William Anthony "Will", 3 1/2 years old

Is it hard for anyone else to believe that Will is getting close to 4 years old?!! Wow! What a fast 3 1/2 years it has been. He continues to be the sweetest little boy we could have ever asked for! We also continue to think he's the cutest little boy we've ever met (but we're a little biased) He's a good big brother to Sarah, and has really started to be more affectionate towards all of the animals. We feel very blessed to be his parents, and we are very proud of him!
Will started preschool last week. He is going 3 days a week for 4 hours. Over the summer, it became plainly obvious that he was bored out of his gourd, and more than ready to start going to school. Will's first day was last Wednesday. We were a little apprehensive about drop-off because Will has really never been dropped off with anyone other my parents in his entire 3 1/2 years...maybe 2 other times...Anyway, the procedure is for us to pull up behind the school, by the playground, and the teacher unbuckles them and gets them out of the car, and then we continue on our merry way. As a former preschool teacher, I actually think it is a great system, because you don't have the opportunity to have the long drawn out goodbye scene, which I think is harder on the kids and the parents. As Will's mom, I was a little worried about it because I knew it was going to be such an abrupt surprise for him. On the first day, he hopped right out and we drove off thinking all was well. Later, we found out that when we drove off, he had a little meltdown that lasted about 10 minutes. After that, he had a great day and seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself. On Friday, he had a meltdown as soon as the van door opened. They said it lasted 5 minutes and then he was fine. Monday morning, the screaming started as soon as we got in the van and pulled out of the garage. After asking to go back and pick up Daddy to ride with us in the van, he calmed down and the drop off actually went rather well. Today, GREAT! He was in a great mood on the way there, jumped out of the van, hung his bag up on the fence and off to play he went. So, I'd say 3 days for that kind of an adjustment is not bad. Now, I just hope it keeps up! He loves his teacher and so do we. We don't get much out of him at the end of the day. I think he takes after his father and is pretty much oblivious to the world around him. :) Not good for me when I want to know how things are going. I did email his teacher to make sure that, other than the drop off meltdowns, he was adjusting well to school, using his manners, being nice to the other kids, participating, etc. I expected her to write me back and tell me that he was doing fine and not to worry and that's about it. She wrote back the nicest email, and it made us so happy and so proud of him! He seems to be a pretty smart little boy, and he is very interested in learning, so I think school will be something that he will enjoy (at least for now) :). Here's a picture of Will on his way to his first day at "school"

Will continues to be an affectionate little boy. He still has a great sense of humor. Will also has the stubborn streak, and will freak out over the strangest and most ridiculous things sometimes. However, unlike his sister, he has always been fairly easy to reason with, calm down, or occasionally threaten with consequences. He has always had a very good understanding of consequences and that he didn't want any part of the bad ones. He cracks me up, because when he does get in trouble, his punishment is to go "put your nose in the corner". 9 times out of 10, if we tell him to go put his nose in the corner, he marches right over there and does it.

I am envisioning a different outcome with Sarah. I'm pretty sure we'll have to physically bring her to the corner (over and over and over again) before we get the appropriate length of time in. That is what I mean about what a sweet and cooperative little boy he is. He even cooperates when he is in trouble! Don't get me wrong, he has his moments, but they are definitely few and far between. He's such a sweetheart.
Will's use of the English language (sometimes way over his head) continues to to crack us up! Any of you who have spent any time around him will know what I'm talking about. In fact, one of the directors from his school came by the van today when I was waiting to pick him up and said that she passed by his room today at lunchtime and heard him say to someone, "that was quite annoying". She said it cracked her up. I just hope he doesn't say things like that too much or the humor in it is going to wear off. He is often saying to us, "Mommy/Daddy, you're amazing." One day, recently, when Stephen was talking to him about what people are called, for instance, "What is someone who swims called?" Answer: Swimmer "What is someone who paints called?" Answer: Painter. After answering a few of these, Will got quiet for a few minutes and then said "Daddy, you must be a knower because you know everything!" Hahahahah...thought that was very funny! I'll sum it up by saying that Will has a great vocabulary, isn't afraid to use it, and has quite the flair for the dramatic.
Will absolutely loves to play outside. He has especially gotten into "gloffing" thanks to the 2 little clubs my dad gave him. He is actually really good, and he loves it! Will still loves all things mechanical and tool related, and he is still very capable of turning just about anything he comes across into some type of a tool. He suddenly has a very strong interest in puzzles and is getting pretty good about understanding how to start a puzzle with quite a few pieces. I bought him an airport puzzle at a consignment sale recently that has about 40 pieces. I worked it with him once or twice, and since then, he has completely been able to do it by himself, mostly using his memory. He has a wonderful memory, recalling incidents and things he learned from even a couple years back. It never ceases to amaze us! Will loves to spend time with Stephen outside fixing things. Anytime Daddy is headed to his new shed (which he built, painted, and roofed!! It looks great!)

