An Update on Will

The girls turned 7 weeks old yesterday and are starting to wake up more and more, making adorable faces. They are both starting to pay attention to faces more and have mimicked us sticking our tongue out. But, instead of a post about them right now, I thought it was time to give their brother some space on the blog again. :-)

At almost 3 1/2, Will is just a bundle of energy and personality. He is very outgoing and loves to run, run, run. He is also very good at communication, and Daddy and I have to remember that he does understand everything. There is a lot of spelling or quiet talking going on around here when we are talking about something we don't want him to hear. I think the only thing left in communication that he doesn't really understand is time. He knows today, tomorrow and yesterday, but concepts beyond that are difficult for him. So its hard to tell him that the new Toy Story movie comes out in a few weeks or Halloween is months away (lately he has been saying "when it gets dark, its Halloween" - he finished his Easter basket so I guess he is looking for more candy to collect again).

Many of his adorable phrases are disappearing - the ones where he says things wrong and its just terribly cute. Like, if you got really mad at him, he would say "I feel you better" and give you a hug. Or called a helicopter a "hockadoctor" - I think he still does that actually. To get up from the table at dinner, he is just starting to say the whole phrase "may I be excused" when, for a long time, he asked "Be I'm excused??". Now he has whole conversations with you or observations that are just amazing to hear and see through the eyes of a 3-year-old. He picks up on everything and will remember it.

Will loves to sing and, as his ability to understand has gotten better, so has his ability to remember all the words to songs. I love to hear him sing the songs that he learns at day care. That really is my favorite thing to get him to do - sing a song and dance.

Will's bedtime routine REALLY stinks though. I don't know what his problem is, although I have talked to many moms who have said that their 3 year olds went through this phase. I sure hope its just a phase. Before the twins were even born, Will stopped going to sleep at a decent hour. We still do the same routine every night - bath, brush teeth and pajamas, read books, snuggle for a minute and then lights out. But now, whether you do it at 7pm or 9pm, Will will Not. Go. To. Sleep! It kills me sometimes. He is up until 10 or 11. On at least a couple occasions, he was up till 12. We still lock his door because he refuses to stay in his bed or his room. So, he has taken to turning on his light, playing with his toys, leaping off of furniture (yes, leaping) .... I removed all of his toys and he STILL turns that light on and finds things to do. Anyway, this is the most frustrating thing right now of Will's age. The past 3 nights he did go to sleep without being a wild thing in his room and requiring us to go back to his room after lights out. I can only hope it might end soon. I think a large part of it is that he is ready to cut out his nap - he just gets a second wind at 7pm or so and doesn't want to go to sleep. (We cut it out on Saturday and Sunday to success those nights.) But there is nothing I can do about that because he goes to day care where they schedule naps until he is in the 4 year old classroom -- another 1 1/2 years!!! :-(

Will is super sweet around his sisters. He can tell them apart with ease and loves to give them kisses or hugs. I love to watch him interact with them. Sometimes, he can be a little rough - so you have to watch that he doesn't pat their head to hard or try to squeeze them in a bear hug. Sometimes, he wants very much to help. A week or so ago, Catie just started crying out of the blue while I was playing with her on the floor. Ellis and I wondered out loud what was wrong, and Will jumped up, proudly said that he knew what the problem was and that she just wanted her paci. He found one in the crib and promptly stuck it in Catie's mouth. When she stopped crying, he just beamed with pride.

He is handling being a big brother pretty well. Ellis and I make a very concerted effort to try not to ignore him and make sure he gets Mommy and Daddy attention too. He lashes out with bad behavior against me occasionally, which I know is a sign of him being upset with my spending so much time with the girls. He also shows his jealousy in really sweet ways -he constantly wants to give me hugs or kisses or tells me he loves me, especially if I am holding one of the babies or feeding them.

Will's favorite toy is still Buzz Lightyear - hands down. He has rather destroyed the big toy Buzz he got for Christmas, but he still loves to play with it. He has lots of other Buzz toys of various shapes and sizes, Buzz shirts and underwear, a Buzz scooter, a Buzz bed and table at Bapa and Grandma's ... you get the idea. He is just starting to really get into superheros and Batman, which I imagine will be the next stage. Every night, when its time for bath, he would point to Ellis and say "you're Zurg (the bad guy in Buzz world) and I'm Buzz." Then, they would recite the lines from the movie with Ellis saying "So Buzz Lightyear, we meet again. For the last time." and Will would respond "Not today Zurg". And they would run up the stairs with Ellis chasing him. Only recently, Will has announced that he is Batman and Ellis is Robin and they would run up to the "batcave" (Will's bed).

Will is pretty much potty trained. Sometimes, he puts up a fight with us and refuses to go potty when its been a while and we know he has to pee. And then he has an accident shortly thereafter. That is the most frustrating. But he has very few accidents now. (He is wearing a pull-up for naptime and bedtime still.)

He is a handful, but a wonderful, awesome handful to have!! :-)

These are some pictures of Will at a local fair before the girls came home:

Below is a picture of one of my favorite things to do with Will - cuddle up on the couch in the morning while he watches his morning cartoons. (I was catching some much needed zzz's this time.)

Here is Will on his Buzz scooter. He is just starting to figure out how to do it on his own. He still has trouble self-operating his scooter and tricycle.

Will pretending to be Woody (from Toy Story). Can you guess who is the horse??

And some recent pictures of Will: