Kyle at 2.5 years old!

Oh Kyle is my spitfire!
He is such a hilarious kid.
He is either in a great mood or an awful mood.
Thankfully, the good moods are starting to outweigh the bad moods (60/40).
He is a joker and thinks "potty language" is hilarious.

He loves people and is very extroverted.
He goes to a daycare 3-4 mornings a month and does well. 
He tends to play with a 4 year old named Macy.  One day when I went to pick him up, they were pretending to be married.  Last week they were cooking soup and pizza. Ha!

Kyle has a very amazing imagination.
Most of his pretend play involves fighting something.  He LOVES swords.

Kyle loves passionately!
He is the biggest momma's boy I've ever met and would like to be carried all day long. Still.
He loves Lainey and Scout almost as much as he loves me. Ha!  (Thankfully Scout is the most tolerant puppy ever and puts up with his passionate affection.)

Kyle has some anxiety too.
Generally it's being left behind and sleeping alone.
I battled with him over staying in his bed at night for about 6 months.
I've never, ever had a kid sleep in my bed and have been quite opposed to it.
BUT you learn something new with each kid.
Unlike my other kids, who tolerated being "trapped" in their rooms at night after being transitioned out of their cribs, this created utter panic for Kyle.  But, without his door being locked, he would be in and out of his bed all night long.  I tried everything - including switching his room - so he now shares with Carson.   Nothing worked.  So finally, after talking to my friend Julie White who is also a single mom, I caved.  So for the past month or so, if he wakes at night (probably does 5 nights a week), and it's after I am in bed, I just let him climb in and snuggle with me.
It's really helped his overall demeanor I think.  He sleeps later in the mornings and is definitely more secure feeling at night.  I think he has been more pleasant during the day as well.

Kyle is a fun loves, spirited little boy.
He loves people, has a clear idea of what is right vs wrong, and doesn't want to be left out of anything!

He makes me smile and never lets me forget how deeply I am loved! :)
He is a riot and I am very thankful he is mine!

Carson at 5

My sweet Carson just turned five.  The poor kid was sick with strep throat on his actual birthday.
What's Carson like at five??

Carson is still a sweet, tender-hearted little boy.
He is easy going and fairly flexible.
He is a great helper around the house.
He is very sensitive and gets his feelings hurt easily.
If he is misbehaving, I literally only have to threaten to yell and he shapes up. Ha!

He loves sports - playing catch, riding his bike, or playing soccer are his favorite things to do
He also loves legos, games, and puzzles.

He is really, really good at math.  He can count to 100 by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s.
He understands addition and subtraction - very consistently adds and subtracts numbers up through 20.  

He is reading a bit.
He can read through the first 10 BOB books - all one syllable words that are easy to sound out.
He is a great student - nice to other kids and listens well to his teachers.

He still doesn't like loud noises or crowds.
He picks quiet kids for friends.
His is absolutely adored by a sweet little girl in his class named Gracie.
She follows him everywhere and just loves him.
He likes her a lot too, although gets a little overwhelmed with her devotion to him. :)

He has some anxiety - hates but upstairs or downstairs on his own, is afraid of bears and doesn't want to go to any states with bears in them (ha!), sleeps with a light on, etc.

Carson is a sweet, easy going kid.
He is a true blessing to me!
I am very thankful for him!