Almost 4 year olds are emotional.  And competitive.  At least our almost 4 year old is those things.  We can pretty easily get Preston to do just about anything by threatening to let Luke do whatever it is first: get dressed, take a bath, put pajamas on, sit down for dinner.  For now Luke could care less, but I supposed we should probably be more careful about inserting him into random competitions on a daily basis.  
Tonights emotional toll came in the form of a marble maze.  Preston, who is clearly attached to the color yellow, quickly became attached to a yellow marble.  So it went a little like this.  John build a maze and started to race a white marble against the yellow marble.  He usually started the yellow one just a tiny bit before the white one, so while the "gauntlet" and the "plinko" marble maze pieces sort of evened the playing field, the yellow marble usually won.  But on the off chance that the white one would win, Preston would fall into hysterical outright tears.  At one point John added a "funnel" piece  to the maze that really put Preston on edge.  the marbles would swirl in there for a while before decending into the rest of the maze, and it became anyone's game.  Preston resorted to cheating, holding back the white marble, and a one point kicking over the entire maze when the white marble pulled ahead.  We had to do away with the funnel.  
I eventually caught some of the antics on video, for proof and possible psychoanalysis.

From Luke:

We went to the library this morning.  We get books for Preston while we are there, but I like to play with some of the toys and sit at the table in the big kid seat all by myself! 
I still only have 1 tooth, but I'm working my second one on the bottom.  It's making me grouchy and not that great of a sleeper.   

Lukey got his first tooth yesterday!!  It's his bottom left tooth, and it's just poking through the gum.  I can't even see it, but I can definitely feel it!  

We also gave Luke a Ritz cracker for the first time over the weekend, and he LOVED it.  It's not exactly "baby food," and we really just wanted to see what he would do.  He got so mad when we tried to take it away from him.   He's still kind of picky with food.  We are trying to give him more variety of textures and flavors.  He tolerates new things, but isn't wild about them.  Yesterday we tried ground up chicken mixed with babyfood and he made his usual "ick" face and refused further spoonfuls.  We're working on it.  
He's also learning how to pull up on the furniture!  He can reliably get himself to a kneeling position, but not standing all the way up.  He's so proud of himself.  
He's also a very vocal baby!  He's always baby babbling if not screeching (in both glee and annoyance).  

"Mommy, I think you need to chase trains.  Would you like to go to the East Penn with me?  We better go to that spot, and eat goldfish, and wait for the trains to come.... Mommy!  We can wait for TWO trains, would you like that?!"

The night before Preston's appointment to check out his cyst:
Me:  Preston, tomorrow we are going to go to the doctor so he can look at your bump, can you be a brave boy?
Preston: No, that's too scary for me.
Me:  Well, we need to let the doctor look at it so he can tell us how to make it go away.
Preston: Well, I can just hide it like this, then it goes away!  Like magic!
Me:  It still comes back when you bring your hand out of your lap.
Preston: I can already make it go away, see? (he bends his wrist back to hide the bump)
Me:  It's still there, honey, it didn't really go away.
Preston: (Thinking) Well.... I can eat 3 crunchy medicines to make it go away.
Me:  That's very creative, sometimes medicine does make things go away, but crunchy medicine is for a belly ache, not really for a bump on your hand.
Preston: I don't want the doctor to look at it!  
Me:  Well, if you are a brave boy maybe you can have chicken nuggets when you are done.
Preston:  Mommy!  I want french fries with my chicken nuggets!

On Friday, we finally went to Preston's appointment to have the cyst in his wrist evaluated.  I was 100% sure that they told me to go to the office  in Bethlehem.  They must have told me that at least 3 times.  Except that when we arrived at the office in Bethlehem they informed us that the pediatric doctor only goes to the Allentown Office.  So they called over to that office and said that we could still go.  So we drove TWO cars all the way across the valley, exactly the way that John had come, and arrived 45 minutes late to our original appointment.  Somehow these things happen to me more than they should.  We got in to see the doctor in a relatively short amount of time for being so late.  Preston was up to his usual antics and wouldn't let the lady weight him.  Finally when we got into our own room we had a chat.  Preston said he was not going to let the doctor look at him bump, he was going to hide it in his lap.... until he noticed a box of latex gloves.  When he asked me for a Mickey Mouse glove balloon I said he could have one as long as he was a brave boy and let the doctor look at his bump.  He agreed and we shook on it.  I gave him a glove balloon, and he kept his part of the bargain!  He was the bravest boy for the doctor!  
So anyway, he does in fact have a cyst.  The doctor wants us to have an ultrasound done on the cyst (I see more glove balloon negotiations in our future) to make sure it is only fluid filled (no tissue), and if it is (it probably is), we do nothing.  
Bonus: Since we were already at the right hospital we went over to visit Amy and Shawn and new baby LINCOLN!  He is such a sweet baby, and we are so glad that Lukey will have a new little friend to play with.  Preston, of course, was mildly impressed with the baby, and then wanted to leave.  We didn't even get any pictures!  Hopefully we can get over to visit baby Lincoln at home this week, and get a few pictures.  

Lukey was at school through this whole adventure. We think he is teething, although there has been a TON of fussing for no real toothy action.  For the last few nights he's been waking up at 11:30 and wanting to party.  Mom and Dad are not impressed.  We just want some teeth already.
He's been slightly more interested in textured foods.  He likes peach puffs and muffins.  We keep trying!  We're also trying to get him interested in a sippy cup.  He likes to play with it and chew on it, but isn't getting any liquid out yet.  Babies just figure these things out, right?  Why is it that I forget what happened with Preston?   

Last Friday was Trick-or-Treat night on Halloween!  Lukey and I got dressed up for the occasion, BOTH in homemade costumes, and went around the neighborhood collecting candy.  Luke actually stayed home with Mom handing out candy to other kids while Dad and I went with Patrick and Quentin in the wagon.  I was a YELLOW DINOSAUR with blue spikes, and Luke was a knight in armor, just like me when I was a baby.  We also wore our costumes to daycare that day for a Halloween party.  It was super fun, except my friends at school kept pulling my dinosaur tail, and they put a hole in it.  I was sad about that, but Mom sewed it up before it was time to go out for Trick-or-treat, so all was well with the world.  Here are some fun pictures:
You can see the whole album HERE

On Saturday we went to the library, and then on Sunday, after Sunday school and lunch.... we went to the Circus!  It was so fun!  When we go there the Elephant was having some pre-show fun and ate a whole l0af of bread in one bite.  Daddy got me a box of popcorn, to keep me occupied while we waited for the show to begin.  I loved all of the different acts.  They had strong men, horses, dogs, elephants, acrobats, and tightrope walkers.  My favorite phrase was to lean into Mommy's ear and say "Mommy!  That is SO dangerous" in a very concerned voice.  
It was so fun!

From Luke:
I liked the circus, too, but was getting a little sleepy by the end of it.  I liked all of the lights and action, and was well behaved for most of the show.  I can add "circus" to my never ending list of crazy places that I've nursed.  
That night Daddy fed me peas and took a video.  I'm super-duper cute.  And the other day, for the first time, I grabbed  a peach puff with my fingers, put it in my mouth and ate it - all by myself!!!  Mommy was so proud.