Updates on the Boys!

Chase at 5 1/2 years old:

• He's so ready for kindergarten! He is so excited to go. It starts August 24th and Chase has been counting down the days.
• He totally understands numbers and math and how it all works, which amazes me because I don't really work on math stuff with him. He had this conversation with my mom one night that completely surprised us all:
• Chase: Nana, did you know I ate 3/4 a waffle for lunch?
• Nana: You did! And how much waffle would you have if you had 4/4?
• Chase: A whole waffle! You know how I know that? Well, if you have 2/4 that is 1/2 a waffle. And 1/2 + 1/2 = 1 whole waffle!
• He also can do simple addition in his head and likes me to quiz him on little math problems. He often writes them in the driveway in chalk.
• Has really gotten into bike riding this summer. Some mornings I'll put Hudson in the stroller to go on a walk and Chase will ride his bike- we usually go three miles and he can bike the whole thing. He rides his bike several times a day and is always asking for someone to take him on a bike ride.
• Is a total fish in the pool. He's really perfected his diving this summer and has now learned to run into a dive. He is completely competent swimming in the deep end. It's been fun to watch him work so hard and succeed at this skill.
• He's starting to get really helpful with chores. He sets the table, makes his bed and cleans his room, and loves to help me mop floors.
• Is such a "plan-aheader" (just like his mom). I realized that since his job is to fold the napkins and put them on the table (while Hudson does place mats), each night he pre-folds four napkins and leaves them on top of the pile, so they are easy to grab to put on the table the next night! 

Hudson at 3 1/2 years old:

• Has the most charming, infectious, mischievous smile! It's impossible to stay mad at him.
• Still has explosive tantrums, but way less often and seems to recover faster. We feel like he's moving in a good direction. His recent thing though is during a tantrum he has to strip off all his clothes and continue the tantrum completely naked. 
• Loves to go off the diving board with his life jacket on with a huge smile on his face. He's made a good start on being a competent swimmer, but isn't totally into learning yet. So he's mostly in a life jacket and we will work more on it next summer.
• Almost always calls Chase "brother" and all day long I hear "Come on, brother!" He loves playing with Chase and they have become the cutest little friends. 
• Always complains about going to church, but he really loves nursery and now loves to tell us all about what he learns there.
• He's such a tease- it comes so naturally to him.
• We have to force this child to drink liquid. We try to only give him milk and water, but whenever he gets his hands on lemonade or chocolate milk he'll down several cups in one sitting. Other than that, we are lucky if we can get him to drink a cup or two a day! The pediatrician told us he hasn't heard of kids doing that before, and just encouraged us to keep working with him.
• Is still such a cuddler, which we love. Whenever I read to him, he just melts right into me. 
• He loves babies. A few of our good friends have newborns and Hudson is always asking to hold them, and is very attentive to their needs (bringing them toys, putting binkies back in, etc.) He's going to go nuts when his new cousin is born next month!