A fun age!

It's hard to believe that Owen is already a year and a half and Josh will be 4 next month.  They are both at such a fun age, where the things they do and say are constantly making me smile or laugh. 
Owen absolutely loves (obsessed with may be a better word) dogs.  He runs down our hallway, goes to the doors where he knows the dogs live and he says 'daw door, daw door'.  Although Josh is usually busy protecting Owen, he knows his weakness when it comes to dogs.   One day we were in the elevator with the most adorable little fluffy white dog.  Josh had himself plastered against the wall (as he is petrified of dogs) and Owen was standing in front of him, busy petting the dog and talking to it.  Josh took him squarely by the shoulders and said 'Owen, can you please stand in front of me and protect me from the dog?'.  Being the sweet loving brother he is, Owen gladly protected Josh from the dog.
Owen has also started to enjoy reading books.  He enjoys reading books by himself but he often joins Josh and I on the couch as we read our stack of books.  He doesn't have very much patience for the longer books, like Curious George, yet.  If he thinks the word to picture ratio is too high (i.e. more than 1 sentence per picture), he starts yelling and trying to take the book away and replace it with another one. 

Josh is a planner and always likes to look forward to things.  The two big events he is counting down to right now are turning 4 in May (he has been talking about his firetruck birthday cake for months already) and starting afternoon kindergarten in September. 

His favourite game right now is the guessing game.  I love guessing games and 20 questions (and Mike is never too excited to play along with me) so I am very happy to play the game with Josh.  He gives me a clue about something and I have to guess what it is.  He actually gives really good clues and if I can't guess the answers from the clue, he will mouth me the answer so that I can guess the right answer but still feel like a winner (he's always so thoughtful).

Josh continues to be a patient, loving big brother.  When Owen obliviously throws a hard toy at him, Josh takes it in stride and forgives him.  We tell Owen to say sorry and give Josh a hug and he goes over and gives Josh the nicest hug - it would be hard not to forgive him.
These two boys are always cracking us up and making our hearts swell with pride, and we're so thankful for them.