3 1/2 Years Old!

At the start of December, Jaden and Cody reached their 3 1/2 year old birthday. We celebrated the occasion with chocolate frosted cupcakes that were decorated on one half with sprinkles. Then, we lit three and a half candles (the half candle was just pushed down into the cupcake) and sang Happy Half Birthday.

That's all we did in the way of celebrating. The boys loved the excuse to have a special dessert!

Cody's post-cupcake face made him look like he had a little goatee! :)

Three-and-a-half has overall been a fun stage for our family. Cody and Jaden really have made the transition into little preschoolers and seem quite far removed from the toddler stage. One of our favorite things about this stage his been the boys' constant desire to create and imagine. They absolutely love acting out various scenarios with imaginary characters (like ambulance drivers, policemen, firefighters, doctors, or a mommy and a baby). We love seeing how their little minds process through games such as these! Below are two pictures of the boys being garbage men on their tricycle. The boy in the back (in this case, Cody) periodically jumps off the back to gather garbage, then hops back on the tricycle.

Here is a video of an indoor garbage man game.

Another big favorite has been the "pet store game." Each boy becomes a pet and either takes a book or a group of magnetic letters to make a sign, identifying which animal he is. Then, when Mommy or Daddy enters the room asking to buy a pet, the "pets" will make animal noises and tell us how much we need to pay for them. It's quite elaborate as you can see. :)

Cody and Jaden continue to adore books and being read to. Their favorite series include Arthur, Curious George, and Fly Guy books. They have also recently started to enjoy beginning chapter books, as long as the books contain pictures on most every page. One set of chapter books they particularly enjoy is the Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCamillo about a large, toast-loving pet pig. I originally got these books from the library thinking the boys would listen to only a couple chapters at a time but they surprised me by listening to the entire book (15-20 minutes) in one sitting. They wanted to listen to the whole book again several times that week! We have devoured the entire 6-book series and are huge Mercy fans! :)

The boys seem to enjoy the letter activities that we have started this fall. They can easily recognize their capital letters and most of their lowercase letters too. Jaden and Cody can even write a few letters and can somewhat form the letters to their names. They don't have a long attention span at all for writing or coloring, though, so this is a work in progress. :) The boys like trying to identify letter sounds by playing the "What letter does (this word) start with?" game. The boys can both count to 39 but then need help with their multiples of 10 after that.

When we attend library storytime, Jaden and Cody have only recently begun actively participating in the activities (finger plays, songs, rhythm sticks, etc.). They used to be comfortable simply sitting in my lap and watching other kids. Now, it's fun to see them follow directions from other adults. The two videos below are obviously not from the library but show a similar type of direction-following activity. The action rhymes in the video are taken from the High Five magazines. Only Cody was in the mood to perform for the camera on this particular day. :)

Cody and Jaden are hands-down each other's best friend. They love playing together and are almost always interested in the same activity. At times, the boys can stay happily occupied together for 30 minutes or more without any kind of adult intervention. These are the moments when having twins truly is a special joy. We love seeing our boys get along well and enjoy each other's company. Of course, the boys are far from perfect. Some days, conflicts will arise from the silliest thing (like who will sit on which side of Mommy's lap for storytime). But, we are constantly trying to teach Cody and Jaden skills for resolving conflict, reminding them to use their words and good manners to share feelings, and encouraging them to ask questions of each other rather than being physical. Some days we have quite a LOT of practice in this realm! Overall, though, the boys are happy being brothers, and we are so thankful having two! Here are the boys singing a rendition of "Jesus Loves Me" together.

Jaden and Cody's preferred activity is still playing with any kind of vehicle, especially their matchbox cars. They also enjoy building with blocks and Duplos. Many times they build with a special purpose-- to make a garage or road for their cars or a home or cage for their dinosaurs. Cody has recently developed a special love for putting together puzzles. He particularly enjoys larger floor puzzles and can assemble most any kid puzzle independently and fairly quickly too! Both boys enjoy playing basic kids' games like BusyTown, Hullabaloo, Spot It, and any time of memory/matching game.

Just after the boys turned 3 1/2, we asked them a few interview questions. The following videos give you a taste of both boys' personalities and favorites. In case you can't understand or hear them, the boys' answers are all listed below.

Jaden's Interview

Name -- Jaden Schleicher

How old are you -- 3 and a half

Who are your friends -- Cody! Joshua, Holden (last two are boys from Sunday School)

Favorite thing to do -- play with cars and trucks

Favorite color -- blue and yellow

Favorite food -- peanut butter and jelly

Food you don't like -- tomatoes

Something you like to do with family -- play with them

What you want to do when you get bigger -- to play and play and play and play

Favorite book -- Arthur

Where do you like to go-- to the pool in our neighborhood

Favorite dessert -- cupcakes

Favorite animal -- I don't know what animal

Favorite song to sing -- Sanctuary

Something you are good at -- taking care of my piggy

Something you are not very good at -- reading my piggy stories

What do you like to do with Mommy-- go to playground

What do you like to do with Daddy -- play with Daddy

Favorite game to play -- Busy Town

Here is Cody's 3 1/2 year old interview in two parts. You'll notice Jaden's voice in the background of video 2 (please you wipe me, Mommy!).

Cody's Interview

First and last name -- Cody Schleicher

How old are you -- 3 and a half

Favorite thing to do -- play with my laptop in the car

Favorite color -- red and yellow

Favorite food -- pizza

Food you don't like -- soup

Something you like to play with family -- BusyTown

Favorite book -- Happy Birthday Mr. Snowman (I think he made up this title...)

Favorite animal -- my teddy bear

Favorite song to sing -- O Come Let Us Adore Him (his name for O Come All Ye Faithful)

Something you are good at -- "I'm very good at basketball."

Something you are not very good at -- tennis

Favorite dessert -- Oreos

Something you like to do with Mommy -- play with BusyTown

Something you like to do with Daddy -- play with my bus

Who are your friends -- Jaden, Abby, Elise, Ryan, Nathan, Ian, Ryan, Aunt Kim, Uncle Matt

We love seeing how much our boys have progressed from 3 to 3 1/2 and are excited for their growth and development yet to come! We continue to be humbled by the gift that these little boys are to us. We love you, Jaden and Cody!