Happy Birthday Wes & Calvin!

My boys are 6 today. It is amazing how fast time flies. When I woke them up, I asked if they felt any older. They both thought about it and then Calvin said that he did feel 6. I then told them to go get dressed for the movie, and Wes said, "I wonder if my clothes will be tight." Ha! Later on he told us that his clothes still fit even though he is 6, but he thinks they will be tight soon.

We took them to see Cars 2 at a super fancy theater in Scottsdale that has recliners and waiters/waitresses to serve you lunch. The boys started saying that this was the best day ever!

After that, we came home to open presents (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Ghostbuster toys -- old school from Ebay). When Wes opened a Joker (Batman) car that my mom had sent him, he started jumping up and down and yelling "I've been waiting for this my whole life!"

We then went out to dinner at Rustler's Rooste where they got to play on the big metal slide and were given cowboy hats and bandannas.

After dinner, we walked out to see the coolest looking dust storm heading our way.

About 2 minutes later, it was right on us and it went from being light outside to instantly dark where you couldn't see past the hood of your own car even with lights on. We had to wait it out for about 20 minutes. Visibility was low, but we knew if we could get to the freeway (1/2 mile away) at least we would all be heading in the same direction. It soon started raining which allowed us to see further, and we made it home without issue. Adam's parents saw a tree fall on a parked vehicle while they were waiting it out. I do love monsoon season in Arizona but this made me a little nervous.



All in all, we had a great day. In the beginning it was the best day ever and in the end Wes told us that it was "the most bored night" because we had to sit and wait out the storm and drive super slow home. He wanted to get home and play with his toys.

So, what is Calvin up to these days?

• Calvin is such a sweet, sweet boy. He is often quiet and independent. He loves to give me kisses on the arms and legs. He rarely whines and never throws a fit, but he does know how to push his brother's buttons without technically breaking any rules.
  
• Calvin is so funny. He will crack a joke every once in a while that is truly, really funny. He has a good sense of humor. Right now most of his jokes involve the word "brain" in them.
• Calvin loves to dress up. He easily can get into a world of make believe through toys or costumes. He dresses up in costumes several days each week. He feels really special when he walks around in his costume and is noticed by others.
• Calvin loves to explain everything in detail (I wonder where he gets that from). He uses a lot of hand gestures and is super serious about his explanation (i.e. telling you the rules of a game; plot of a movie; etc.)
• Calvin can easily play by himself, and he loves to build things like Legos, transformers, marble tubes, etc. He doesn't get frustrated and he really concentrates on whatever he is doing. Sometimes this leads to "hearing problems" because he is so focused on one thing that he has no idea what is going on around him.
• Calvin loves to dance. He likes to dress "cool" when he dances which normally includes tall soccer socks, baggy shorts, shirt, and a winter hat no matter what time of year it is. He has recently started picking out some of his own clothes and he normally goes with all green. Green winter hat, green shirt, green shorts, and green shoes. He says because everything is green (his favorite color) then he must match really well -- although everything is a different shade of green.
  

Wes -

• Wes is my cuddle bug. He loves to curl up with me in a chair, on the couch, or in bed.
  
• Wes can be very competitive. He is a good trash talker when he plays games and he accepts losing pretty well. Sometimes though we have to work at him wanting to be "first" at everything, but he has come a long way this year. My mom loves to play games with Wes so they can trash talk each other. It is hilarious to watch.
  
• Wes sees the world in black and white (just like me). This can be both a good and bad thing. The good thing is that he follows rules and understands them well. The bad thing is that when those rules change for special circumstances, he doesn't handle that well and is confused. He knows he is right and the other person is wrong, which is true in a black and white world, but not practical in day to day living. Adam and I are working together to find ways to work with him to help him understand that not everything is black and white, and sometimes rules can change in different circumstances. This is a difficult process, but Adam and I are working hard to try to parent him in a way that best fits his needs and personality rather than just tell him the rule changed this time because it just did.
• Wes loves to learn. He is already learning first grade and he thinks learning is so much fun.
• Wes still says some words incorrectly and we refuse to correct him because it is so cute. (Bachine for Machine; Each Uddy for each other; Berry for Very; Micken Donald's for McDonald's; Up-a-side for Upside) Calvin says a lot of these words the same way too.
  
• Wes loves to wrestle. He will beat-up on Adam, Calvin, or Uncle Zach. He is strong and he doesn't mind getting hurt in the process. Calvin will put up with it for a while but soon gets annoyed. We want to enroll both boys into a Jujitsu program so Wes can expend some of that energy.
• Wes loves to sing. Adam has some old songs (i.e. Michael Jackson, Beatles, B.O.B., Vanilla Ice, etc.) on Wes' iPod and he loves to sing all of the songs. He takes singing very seriously, and he always makes Adam play the music in the car. Wes learns intro songs to television shows after listening once or twice and you'll always hear him singing along with the show.
  

Both boys love their sister so much. They play with her every day . . . by choice. If she lets out one little fuss, they are constantly trying to cheer her up. Normally Calvin will yell out "chicken head" and that makes Allie laugh. Wes always calls her "Miss Allie" while Calvin prefers "Alemi or Alemitu". We did not realize how much Wes and Calvin would fall in love with their sister, but they love everything about her. They already watch out for her so I can only imagine what it will be like in 10 years.

Wes and Calvin love to play together and they are "best buds". The both call each other "buddy" rather than by name. Normally when they play together Wes will narrate what is going on and will often tell Calvin what he is to say next. It is really cute, but we are teaching Calvin that he doesn't always have to say what Wes tells him. A lot of times they will pretend they are Mario and Luigi or Ghostbuster characters and will address each other by the appropriate character name. I love that they are best friends, and I love that they have huge imaginations.

I am blessed to get to be the mommy to my sweet boys - Wes & Calvin - my 6 year olds.