Will's Birthday

I've been ignoring the blog because I've let so many pictures pile up--because of that, these next few posts will be a little out of order.

Will's fourth birthday was last month, and because of busy work schedules, I opted to let him celebrate with a pizza lunch with his classmates.  He wanted a dinosaur cake and a dinosaur theme (of course!), so this was the invitation we sent out to his class:

I found a dinosaur cake design by Betty Crocker online that seemed easy enough, and checked with Will to make sure he thought it was sufficiently "bad" to work as his birthday cake.  (He doesn't like cute dinosaurs, only bad ones.)  Here is the final result:

Will celebrating with his classmates:

Will was invited to a birthday party for one of his classmates on his actual birthday.  He had a fantastic time playing with his friends, jumping in the bounce house, and riding a horse!

When we got into the car, Will said, "Mama, that surely was fun!"  After a loooong nap and after John got home from work, Will opened his gifts.  We gave him a bike (he's doing really well riding on it), and he received lots of dino-themed gifts from the family.

We went to Tijuana Flats for dinner and then went to a Daytona Cubs game--kids only lasted about 2 innings.

Will, at 4 years old:

• Loves dinosaurs!  He loves to play with dinosaurs, draw dinosaurs, and read about dinosaurs, and spends most of his time being a dinosaur.  He also likes dragons, snakes, and anything "bad."  He abhors princesses and anything he considers "cute."
• Loves to read books.  His favorites are "The Lost Dinosaur Bone," "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," and a collection of Dinosaur Detective stories.
• Weighs about 40 pounds and is about 42 inches tall.  He wears size 4 and 5 clothes, and has big feet (he's wearing about a size 12 or 12.5 shoe).
• Has a love-hate relationship with his sister.  He will play with her sometimes and gives her hugs, but mostly complains about her.  Lately, he's stopped calling her by her name and refers to her as "that baby."  As in, "That baby is messing up my blocks!" and "That baby is making a mess!"
• Is a perfectionist.  He enjoys coloring, but gets very upset when he makes an error or if he can't make the picture look exactly the way he wants it to.  This can be a little trying for all of us.
• Knows his letters, can write his name (although usually writes it backwards), and knows his numbers (more or less) up to about 30.
• Takes a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoons, although we often skip that lately.  He is still waking up frequently at night asking to be tucked back in, often associated with some fears or nightmares.  (Probably a result of spending so much time playing with snakes and dragons.)
• Is quite sassy and talking back--a new development over the last few months.  (I'm just "keeping it real"--I'm hoping that one day he'll be a well-behaved boy and I'll look back at these entries and laugh--I hope...)
• Gives great hugs (dinosaurs love hugs, but wipe off kisses).  Just when I'm totally out of patience with him, he'll do something sweet--his saving grace.  :-)

Looking over these entries, I realize there are a lot of negatives as well as positives  It's definitely been a struggle with him this past year, and I really hope there are easier times ahead--mostly hoping that his strong will turns out to be an asset in the future, even though it is driving us nuts now!