Three Things

A lot more than...

Three Things about:

Drew:
1. Is beginning to understand and use sarcasm and humor.

2. Loves to help and is constantly asking to be given a "job".

3. His favorite job right now is scrubbing the toilets (Score for Mommy!).

4. He also likes to be made to feel like he's the oldest, so for example, he likes to feed Tanner because he is a big enough brother to be able to do so.

5. Will almost always give his "cool" face when asked to smile for the camera. I used to be able to get around this by telling him to absolutely not smile at the camera, (which then of course, would have the opposite effect) but those days are over. Alas, I have resigned myself to the goofy grin.

6. Still loves to stand in front of the mirror singing, "I look awesome!" when he has to get dressed up. Vain child. This has been happening since Christi's wedding when he got dressed and stood in front of the mirror in his ring bearer outfit. (Need a refresher? Third picture down in this post).

7. Very protective over his little brothers. And this includes against himself. If he accidentally hurts Tanner or Coll, I usually have more consoling to do with Drew than I ever do with Tanny or Collin. Of course if they're wrestling and someone gets hurt, that's an entirely different story, but if it was accidental...

8. Has recently been allowed to chew gum. He does great with it, but always wants you to know that he has it. We've finally convinced him that chewing gum loud enough for others to hear is actually a negative thing, but I have yet to convince him to keep the gum behind his teeth when he smiles. As a result, I have tons of recent photos with a wad of gum showing in Drew's grin.

Collin:
1. Officially introduced us to the wonderful world of the Emergency Room with a visit for a split chin in October. (Totally forgot to blog about this one until I read a similar story on my cousin's blog!). Because Collin was young, the doctor on call decided to spare him the trauma of stitches and just glue his chin instead. It was an easy fix with very little tears. They asked us to keep the Dermabond (glue) on for a minimum of three days, but preferred a week, which at the time I thought would be totally do-able. Turns out, even with the "bumper" of glue around the actual cut, Collin had picked every last bit of the Dermabond off by the following morning (less than 24 hours later). Unfortunately, at that point, it was too late for stitches and our doctor worried another layer of glue would just be picked off again, perpetuating the problem. So, we waited it out with butterfly bandages and lo and behold, it healed up (and with minimal scarring!).

2. Is pretty rough and tumble and is often walking around with some horrendous looking (although fairly benign) goose egg or bump/bruise on him. Caution is not his strong point.

3. Is constantly creating worlds of imaginative play. He's great at finding ways to entertain himself. Loves to have you (or Auntie Kell in this case) join in too.

4. Loves to hunt for "Christmas trees without lights" (aka: Pine Trees); its become a game we play while driving around town. "Hey mom, want to help me find a Christmas tree without lights?".

5. Loves to hide. (This almost goes without saying that he loves to play Hide and Seek as well).

6. Is easily our roughest kid, but is also the most gentle and snuggly. I love this about Collin.

7. Loves animals and is constantly asking when we can get another dog.

Tanner:
1. As of the first weekend in November, is officially walking!

2. It's resulted in quite a few bumps and bruises!

3. Is chatting up a storm, and now competes with the big boys for loudest person in the room at any given moment. Can also say a few real words: "hi", "kitty".

4. Waves, blows kisses, gives hi fives....all sorts of fun puppy tricks!

5. Loves trying to keep up with his brothers. It probably comes with the territory of being the youngest, but he has been the quickest to be up and moving and feeling less like a baby and more like a toddler. I often catch him driving cars, "talking" on the phone, building with blocks and even putting a baseball on the tee and using Collin's bat to "swing" (granted the bat is most often backwards and it's the handle he's hitting with, but still...).

6.  Loves to brush his teeth.

7. Is a lovee hoarder. He steals not only his brothers', but also Emmie's when she is over.

8. Loves to wear backpacks and hats.

9. Seems to think that the most fitting way to show affection to someone smaller than himself (baby Emmie), is to gently back up and sit on them. The sad part is, I know with a fair amount of certainty where this came from. As the youngest, he's spent plenty of time with oh-so-loving older brothers squashing him. Poor baby. He's got a distorted view of showing love. ;)