Happy Birthday, Will!

Another year has come and gone in the young life of our William.  He continues to impress us with his creativity and imagination.  And today we are thrilled to celebrate his 5th year.

As is the case with all of our children, it has been another big year.  He helped us last summer as we prepared to move from the only home he had ever known.  Though he greatly misses our friends and home in Ohio, he is getting use to the beach and has gotten over his fear of water!  This was a huge step for him and quite convenient for the rest of us as our main family outings are water related.

He continues to embrace his position as the middle child.  He has a great friendship with Dominic and I love hearing them create stories and one up each other in the telling.  As Dom has gotten more involved in activities outside of the home, Will and Molly have forged a friendship that is suitable for each.  Now, if we could just get Will to not let Molly pin him, we'd be set! 

In the education realm, Will has shown quite the aptitude for math and critical thinking in general.  We are amazed at how well he can figure out a problem and he loves solving puzzles.  He proudly lets us know every time he uses his brain.  Ok, not every time as we are fairly certain that it is always engaged.  Will has also taken a bit of an initiative to teach himself how to read.   He isn't reading, yet, but he loves getting his own special books to practice and can pick out certain words and works at sounding out others and just totally makes up the rest.  Though, I get the sense that when we really buckle down work at it, he will take off.

The next year will bring a few new things into Will's world.  We've signed him up for his first season of soccer, and after getting to practice once with the big kids, he can't wait to get started.  I'm pretty sure that within the year he'll be riding a two-wheeler without training wheels, too.  Oh!  And he is starting kindergarten this Fall!  Watch out world!

There are few things I enjoy more than listening to Will as he tells me or someone else about something he loves (generally Mario Brothers related).  It isn't so much the story, but the look on his face.  He has a huge smile on the entire telling and he keeps thinking of things that are vital to his story.  I also love his independence.  I will often find him doing a puzzle or making a race track all on his own.  As he has neared his birthday, he has also taken upon himself more chores because he is almost 5, but he couldn't do it when he was just 4.

He has been counting down to his birthday since April, so I will end this now to go celebrate with him.  Truth be told, he was just shaking from the excitement of opening his first present and delayed eating his birthday donut to put together his Solar System Puzzle (for ages 5+).  I love this kid! (Though a little of that nervous energy could have been from the claim his father made last night that he was getting dirt and rocks today...he was 99% sure we were joking, but there was still that chance....)

We love you William Thomas and thank God every day that you joined our family 5 years ago.  You make every day entertaining and exciting.  Seeing the world through your eyes is a gift that we all cherish.  Have a wonderful birthday and we look forward to celebrating many, many more with you!