The biggest news, of course, was Ava's fourth birthday. She asked for a lollipop. Ava is fairly sugar deprived and she still tells the story of the lollipop she had one year ago at her friend Cormac's birthday party. For her birthday we gave her the biggest lollipop around and then she took two licks--apparently that's all she needed--and threw it in the trash. She's put in her request for a lollipop for her 5th birthday and talks to James about it every time we pass the display in the grocery store.
As for James, he's turned into a big steamroller of a toddler. He runs, he screams, he laughs with his whole body. He loves to read (by himself just as much as with others) and gasps, squeals, and drops his jaw in mock surprise with every turn of the page. He happily joins Ava in her pretend play and spends much of his time serving the family dinner and rocking his stuffed animals to sleep. After a 2-year hiatus, we've returned to music class. While the magic of Music Together seems to have run its course with Ava, James couldn't be more excited. He hums the songs throughout the day and will sing notes and wait for someone to copy him, just like in class.