Will is right behind him! Lately, he has been helping Stephen fix the riding lawnmower. He has been going around telling everyone that "it was easy, it just needed a new carburetor" complete with a little shrug of the shoulders. No big deal! The only other thing that Will is really into right now, that I can think of, is painting. He has consistently told me that his favorite thing about school is "arting with paints" I'm just not quite ready to correct the verb yet. Once he's four, he'll have to drop the "arting" verb. :)
Well, I think that's all for now. I hope this was a good update on our sweet little boy. We love you, Will!

Sarah Emily, 21 months

All about Sarah...
It's hard to believe that Sarah is closing in on 2 years old already! It's even harder to believe that she is just about the age that her big brother was when she made her early entrance into the world. She is so sweet, and we cannot imagine what the last 2 years would have been like without her!
Some adjectives I would use to describe Sarah...sweet,STUBBORN adorable, STUBBORN, perceptive, STUBBORN, you get the picture...She has the most adorable little personality. She's a bit of a ham and is super friendly, always waving to everyone and telling them bye-bye no matter where we go. Sarah adores her big brother and copies EVERYTHING he does. She is going to be lost on the days that he goes to school. She also adores her Daddy and gives him the biggest "Hi, Daddy!" everytime he comes into the room. Sarah genuinely loves all of the animals, but is also not afraid to let them have it when they annoy her. Did I mention that Sarah is stubborn? Oh yes, she is, and has quite the temper to go along with it. She is not afraid to let out a blood curdling scream or throw herself on the floor in public if she thinks she is not getting something that she wants...it's great! Sometimes, it's so ridiculous that all we can do is laugh. Other times, it's not super funny. She's definitely a force to be reckoned with, and I have no clue where she got any of it...!? As much as she's not afraid to scream and let us have it, she absolutely does not like to be scolded. If either one of us, but particularly Stephen, raise our voices at her, she will poke out the bottom lip and collapse into the floor sobbing. It's a very sad scene, but it makes me feel better to know that she does have a conscience and genuinely wants to be good. Sarah is very affectionate. She loves to be held and cuddled, and she gives the best little hugs. She's a sweetheart and we're very lucky to have her!
Developmentally, she's plugging right along. She's still hovering between 95-100 percent on the height chart. She's showing a lot of interest in the potty and waking up pretty dry in the mornings, so I would not be surprised if she's potty trained by or around her 2nd birthday. I hope so! Much like her brother, she's a very good sleeper. She goes to bed at night without a peep at 7 and wakes up about 7 everyday taking, on average, a 2 hour nap everyday. Verbal communication has not always been her strong suit, adding to her frustration and temper issues, but she has really turned the corner in that department. She says or attempts to say everything we (especially Will) say and it has made life a lot easier around here. Not surprisingly, one of her favorite words right now is "No" with the emphasis on the "O" sounding much like she's from the midwestern section of the country. She also loves to point out "onald's" everytime we pass the golden arches on the road. Ironically, even though she did not have much of a vocabulary early on, she almost always spoke in 2-3 word sentences ("I want that") Her sentences have gotten much more interesting lately :) Sarah is also very good about saying "Please" and "Dink you" Sarah eats just about everything we eat with little or no complaining, and she LOVES her juice (1/8 juice and the rest is water) so I guess I should say she just likes liquids. Sarah loves to play with her toys. She will sit down and play quietly by herself for long periods of time (something that Will never liked to do), and she really likes to play outside, especially in the swing. Sarah is an absolute joy to have around, and I hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse into her world.