fearfully and wonderfully made...: william’s 3rd b-day

MY BABY BOY IS THE BIG 3!!!! Bill and I can hardly believe it! He's growing up so quickly! (But I'm thankful for the chub he still has in his cheeks and the dimples he still has on his hands, which are getting big, btw! That's pretty much the only "baby" that's left.) =(

William spent his b-day being sick. His molars are also coming in, so he's been having an especially difficult time sleeping. Poor baby was so miserable on his b-day. We just took him out for some noodles and then had some cake. It was very simple, but he loved it. This is the first year he was aware that it was his b-day. So he was really looking forward to it and being able to say that he's 3.

William is like a whole new person compared to where he was developmentally last year. His language has just taken off, and now that he's talking, he seems much older. It's still hard to understand him at times, but he can sing and has been learning the lyrics to some songs. It's so cute to hear him sing. He has much of his Bible memorized b/c we've read it hundreds of times. He likes to imitate things we say to Josiah, with a high-pitched voice like we use with Josiah. It's so funny hearing him say adult things. Sometimes it feels like we have a 13-year old b/c of the way he talks back or argues with us. He likes to negotiate or explain why he doesn't want to do something we ask him to do. =P Yes, we are working on that. =)

Our monkey is definitely much more independent (sometimes self-sufficient). He likes to do things on his own and sometimes doesn't like receiving help. So we've also been working on him gratefully receiving help from others.

He still is an awesome helper... very eager to help around the house with things whenever we ask. He still loves being outdoors, playing with balls or his cars, buses, trucks, and trains. The transportation vehicles remain his favorite things to play with. (When we're in the car, he always likes to point out the different kinds of cars he sees.) He loves playing on a slide Mema got him (that's in our basement), even though there's barely any room to play. (Our basement is cluttered with junk.) He still loves reading, but can listen to children's books now, rather than board books. One recent activity he's learned to do is putting jigsaw puzzles together. We only have a few, but he loves putting them together over and over again.

William's favorite foods are french fries, rolls, soy ice cream, cake, noodles, pretzels, teddy grahams, chips, fortune cookies, dumplings, and corn. (Wow... that's a lot of junk food!) =P

Potty update: William recently pooped in his potty again... something he hadn't done since Jan. So we are planning to start potty-training more seriously early next year. We wanted to get all the holidays out of the way so we could have a good, solid week to stay home and work on it.

We are loving our days with William, though some are definitely challenging. =) But we are incredibly blessed to be able to steward him, and we are so grateful for him. He brings such joy and fun to our days. =) We love him dearly!!! Here are some highlights from his special day...