My youngest baby turns 4 today and I’ve definitely had a good cry over this fact. We are well beyond infancy, over a year past the last time he nursed, and I can’t recall the last time we was worn in a carrier. He still says “but I only 3” when it comes time for bed but last night was his last chance to say it. He’s been relying on mommy for snuggles lately to fall asleep, and while I don’t usually mind because it’s the last bit of “baby” left of him, it’s time to start moving away from that too. We said he could have a few more days of that but when he turned 4 he would be a big boy and fall asleep in his room after cuddles and stories. I’m hoping that magical number change helps but is he crawls in bed with me in the middle of the night for snuggles I won’t mind either. His 4th Birthday video (embedded below this paragraph) was such a pleasure to put together- you can really see how helpful a balance bike is for learning to ride a bike quickly too so I love how that turned out.
We’ve kept up our number photos for both boys and since Everett was born in October we felt mini-pumpkins were fitting. His numbers are smaller than Fletcher’s, who we use leaves for, because pumpkins are $4 for 7 and leaves are free!
This year Everett was a trooper- enduring two photo sessions. We tried one early in the morning but the shade trees left our yard too dark and the images came out terrible quality wise, though he rocked out the poses. I also took a walk with him that morning on our amazing street. As the sun rises the spanish moss looks like it is glowing in that golden hour (same at sunset) and so I took that time to capture photos of him. I wound up with my favorite image of him this year.
Everett is such a kind boy. He goes to Pre-K two days a week and I love picking him up because his wonderful teacher tells me what an amzing kid I have. “Everett is so fair and kind to the other children. They all love him and yell ‘EVERETT!’ when he comes in each day.” He has two girlfriends (he says) and is loving his time at school. He still has some speech problems that we are working through, but he has finally started speaking volumes and has a great vocabulary. He still love dinosaurs and can even spot inaccuracies in cartoons or TV shows that wrongly show a dinosaur with the wrong features. He has even corrected me a few times… He is mini-Ross.
He wasn’t an easy baby, in fact, I think he scared me away from having any future babies. That just means he can be my baby forever…. I can’t imagine life without him here with us. Fletcher was meant to be a big brother and Everett is a picture perfect little brother. Their love and friendship makes us all smile, even strangers who notice how they interact.
It’s been a joy to see him grow and fulfilling to carry on our traditional yearly photos and my yearly videos. Seeing the years stack up is bittersweet- I love the product of our dedication and I dislike that I already have 4 of them. I happened to find this perfect floating frame from Target for half-off last night since we ran out of space in our old frame. Another depressing fact. For anyone thinking of starting this tradition I highly recommend learning to use your DSLR on manual- I taught myself using the forums and resources on Clickin’ Moms and it was a great investment to keep and improve our family photos.