Evan's 4th Birthday!

Tearing into one of his gifts

Opening up his turtle from Nana and Papa Carpenter

LEGOS!! I can't tell you how much this boy loves playing with legos.

Train tracks!  He loves those trains too!

Blowing out his candles

Yum!!!  Cake and Ice Cream

Logan wanted in on the action as well.

October 28---Evan's fourth birthday.  This was also Evan's very first day of school.  He didn't have the greatest time at preschool, but he came home and enjoyed playing with his new turtle toy from Nana, AND he was ecstatic when he got a new set of Legos from Aunt Sarah.

We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which wasn't very good here compared to eating it every where else.  The boys didn't seem to mind their food at all, but Rick and I were a little disappointed.  After we came home, opened gifts, sang happy birthday, had cake and ice cream and stayed up a little later than usual playing with their new toys.

Okay, I have a four year old.  It's so strange to think of Evan as 4.  I remember very vividly when he was born and all the pain I felt (I don't think that memory will EVER go away!)  And I also remember when he was a screaming newborn, how I was positive I would never have any more children.

But, I can say how wonderful this little boy is.  Evan is such a sweet, special kid.  I've always had a feeling that he's different from other kids his age...not necessarily in a bad way, but even though I sometimes compared him to other kids.  This year he has grown by leaps and bounds.  He is such a smart little boy.

Even with a speech delay, he's potty trained (at least 90%, anyway).  He's starting to talk a lot more, which leads Rick and I to be a lot firmer with him, because we know he can talk a lot more now, so we don't let him get away with just yelling when he's mad.   He's such a good big brother as well---he takes care of Logan and is good about playing with him.

He also has an independence streak about 100 miles long it seems.  I think part of the reason why he doesn't talk a lot is because he just goes and tries to do everything himself.  Lately he's been so good about helping me with cleaning.  He holds the dust pan for me when I need to sweep, he unloads and puts away dishes that he can reach, and he's been doing a lot better about picking up after himself.

It amazes me what he does know, sometimes.  I found out by surprise that he can count from 0-9 while we were doing a number puzzle.  And the other day when I picked him up from preschool, the aide in his classroom told me that he did great at telling her a bunch of letters.  So we picked up an alphabet book that night before bed, and Evan pointed out and named the entire alphabet for us!  I would know if he could do it, if he actually spoke!  He also recognizes several colors and shapes, which I already knew since we taught him that ourselves. 

We are so grateful for Evan, and we love him very much.  We're so blessed to have Evan in our family.  I feel like the first born children are kind of the guinea pigs.  Thankfully Evan is a great kid, and we seem to be doing a semi good job with him (hopefully, lol).    We love you Evan!