Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day with kids is a whole different ball game. Less romantic, more fun. Less date-night out (at least for us this year!), more quiet night in. But pure joy to see the kiddos' excitement about any holiday!

Ours started with planning and making Valentine's for their friends...

Dax gave glow sticks to his friends and personally addressed each of his cards.

Adelaide gave her friends bubbles. She was not overly interested in them, but helped by choosing which color tube to give each friend.

And they both worked on creating Valentine's for some close family (with some help ;) ).

They had a party at daycare and Dax also celebrated at preschool. Both kids were super pumped to check out the Valentine's they received from their friends.

They also got some cards in the mail, which is always special and exciting.

On Valentine's Day we gave them each a card and box of chocolates, which they were THRILLED about. Grandpa Mick and Grandma Mary stopped by to give Dax and Addy Valentine's and it was lots of fun to play with them! We ended our love day celebrating by cheering Jake on at his basketball game.

It was a fun, low-key, special family weekend.

Fish!

We decided that a pet would be a good gift for Dax's 4th birthday. Our hope was that it would be something fun and exciting as well as an opportunity to provide him with a little more responsibility. He was excited!

A few days after his birthday we went to PetSmart to look at the fish and get all of the supplies we would need. We left with a tank, fish food, a plant, statue, rocks, a heater, and plans to return for a tetra or guppy after getting our tank ready.  Our heads were spinning a bit about the preparation it would take to get ready for what we thought would be a simple pet. Dax was still pumped, though, so we forged ahead happily.

All we need now is a fish!

A few days later, we returned to PetSmart to pick out his new pet. After careful consideration, Dax chose tetras. The salesperson suggested getting three as they are schooling fish, scooped out the little guys, and we were on our way (with a net and water conditioner that we had failed to pick up on our first trip!).

Upon returning home, we let the fish get acclimated for awhile and then put them in to their new home. It was an exciting moment! Dax named one Seed, Jake named one Dolph Lundgren, and I was taking my time in naming the third.

Unfortunately, none of them survived the first night as they all got sucked into the tank's filter. We debated how to break the news to Dax and were dreading the conversation, but he seemed to take it okay. Jake cleaned out the tank and we restarted the process of creating a hospitable environment for our future pets.

Dax was certain he did NOT want more fish after his original experience, but we convinced him to head back to PetSmart a few days later. This time he picked out a couple of guppies. They were very quickly named Thor and Loki, began exploring their new home immediately after being released, and caught both of Dax and Addy's attention.

There was an incident in which I thought Loki was stuck to the filter and doomed to the same fate as the original fish, but they both survived the night and have been happily living with our family since. Dax does a pretty good job remembering to feed them and takes that job very seriously. Ads loves to climb up onto the stool and watch them. And, we are all thrilled to have two thriving new members of our family. Though it had a rocky start, pet ownership has turned out to be kind of great!

Four

Throughout Dax's birthday festivities (see previous post) it was impossible not to be a little emotional realizing how grown up our "little" boy is becoming. We are amazed by him and so incredibly awed that God chose us to be his parents. Here's a snapshot of our four-year-old:

* At his well check he weighed in at 34.2 lbs (33rd percentile), was 40 inches tall (42nd percentile), and passed the hearing test with flying colors. He had a hard time with one line during the vision screening, but our pediatrician said that it's really normal because eyes can change shape slightly as they grow, which means that vision also changes slightly during those periods. As long as we don't notice vision issues, we should not be concerned at this point. 

* Dax loves preschool and we enjoy hearing him talk about the friends he plays with while he's there.

* He is still incredibly creative and loves any type of imaginative play - his favorites recently have been acting like a knight or any type of superhero, but also peppers in firefighting, playing restaurant, scuba diving, house, various animals, or anything else that pops into his head.

* Dax also loves to play with Legos and has become quite the master builder (Lego Movie, anyone?). It is amazing to see the designs that he comes up with.

* We have a pretty responsible kid - he occasionally helps with laundry, sometimes helps cook dinner, plays so well with Adelaide, always clears his own dishes and sweeps under his chair, and recently added a new responsibility: feeding his pet fish!  (More on that in another post)

* Dax is also showing more and more interest in sports - he has played several seasons of YMCA soccer, is excited to play tball this spring, and regularly runs around the house kicking a soccer ball, shooting a basketball, hitting a golf ball, etc...

* He is seriously the BEST big brother. Adelaide adores him and he is so patient with her. He gets a little frustrated when she's playing with something he wants, but he is mostly kind, playful, helpful, and protective of her.

* Books are still one of Dax's favorite things. We always read before bed and naps, he typically looks at books for awhile longer in bed, and multiple times a day will ask us to read other books. We started checking out Magic Tree House chapter books from the library and he is so excited about them. We are thrilled with how excited he is about reading and hope that joy continues.
 
We are insanely blessed and spend every day enjoying our time with our sweet, funny, intelligent, loving, friendly, amazing boy.