On being 4 1/2

Ah Will – my sweet, sensitive boy. It can be so hard being almost 5. He is having a little bit of a rough time at school these days. His super best friend has found the company of other kids in class and doesn’t always want to play just with Will anymore. This is heartbreaking to my little boy. He is a really big hearted kid who makes sure everyone gets invited to join in with whatever he and his little crew are doing. But conversely, he gets SO crushed when one of his friends tell him they don’t want to play with him that day. And oh, its just the beginning of all of this and kids, they can be so mean. I see things in him and they make me so proud and worry for him all at the same time. Dan and I are trying to explain the whole friend thing and how you don’t have to play with the same people all the time, and can still be friends with them. He just seems insecure in it already. Dan and I were talking about it and in looking back I think there were times that both of us really felt that way. I hope as gets older he deals with it more like Dan did than how I did.

Growing up Dan would deal with that insecurity by just becoming the “cruise director” and making his own group rather than trying to fit into one already in existence. He’s good at it – it’s very easy to jump on board with what he has planned. I spent too much time feeling like I never quite fit into the group I was a part of. Not in a huge way, just slightly off and always just a little insecure that they would figure out that I was seriously not enough (cool, smart, talented, pretty, whatever) and everything would unravel from there.

Eventually I got to where Dan is though – people have told me that I kind of “collect” good people into my life and then share them with each other so everyone can be friends. This is probably fairly accurate, if a little cheesy. But I know I don't have those same feelings of insecurity the same way I used to. I think what I mean to say is that I know that I have found “My People”. These people that are my people… some I have known my whole life, others for only a little while. Some I talk to almost every day and some I’ve gotten the opportunity to reconnect with after many years. They live here in town and in Iowa and Minnesota and Michigan and New Mexico…but they are in my life and are my people. They have been with me for of some of the best and worst times in my life. I am so very lucky to have that. And I hope that Will can find that without too much heartache along the way. I would love to spare him some of that heartache, even if I know I can’t.

However, right now he is still my 4 1/2 year-old Will. And despite some of the current difficulties, the kid cracks me up. When we were at the zoo the other day he walked up to Dan and said:

"Daddy, Polar bears eat people. But I tell you what, I would NOT eat people”

Good to know he’s got that figured out at least.

Viral Video

Apparently I'm late to the game on this one (11 million+ views already) but this is super cute. Totally worth watching even if you've already seen it.

Homework

We have the boys in a daycare that we love. LOVE. Will used to go to a different one, but we were fortunate to be able to make the move to where they are now when he turned 3. (totally a fantastic story for another day) However, they are very organized. And I...am not. I used to be! Really! And then the Cancer and the Baby and the Sleep deprivation and the baby and now I can't keep track of anything to save my life. I have been finding myself re-writing the same lists over and over because I can't remember where I put the last one, and I was sure there was something I was supposed to do...

Anyway, with School. They send home letters from the teacher every once in a while - with, you know, things they want us to know, things the kids should be bringing in to the classroom. Most of the time those get read by us...and sometimes not. But this week, we got one and there was a homework assignment. Homework? Seriously? Already? Not to have a bad attitude about it already, but seriously. Will (aka Dan and I) were to type up an autobiography dictated by Will. They will be sharing these with the class tomorrow - but I thought I would share it here with you. So, Will "wrote" this entire autobiography:

My Story
by Will

My Name is Will. I live in a white house with my mommy and daddy and I love them. I also live with Henry, my little brother. I am 4 1/2 and he is 1. I like to play with Henry, have light-saber fights with my daddy, drawings pictures, watching movies and having snuggles with Mommy.

The End.

I don't think it is possible for me to love this kid any more than I do right now.

Photoblog: Random Winter 2009

My hope is some day to get these all into appropriate albums with the rest of the corresponding pictures from all of these events. But let's be honest...it doesn't seem very likely these days. Life has been good - but very busy. While Henry isn't walking yet, he is on the move. And that kid? He moves a lot more than his older brother did at this age. Also? still not so big on the sleeping. He just doesn't really like napping - I have tried debating with him the finer points of why napping is a good thing, but he usually wins with the screaming. But it is getting better at night - and that has to be a good thing all around.

In the last couple of months, we have had two birthdays, a few large gatherings, a beach trip, a weekend sleepover at a friend's house (that was me and the kids - while Dan was getting his drink on in a pub tour between here and San Francisco), and a visit from Nana. It has been an unusually busy late Winter/Spring and it has been really wonderful. Below are some of my favorites from the last 3 months and the rest of the random favorites are here - Winter 2009

Examples of things Will says now that I am going to miss as he gets older:

I think I do not like that tone of voice Mama. I may have to take away your book privileges.

***

Hey Will – I totally love you!
Hey Mama – I told you (what he thinks we are saying when we say totally) I love you too.

***
30 days?!? That’s like 100.
Well not really bud, 30 is a number and 100 is a different number
No Mama. I said 30 is 100. ONE HUN-DRED.

***
Mama!! I did not know you were this powerful a Jedi!

***
So, um, we are reading a chapter book at school about a twister. And Annie and Jack are in it and they try to escape to the serrerrr.

The serrerrr?

Um, yes. The serrerrrrr.

Do you mean the cellar?

Yes, that is what I said.