all the areas. Preschool this year was so good for him. He loved it and I loved watching his growth throughout the year.  His social skills improved greatly as well as his understanding of letters, numbers, sounds, and general school skills. Some of his favorite things are the color green, the show Oscar's Oasis, Life Cereal, swimming, riding bikes and scooters, books, being outside, cars, cookie dough and Elliot (which he still says more like "Ewiot.") He played soccer this year and Brooks was his coach. At home and at practice he was competitive and aggressive, but the games were a whole different story. He is insanely fast on his scooter. His potty training took time and effort from both of us, but we made it through that this year as well.  Landon loves life and he loves who he is. He likes to be funny and loves to laugh. He still loves books and reading and is at the beginning stages of learning to read. It is so fun to watch him sound out words and enjoy learning. He keeps to himself a lot when playing, but he is making progress at branching out and interacting with other on a more regular basis. He interacts especially well with kids just a bit younger than him. I love that he loves Elliot so much and that they play so well together. Landon is still a few pounds heavier than Elliot, but they are really close on height. I love so many things about Landon, but I especially love his enthusiasm for life. I hope he hangs on to that for a long time.

Elliot had a great four year old year as well. He asked me more questions in one day than I knew was possible. I rarely knew the answer to the questions so we spent a decent amount of time looking things up, especially information about animals. He went through stages of loving cheetahs, peregrine falcons, all ocean animals and poisonous animals. Almost every day for a month, Landon and I were asked to list our top few favorite poisonous animals. The last few weeks the questions have died down just a bit and I am missing it a bit. He loves Avengers (because his cousins have Avengers stuff) and all things superhero related. Elliot is very aware of what is going on around him and picks up on little details I don't even notice. He notices other people emotions and is a helper. This trait helps him make friends quickly and everyone loves to be around him. He also has a great memory and will often remind me of little details about animals he remembers from videos or books. His favorite show for a long time was Octonauts (all about ocean animals) and now his favorite show is Wild Kratts (all about a variety of animals). I can not even count the number of books Landon, Elliot and I have read or video clips we have watched together about animals. Our latest thing we learned about is electron microscopes. I love all the learning going on around here, but it is a little humbling to be corrected by five year old kids. Landon is always begging Elliot to go outside and play. He often will, but he prefers to be inside playing. I am glad they have each other for balance. Elliot is also at the beginning stages of reading. We check out early readers from the library and he enjoys reading those together. He loved preschool and he was the one I could get the most details about the day from. He is a rule follower and I can appreciate that since he probably got a bit of that from me. Some of his favorite things are the colors red, brown and blue, ice cream, Avengers, pizza, learning about animals, books, swimming and Landon. His competitive nature at his soccer games surprised me a bit and he even scored a goal at one of the games.