Life in Pots: Orson the 4 year old

I'm not sure how it happened but 4 years have gone by with the O-man! 4 has been really hard on me, I feel like there is no more baby left. Instead I have this amazing, loving, head strong, independent and opinionated little dude and we are all having to redefine our relationships. Orson has definite opinions, plans and needs now that don't always coincide with Matt's and mine. Its been a difficult few months trying to work it all out but I know we will get there soon. He has also turned into the best big brother Ferdinand could ask for. He is so loving, quick to take in lonely kids, calls everyone his friend, shares really well and says I Love You and gives hugs easily. I hope some of that stays with him throughout his life.

We ended up having quite a few small and large celebrations over the week of Orson's birthday. When asked what he wanted to do to celebrate he said that he would like "To go to Red-Bird (AKA Red Robin) and see space ships. So the Saturday before his birthday the Scarborough family joined us on a trip to the Air and Space Museum followed by dinner at Red Robin. It was a lovely evening out and the look on Orson's face when the restaurant sang happy birthday to him was worth the long wait for dinner.

The day before his birthday he went to preschool with MnM cookies (his favorite) and came home with presents and lots of happy giggles and stories.

On his birthday we opened presents, sang happy birthday and then packed for a trip to California to celebrate with old friends!

I was quite nervous for our trip to CA, after all I was traveling by myself with both boys and one in my belly. Even with delays and extra time in the air it didn't go all that bad. The worst part was that neither boy really slept. Ferdinand feel asleep for the 20 minutes we were on the ground in Chicago and Orson fell asleep (to prove that he didn't want to see me any more) for the last 15 minutes we were in the air before we landed in Sacramento.

By the time we finally got our bag and rental car both boys were exhausted but super excited. Orson seemed to remember the way to Maddox's house and I could barely contain him in the car. He was overjoyed to see his friend and they had a great time playing that first night. The next morning we decided to meet some of our friends at the train museum (the one thing Orson really wanted to do while we were in CA). The morning went well but then O fell asleep in the car on the way there....I had to shake him to wake him up when we arrived and he refused to say hi to any of his friends when we got there. Once inside he seemed to shake a little of the tired off and wandered around with Maddox, Lucy Lu and Ava but once we stopped to play at the train tables he climbed into the stroller and fell back asleep.

Once everyone was done playing we decided to go get lunch and I asked Orson to climb out so I could put F into the stroller. Well, he climbed our and proceeded to throw up all over the board walk. He then seemed a little better for lunch and we went home and took a nap.

That night the moms planned to go out and we brought all the kids over to one house so the Dad's could watch them, just as we pulled into the driveway, Orson threw up again, climbed into my arms and went to sleep. Andrew was gracious enough to take him home and he and Jessica got me agree to still go out. Orson slept the night through and the next morning was roused out of bed by the offer of pancakes. He ate 7 or 8 and didn't stop eating the rest of the day. I don't know if he was actually sick or just exhausted but he was definitely over what ever it was. We spent Saturday taking it easy, shopping for the birthday picnic and driving by our old house (they have not kept up the garden :(. That night we drove out to Folsom and had pizza with the Gordon's. Orson was finally able to enjoy some quality time with Lucy Lu and I got to spend time with Gina. It was a good time.

Sunday we woke up and went to mass with some old friends from church and then went to the Birthday Picnic. What a fun, crazy time! The number of kids has doubled now that everyone has siblings but they are all much more independent, so moms and dads are more able to talk. It was so much fun watching the littles learn to interact with kids their size and to see the big kids renew friendships and tackle new things. Ferdinand slept through the beginning and then had an epic tantrum that resulted in great pictures. Trying to keep little hands out of Gina's cupcakes was almost impossible. The swings were always busy and the sandbox was the boys favorite.