4 Years, 1 Month

First the pandemic canceled, well, everything. But at least we could go on bike/scooter rides, walks and play in our yard. Then the fires started, and the smoke forced us indoors. The poor little dudes are bouncing off the walls and, though they're driving us nuts, I can't really blame them. Four year-olds are built for fun and exploration. But, we're muddling through.

Henry
What happens when Henry has to wait in the car for a short time (with his dad) while brother gets an x-ray (with Mom): 

We're entered the "Watch me!" stage, and it's terrifying. 

By the way, Jack is fine, his x-ray was to confirm some digestive problems, from which he's expected to fully recover with just over-the-counter medications. 

Back to the wild, goofy Henry...

Showing off his tattoos: 

Quotable Henry:

Delighted with his glow wand, "This glow stick is excellent fun!"

Closes eyes and whispers dramatically, "Pretend I disappeared."

Well-behaved Henry is funny, sweet, joyful and charming. Poorly-behaved Henry is sassy, demanding and stubborn.

Jack

Jack's "Blue Bunny" has become quite the character in our house. Jack asserts that Blue Bunny is responsible for everything that goes wrong, but also boasts that Blue Bunny has more cool things and does everything better than anyone else.

Jack is full of confidence. 

Me, admiring his craft project: "You did a nice job cutting these out."

Jack, deadpan: "Yes, I did."

Jack's mind is always whirring away. Just the other day, after I told the boys that dinosaurs lived long before any humans did, Jack asked, "How do we know there were dinosaurs if they're not alive anymore?"

Well-behaved Jack is clever, creative, sly and self-assured. Poorly-behaved Jack is defiant, combative and melodramatic. 

Twin Life in the Great Indoors

The boys are as different as can be. One of our current challenges is food. Henry thinks red sauce (on pasta or pizza) is basically poison. Jack won't touch any kind of meat that's not in loaf form, while Henry is basically carnivorous. Jack is obsessed with cheese. Henry will only eat cheese of the string variety. One night we gave up and just let Jack eat a hot dog bun and Henry eat the hot dog. Some days the battle is not worth fighting. 

Jack prepares to clamp his project (hammering nails into random scraps of wood): 

"What are you doing with the hammer, Henry?"

"Nothing..."

Helping clean out the closet, the boys find Mom's shoes from approximately a million years ago, and do a better job walking in them than Mom ever did.

Henry:

Jack:

A project idea from their teacher, we made lemon volcanoes for the boys' plastic dinosaurs to play in.

Henry: 

Jack:

We also made borax crystals, which was pretty cool.

Henry and raccoon friend perform a puppet show for an attentive Jack:

Henry has Mom take a picture of his rainbow face paint...

... only to end up with a Daddy photo-bomb. 

You can almost hear Henry's sigh through the picture. Jack, on the other hand, said of his father, "How can Dad be so funny!?" 

"I'm cousin Colin!" Henry poses with an old pair of my glasses:

"Take pictures of us in the panda hat," the boys demand.

Henry:

Jack:

Happy Birthday!

The boys turned four earlier this month. Jack immediately asked, "When are we going to be ten?" When I replied, "In six years," he was thoughtful for a moment. Then, he seemed satisfied and said, "So, in November, then." Uh... something like that, kid.

Birthday donuts!

Henry:

Jack:

Henry puts up cool truck wall stickers from Grandma Loveridge in the boys' play loft:

He takes proper placement very seriously:

Jack dramatically eats toast under the watchful eye of his super cool monster truck/tractor from Grandma Loveridge:

Cards from Kasey!

My parents were able to come for a visit, and brought with them the boys' birthday present: bubble leaf blowers! These were (and continue to be) a big hit.

Jack left, Henry right:

Henry:

Jack:

Henry left, Jack right:

Henry and Grandma Pool, decked out in festive flowers Grandma brought up for the boys: 

Grandpa Pool helps Jack find the most hazardous way to use the boys' other birthday gift: skateboards!

Grandpa and Dad help the boys build a craft project we had stashed away (mini work benches from Home Depot's kid workshop program). 

Henry, working hard:

Henry gets a little help from Grandpa while Dad helps Jack in the background.

We were very glad we could have this visit, especially since we're not sure when the next one will be. We've been taking distancing seriously and not seeing anyone, but we decided to make an exception for my folks, who have been good about their distancing as well. We felt summer, while the boys were out of school for summer break, was the safest time for a visit, and it went well with no one getting sick. But the fall and winter will likely be a different story. 

The boys also got adorable sweaters from Aunt Brooke and Uncle James. The boys are quite fond of them, and we look forward to getting a lot of use out of them this fall.

Jack left, Henry right: 

First Day of School

The boys indulge Mom by posing for pictures on the first day of the new (pre)school year. Henry includes some animated narration. 

And, because it's 2020... the mask picture:

The boys' teachers are wonderful. One teacher in particular is very much in touch with the mentality of four year-olds, teaching them, among many other things, the song modification "row, row, row your boat gently down the stream, if you see a crocodile, don't forget to scream!" Anyway, the boys were excited to start the new school year. But...

Then Came the Fires

The CZU Lightning Complex Fire burned more than 86,000 acres (and more than 900 homes) in the Santa Cruz mountains. The boys' school was closed due to smoke, ash, and concerns that evacuation could be required in the school's neighborhood.  

Ash rains down on our outdoor furniture: 

When the sky is yellow/orange, full of smoke and falling ash, and the kids are bored and upset, sometimes you just have to let them watch some extra TV to get some peace.

You know the kids are fed up being kept inside when they beg to be allowed to walk two blocks to pick up takeout food under the smoke-filled sky.

Halloween Preview

During another outing, on which the boys pleaded to be included, the boys were allowed to pick out Halloween costumes at Costco. Henry selected the butterfly princess. Jack wanted to be a firefighter, but that costume proved very popular (no doubt due to recent events) and was unavailable in his size, so he settled for astronaut. 

I've since acquired the desired firefighter costume, so the kiddos have options. We're lucky the kids are still too young to really be disappointed by a lack of Halloween events and trick-or-treating. We'll just have to settle for some dress-up time at home.