NC meets SD: William: Four Years!

I'm not sure what the "official" title for a four-year-old is, but I'm pretty sure "toddler" is no longer applicable. At least not for William. Which is scary, because I'm pretty sure the next step is "kid"--and I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Although he certainly seems to be.

All dressed up for my good friend's wedding!

Despite a few bouts with stomach bugs over the past year (seriously--it seems like we've dealt with one of those almost every month), William maintained a weight near the fiftieth percentile, weighing in at 35.5 pounds. At 3 feet, 3.5 inches, he's down to the twentieth percentile for height, which seriously makes me wonder where he's hiding all his weight. The kid is lean (not for lack of eating, mind you!), and you would never guess that he's carrying an average weight on a smaller than average frame. As a result, we only recently starting replacing his 3T clothing with 4T items, although most of his 3T bottoms still fit better around his waist (especially true for shorts since we don't have to worry about length!). In fact, we recently bought his swimsuits for the summer, and ended up with a 4T shirt and 2T bottoms. Go figure.

Happy boy at the beach

William continues to be a pretty good sleeper, although we ended up having to buy a clock for his room because we realized nap time and bed time would go much more smoothly if we could give him a number on the clock that the lights had to be turned out by. It's also been nice in the mornings on the (somewhat rare) occasions that he gets up really early; we tell him that he has to stay in his room and read until a certain time and he's usually pretty good about doing that. A few weeks before his birthday (right around Daylight Savings Time, actually) William pretty much dropped his nap for good, but thankfully he's still really good about reading and having quiet time (which is good, because this Momma isn't ready to give that up with another baby coming this fall!). As a result, he's been going down really easily at bedtime (currently around eight) and almost always sleeps until at least seven, if not a little later. Fingers crossed those habits keep up.

Having fun on our family camping outing

I feel like at this point talking about food preferences for William is a moot point; he likes food and that's pretty much the end of the conversation. I'm not even kidding when I say William tells people "I like all food" when they ask what his favorite food is. I've heard stories from other parents about their kids becoming pickier eaters after they start school because they "learn" from their peers that certain foods are supposed to be "gross", but thankfully we have a while before we have to start worrying about that.

Nothing beats a scoop of peanut butter straight out of the jar

Although William still prefers to have me (or Darrell) help with many of his daily, independent tasks (such as brushing his teeth and getting dressed), he can do most of those things on his own. He's also really good about remembering to do things that have been told to him in the past--things likes turning off the lights when he leaves a room and putting his shoes away in the closet when we get home. Oh, and I suppose it would be fitting to mention here that he is fully potty trained--during the day, at least. We tackled that about a month after his third birthday, and after the three accidents he had the first two days, he's probably only had four or five more (and thankfully, they were all at home and all just pee). I took a bunch of notes and meant to do a blog post about what we did, although maybe at this point I'll just wait until we potty train Garrett and do a joint post. He's also started some independent activities (Sunday School, gymnastics, swim lessons) and it's been fun to watch him grow in those environments and follow the directions of another adult without Mom or Dad right by his side.

While his days at Vacation Bible School went well--his first "solo" activity--he got a little nervous when it was time for the performance at the end of the week. He may not have sang or done any of the motions, but at least he stayed up there the whole time!

Since this is my blog and William is my favorite oldest child, I'm going to brag on him a little bit--which is not something I do very often. Even though he probably deserves it. Sometime late last summer (just shy of 3.5 years), William read something to me. We were driving in downtown, and all of the sudden I heard from the backseat "Mom, why does that sign say 'one way'"? My jaw pretty much hit the floor, although I quickly shook it off and assumed that he just recognized those words from stories we've read. Well, after a few months of similar incidents, I finally accepted that maybe he actually was reading for real. And that's only become more and more apparent. Darrell and I have to be careful reading stories now, because he'll follow along with us and correct us if we read the wrong word or accidently switch a few words around. His ability to sound out unfamiliar words isn't exactly spectacular, but he knows enough words that he can read most toddler-level books (like Mercer Mayer's Little Critter stories) with about 85% accuracy--even if it's the first time he's seen the book. He's also gotten pretty good at writing his name (and even the whole alphabet), although the letter sizes are usually pretty inconsistent. And while I don't make it a point to "quiz" him on his skills, we were reading a counting book a few months ago and he counted the items up to fifty pretty easily and made it up to one hundred with only a handful of errors.

Excited to get his story bible at church

Because being a brother is such a huge part of his life, I would be remiss not to address his relationship with Garrett. And guys--it's awesome. Sure, they're brothers and have their fair share of fights and squabbles, but watching William as a big brother has just been incredible. He is Garrett's biggest cheerleader and biggest teacher. He gets excited when Garrett does something well ("Good job Garrett!"), he is supportive of Garrett when he is trying new things/learning new words ("That's a good try Garrett"), and he can be very patient when showing Garrett how to do something new. He's also really good with his younger cousins, so I'm excited to see him as a big brother again this fall (although he seems to have a preference for male babies; he definitely favors his male cousins over his female cousins and he tells everyone that the baby in my belly is a boy, so it will be really interesting to see what happens if it ends up being a girl). It's also really fun to listen to the boys talk to each other; Garrett talks well enough that the two can actually carry on a pretty decent conversation and it's usually pretty entertaining.

Enjoying a little fun on a mild late winter day

All that sweet big brother stuff aside, I do see a few oldest child traits in William that I don't particularly love (and that remind me a lot of my childhood with my older sister). William has a tendency to be a little bossy, and he definitely likes things to be done a particular way. Which means that when he and Garrett are playing together he spends the majority of the time telling Garrett how to do it the "right" (aka his) way and getting mad (to the point of full-fledged tantrums) if Garrett doesn't follow suit. It's definitely something we're working on.

Fun at the lake!

Even though William is growing up way too fast, I'm really enjoying the child he is turning into--although I do cherish the moments when he is still my "baby". And I can usually count on a few of those baby moments first thing in the morning and after the (rare) nap when he is apt to be in a very cuddly mood. He's also gotten very sweet with saying "I love you", although there's a little bit of a routine we have to follow--I have to say "thank you" after he says "I love you too" so that he can say "you're welcome".