Henry & Charlie...

Thought I'd do a little update on my 2 big boys.  There are so many things that I want to remember about them at this age!  Picture above by Lorie Chambless

Henry, age 4 1/2:
-He loves superheroes, although he really has no clue what they are all about.  I think he heard about them at Kiddie Kollege and his interest has taken off from there.
-He loves to play with legos, his playmobil vehicles and rescue station, and his CARS baseball game.  He really has a wonderful imagination and it is fun to listen to him play with his toys.  Unfortunately for him, sometimes Charlie sabotages his efforts :(
-He still loves loves loves to read books.  He has his favorites memorized and likes to "read" them to me.  I really enjoy this too!
-Henry's vocabulary is really quite expansive.  At this point I'd say he has quite a gift for verbal communication.  This can be a good thing (he speaks and sings well in front of others) and sometimes not a good thing (like when he goes up in front of the church for the children's advent feature and tells Pastor Pat all sorts of random things about our family!)
-Henry is very kind and tenderhearted.  For the most part, he treats Charlie very well and is kind to him when they play together.  They do have their moments though.
-Henry gets upset with Charlie most often for messing up his lego creations and CARS baseball games.
-Henry is such a people pleaser.  He LOVES going to Kiddie Kollege and his teachers really like him too.  They tell me he obeys the rules and always answers all of their questions.  Henry likes to come home and tell me about all the kids who misbehaved and got into trouble that day at school.  We try to tell him to focus on himself, but apparently it's not sinking in all that quickly :/
-Henry has learned about the A,B,C,D,F grading system at school and tells me all the time now that he is practicing _______ (coloring, writing, etc.) so that he can get A's when he goes to Kindergarten.
-Henry is beyond ready to go to Kindergarten.  He is so excited to be going to a real school!
-Henry is completely done taking naps.  He usually goes to bed around 7:30 but reads for awhile before he actually falls asleep.  He usually wakes up in the middle of the night at some point and comes into our room where he crawls into the sleeping bag that we have for him on the floor.  Not my preference, but it works for now.
-We use prayer sticks at the table to help us pray for different things/people, and Henry always wants to grab the "Sequoia" stick because he wants to pray for his school.  So sweet!
-There is so much more I could say about Henry, but I'll stop for now.  I just feel so blessed to be his mom.  He is such a wonderful big brother/cousin.  I can't wait to see his gifts and talents evolve as he grows.

Charlie, age 2 1/2:
-Oh Charlie, he is so...TWO!  He throws random tantrums when he doesn't get his way, he pouts, he cries, he whines.  But we're working with him, and hopefully he'll outgrow some of this soon!
-Charlie loves to play outside.  If Henry goes outside, he usually wants to play a structured game of some sort (baseball, catch, football, etc.) but when Charlie goes outside, he loves to just play by himself in the play garden.  He likes to make "chocolate cupcakes" and put roads into the dirt.  I open the kitchen window and watch him from inside while I'm making dinner.
-Charlie is mostly potty trained, but definitely not all the way.  He still wears a diaper to bed at night, and then he will randomly have accidents during the day too.  Last week he had 2 accidents at my parents house and one at church!  He'd gone for weeks without having one, so I'm not quite sure what happened.
-Charlie LOVES to read books.  He will just sit on my lap all day and listen to stories if I'd let him.  It's the same way when he's at the church nursery.  All the nursery workers comment on how they spent the whole time reading books to Charlie.  This makes me happy.
-Right now Charlie has an irrational fear of the bathtub drain.  He completely freaks out when you unplug the drain if there are any toys in the tub.  And if he or Henry is in the tub, that is even worse.  I think he thinks he is going to go down the drain with the water.  For some reason the shower drain doesn't bother him, so we've abandoned baths for now :)
-When we put Charlie to bed at night, we always have to sing the same 3 songs: "Away in a Manger", "Silent Night", and "Jesus Loves Me".  He told me the other day that I have a good mouth for singing "Jesus Loves Me".  I'll take that as a compliment.
-When we draw prayer sticks at meal time, Charlie always draws his own name.  He doesn't pray yet, but he wants to hold his own stick, by golly!
-I've actually been pleasantly surprised by how concerned Charlie is about things/people.  Every time we leave the house he wants to make sure that don't forget Luke or his diaper bag.  He also reminds me to bring his elephant backpack "just in case he has an accident".
-Charlie isn't taking naps anymore.  If he does nap he ends up staying up until 10:30pm or later.  I think cutting out his naps has contributed to his overall grouchiness.
-Charlie usually wakes up in the middle of the night at some point and crawls into our bed.  Not ideal, but as long as we are all getting enough sleep, it works!
-Still lots more to say, but that's good for now.  Our Charlie boy is such a treasure.  We love him so!