Starting from the top...John

John Willis is four in every way. The brightest parts of his life right now are definitely his siblings and school. He adores his preschool and the amazing Ms. Martin, Ms. Nancy, Ms. Kim, and Ms. Jenny. This year they have had field trips to the fire station and the dentist (?).

John is talking a lot more these days though almost every sentence is missing at least one word. We have been taking a break from speech therapy, for several reasons (one being the baby). I know he still needs the therapy, but sometimes I don't know if he can handle more in his life right now. Soon we'll begin again...I'm already searching for a new SLP. John's teachers think he'll be ready for typical kindergarten in the fall but we haven't decided what to do about the next school year. He was born less than 12 hours before the cut off date so he could either be the very oldest or very youngest in his class. We're kicking around the idea of starting him in kindergarten next year with the option to have him repeat kindergarten or start first grade the following year. Only time will tell what will be best for him.

On the "Cars" slide at his school carnival. Last year he wouldn't get near this thing; this year he went down it at least a dozen times and said "I did it!'' after every slide.

Hava and David are John's buddies for sure. Hava copies everything John does--sometimes that's good, sometimes not--and will play whatever game he wants to play. David is comfortable with John (now Hava is anther story...) and seems to know that John thinks he's the best thing since Duplos. I'm glad that David has John for a big brother because he will always have a bigger kid around to look out for him and care for him.

John doesn't usually care about having his picture taken, but he often asks me to get the camera when he's holding David. Which is why a lot of the recent pictures of John look like this:

John is nearly obsessed with the alphabet, his name, his family and friend's names, and anything relating to letters and their sounds. He can write his name and isn't far from writing other letters too. His favorite hobby is testing the limits with mom, which requires a lot from me and makes me even more grateful for the times Billy is around to take over. Why are dads so much more intimidating than moms?

John loves to snuggle, have his back rubbed, ride his Razor, eat, talk very loud, color, cut papers into little pieces, help me cook, talk on the phone, play on the computer, and read books. No wonder we're both tired at the end of the day!