Carver-- 4 Years Old

Carver is 4!

What an incredible journey this has been with Carver over the last four years. The firstborn child, by default, carries a heavy burden of turning someone into a completely different person. He has challenged me, scared me, enlightened me, and molded me into a mother. And it has been no easy task, I can assure you.

I struggle to even believe that I have a 4 year old! The journey has been filled with ups and downs, guilt and blessings. It has been the most incredible 4 years of my life.

Carver is an amazing, sweet boy. He is charming, affectionate, strong-willed, defiant, smart, and feisty. He gives me reasons every day to get out of bed, be a better person and mom, try a little harder, and show a little more grace.

Though he has only been talking for a little over a year, he now talks non stop. And he is hilarious. Seriously. Here are some of the things I like to call "carver-isms".

* He refers to everyone as "she" or the very bizarre pronoun "herm"-- a blending of her and him.
* He asks repeatedly for "swaks" a.k.a. snacks.
* He calls Carson "brother" more often than he does by name.
* He calls his new game tablet his "orange phone"
* When he is ready to get out of bed he says he is ready to "wake up"
* His favorite food is s'mores poptarts, which  he calls "black poptarts"
* When he gets hurt he says he needs "a kiss, a big 'ol kiss, all the kisses"
* If he gets in trouble he tells Daniel (or anyone else around) that I am "being bad to him."

He has recently started informing me every single time Carson does something wrong or "bad." It is his new favorite hobby. The other day they were bothering each other on the couch and Carver told me every time that Carson touched him.

He is very repetitive, which I hope is just a phase or age-related. But, he will tell me the same thing about 20 times in a row. It is bizarre.

He LOVES to play games on the phone/iPad/Nabi. He is frighteningly good at these games and we are struggling, really struggling, to try to limit his screen time.

His appetite has picked up and he often eats two lunches and an untold number of snacks throughout the day. He weighs about 38 lbs. and he loves to eat....but only certain things.

His current favorite activities are: play doh, stickers, trains, and...angry birds.

He has a handful of best friends that he talks about, especially Eli and Caleb. For the most part he plays well with others, but he does have a quick temper which can be awkward at play dates :)

He adores the dogs, especially Lea, and he has a new interest in cats! Which would be super fun if Daniel were not so adamantly opposed to them...

We finally got him potty trained about 6 months ago. I'm not sure why I waited so long-- it was incredibly easy and uneventful. One day he used diapers, the next day he didn't. Maybe waiting until 3.5 years old is the trick :)

Carver is becoming more and more independent, which is a strange thing to watch. He's my baby, but he is so quick now to remind me that he is a "big boy." He is so incredibly sweet, quick to hug or kiss or sit in my lap. I am so thankful for him. I am so grateful that God saw fit to give him to us. I have so many hopes for his future, he is beyond precious to me.