5.5

John Willis is 5.5! He is maturing quickly. Often, Billy and I wonder what he's thinking about now that he's past the preschool age of say everything you're thinking right when you think it. Not that John doesn't talk (he talks all day!), but I can tell he is becoming introspective and really trying to understand the world. At least as much as you can when you're five-and-a-half.

* John's passions in life are playing, food, and his Dad. Not necessarily in that order. The boy plays from the moment he wakes up until the moment I finally convince him to rest. He likes to read books with us, or watch an occasional movie, or rarely just snuggle...but mainly he loves to play, play, play.

* This kid is so ready for kindergarten. His speech is improving every day (he gets speech therapy at our neighborhood school twice a week), his confidence is growing, and he has a good grasp on the social and academic concepts he'll need to start kindergarten. I'm a little nervous about it, but he's very excited--it doesn't hurt that he'll be six inches taller (and as much as a year older) than the other kids.

* John is an excellent older brother. His siblings are lucky bums, for sure. He is selfless in his love and care for them and is constantly looking out for them (except he does love to pour water on Hava's face in the bath. sigh. I guess no one's perfect.).

We love you, John boy!

3.5

My sweet Hava Joy is 3.5! She says the funniest things every day and brings us so much JOY!

* Havilah's favorite things include reading books with Mom and Dad (she regularly sits for an hour at a time doing this--long after her brothers have moved on), making a mess, eating all kinds of food, playing outside, and being with other kids around her age.

* These two are joined at the hip. In fact, I wasn't really sure I could post about Havilah without at least mentioning her brother's name. Havilah's world revolves around John in so many ways. We are curious to see how she grows and develops when he enters kindergarten in August. For now, they are together 24/7 and that is a positive thing 23.5/7 (the other .5? That's when she complains "Mom! He's not obeying me!!")

* Havilah relishes messes. (Remember the sugar?) Someday she may be a neat freak, but these days she positively enjoys getting mud in her hair, getting scraped up from climbing the lemon tree, and on this particular occasion...rolling a "poop ball" for an invisible dung beetle, naturally.

* Hava loves to be barefoot. She takes her shoes off every time she gets the chance. Here's her bare foot at the Mariners' spring training game we went to recently--her shoes were in another row, where she had kicked them off.

* She is steadily learning to control those passionate emotions that make life with Hava a bit like riding a roller coaster. But when she's happy (and usually she is), she lights up our home with her smile.

I'm so glad to have this precious daughter!

1.5

David is 19 months old today--here is his 1.5 year old update (only a month behind!):

* David is Mr. Independent. If he can possibly do it by himself, he would like to do it by himself. This includes feeding, putting on his shoes, washing up, and lately--using the potty chair. An independent third child is a beautiful thing indeed.

* David is not speaking. Unless you count "Daddy" which I do, but barely. The pediatrician was concerned (it's her job to be concerned, I swear) so we had a state Early Intervention child development specialist and a speech therapist come to "evaluate" David. Their conclusion was that David is on target/advanced in his development and that he is not interested in talking like a baby so he'll probably start speaking once he's able to get full sentences out. That would not surprise me. Even if that's not the case, we don't see any signs of a speech disorder (thank you, Lord!).

* David thinks he's as big as John and Hava, and should be able to do everything they do. This can have interesting results. However, when it comes to potty training, I'm glad to have him be in a rush to grow up (nap time, on the other hand, is a different story).

* The kid is a charmer. Such a smile! He looks the most like Billy to me--maybe that's why I'm a sucker for his sweet little face.

* David's favorite things include food (all kinds, except meat), playing outside, Cutie (good gracious, that girl has been around a long time), anything John and Hava are doing, greeting Daddy when he comes home, EATING, playing in the church nursery, BATHS, and sometimes snuggling. My favorite is snuggling.

Love this kid!