Rowan's 4th Birthday, Check Ups, and Pictures

We just celebrated Rowan's 4th Birthday on Sunday. We decided to open the presents in the morning because; Char had to work that night, Char had to study and a paper to work on. Bonus, opening them in the morning meant Rowan could play with the presents for the whole day.

One of his favorite surprises came from Grandma. It's a big battery operated train track set just like the one his cousin got for Christmas. At Christmas, those 2 little boys played with the train for hours. 

Rowan and Anastasia like to make human tunnels for the train to go under. They straddle the sides of the track and watch as the train goes under them. They played tunnels together for nearly an hour straight. 

Before Char left for work that night we had some birthday cake. Even though it was still daylight outside, Rowan wanted the lights off in the kitchen. As soon as Char lit the candles, Rowan promptly blew them out. 

We lit the candles again. Rowan let us sing all of the Happy Birthday song to him, without asking us to be quiet. That's huge! In fact, he was giggling the whole time. 

Anastasia is getting used to riding the bus and going to school. She still cries and pouts a little as she gets on the bus, however, she goes right to her assigned seat. She's also letting me do her hair in the mornings, which is amazing. 

Heidi Anne had activity day, it's a church youth program, this week. They played a variety of glow in the dark games. (I'm sure there was some lesson behind it all) but Heidi had a ton of fun, which is the important part. Rowan stayed up later than normal just to make sure Heidi came home okay. She brought the glow in the dark lights and he had a blast playing with her before bed.  

On Tuesday Rowan went for this 4 year well child check. He's 36.8 pounds (45th percentile) and 3 feet & 4 inches tall (60th percentile)! He was terrified at the thought that he'd get eye drops. As soon as the doctor came in he begged "No eye drops! Please!!" She kindly explained that she wasn't that kind of doctor. He didn't need any shots this round, but he'll get his kindergarten series next year. 

Oh! We had our first visit to the dentist in a long time. Once again, Rowan was worried about getting eye drops (I'm fairly certain those eye drops traumatized him). Rowan was not cooperating at all, wouldn't open his mouth, or even smile so the dentist could have a glance at his teeth. Anastasia would a least open her mouth for a short time. The dentist was patient and didn't push them, her goal is to get kids comfortable enough with the dentist. She saw enough to see there aren't any serious problems. We're going to practice examing their teeth at home and try again in 6 months. 

Heidi Anne's been doing okay. Since she is going to middle school in August she really wants her own cell phone. Char stuck a deal with her, she has to read a certain number of assigned books before her birthday in July and she can have her own phone. (It'll probably be one of those old school flip phones). Thus, she has been reading like crazy lately.