9 months

Johnny is 9 months old!  What?  It's all going by so fast.  At John's 9 month check up we learned that he is 18 lb. 4 oz. and 27 in.  He's hanging in at the 25%ile.  We also learned that he had a double ear infection!  Mom of the year right here, I had NO idea.  He was showing a few signs of fussiness here and there throughout the week---a few night wakings (which isn't abnormal), irritability and a runny nose.  I chalked it up to teething.  He never ran a fever and never pulled at his ears or screamed in pain. Poor baby.  So we left the appointment with a prescription and he had 10 days worth of antibiotics.  He's all better now.

This boy is undergoing more changes and trying hard to grow up.  As long as I am nearby of course.  I remain his favorite person, and I will enjoy it while I can because I know it will change.  His oldest brother hates it when Steven is working in the evening because then he can't play video games with him.  But I'll read books with him!  That's fun, right?  Anyway, little J hasn't started crawling yet, but I know the day is near.  He will go from sitting to reaching forward really far and end up on all fours.  He'll rock back and forth but lacks the confidence or strength (not sure which) to move forward.  He can push himself backward on his belly.  He's making moves and really trying to get to things that are out of his reach.  Won't be long.  And then look out Matt & Will 'cuz he's comin'!

Little Mister is finally getting the hang of finger foods and the art of chewing.  I was about to worry that the day would never come, but just over the last week or so he's figured out how to chew without gagging on his food.  And it is glorious.  He's realized that there is whole new world of food items that he can now explore, and he is eager to try it all out.  So that means that whenever anyone is eating anything he will make a loud "mmmmmmmm" noise until you share with him.  We were in Central Market yesterday and he got so mad at me because he couldn't have any of the samples that were being offered throughout the store.  Matt & Will were sipping on soda samples and chomping on tortilla chips, and he was turning red with rage.  Pretty funny.

Johnathan has been experimenting with his vocal cords as well.  Not surprisingly, he has followed suit with his brothers and babbled "dadadadadadada" over and over again.  Sometimes soft and sweet, sometimes loud and fast and sometimes slow and dramatic..."daaaaaaaaaaaaada." It's cuteness.  On the changing table he will sing so sweetly and play with his feet.

Basically, this boy is pure sweetness.  He's at a really fun stage right now.  I just want to bottle his little baby sweetness and keep it with me forever!  I can't squeeze him or kiss him enough these days.  I am in love, can you tell?

William

For William's birthday, we made the brave choice to get him a drum set.  Drumming is one of his very favorite activities, and he finds whatever materials he can and turns them into drums.  He drums on the desk with pencils, uses the drumsticks and drums on the pillows and his napmat, uses sticks to drum on empty plastic plant containers outside, etc....you name it, he'll turn it into a drum.

Well, he loved them.  He drummed all morning long loud and fast, slow and dramatic.

He drummed with such vigor, in fact, that he fell asleep in our bed.  I went to take a shower, and when I came out I found him asleep in our bed.  Crazy kid.

After he was refreshed, he drummed some more.  We have since moved the drums to his room, and he complains about it.  He wants to have an audience at all times while drumming.

We had a celebratory birthday dinner at Phil's Icehouse complete with ice cream.  How can this boy be 4?

At his 4 year check up we learned that Will is 28 lbs. and 35 in. tall.  He has grown over the course of the year, but he's still off the charts and charting his own curve.  He got two shots at that visit and took them like a man.  He looked at that nurse like how on earth could she hurt him like that, shed a few tears, then walked it off.  Such a big boy.

Recently, Will has really taken off on the Strider balance bike.  You may remember that that was his birthday present last year.  He liked it at first but then ended up sticking with his tricycle for the year and Matt dominated the Strider.  He made up his mind that he would ride it, and with a little practice he's gotten really good at it.  And he looks adorable riding the thing.  You should hear the reactions from passers by.  They of course probably think he's 2.  He scares me to death though because he loves to go careening down steep hills picking up ridiculous speed.
Check him out...

Some of Mr. William's favorites are:
Food: yogurt, cheese, applesauce
Movies: Cars, Cars 2, Incredibles, Despicable Me
Shirt: skateboards or his Yo Gabba Gabba shirt
Jammies: the ones with the race cars on them
Books: all the Pixar movies that are in Little Golden Book form (Cars, Nemo, Toy Story...), and he still loves all the old board books
Activities: racing and crashing cars on the couch, playing with the Lego superheroes, going to school and the gym, swinging, riding his bike, drumming, napping, annoying Matthew

Will is a sweet, sensitive, active, physical, intelligent little boy.  I get the most frustrated with him because sometimes I feel like he doesn't understand English---when I've made something as plain and simple as I can make it in terms that I know he can comprehend in that little cotton head.  For instance, we were at Academy the other afternoon, and he asked me, "Mommy, what we are doing today?"  I told him we were at Academy and then we were going to go home and have dinner.  "No!!!  Where we are going today?"  Well, we're here at Academy right now and then we're going home to have dinner, take a bath and go to bed.  Tomorrow is Henry's birthday.  "But where we are going today??"  Followed by tears.  Ugh.  Maybe I'm the one not understanding!  We have conversations like that all the time.  Basically, Will likes to be going places.  Except when I'm ready to get out the door and he's in the middle of some serious car crashing or Superhero reenactment.

This boy melts my heart.  Something about his tininess combined with big brown eyes and sweet expressiveness that gets me.  Every morning he says in the sweetest voice, "Good morning, Mommy!" and gives me a big hug.  He is empathetic and thoughtful.  He's a loving big brother to little J and adores him.  He's the perfect little brother for Matt...annoying, contrary, silly and fun.  What really gets Matt is when Will agrees to do a certain activity like race outside and then he changes his mind within seconds.  I swear he does it on purpose because it sends Matt through the roof.  Another favorite is when Will initiates a sword fight and then comes running to tell me that Matt hit him.  Yep.  It's a sword fight, you get hit, buddy.  He's our sweet William, and we love seeing his personality develop and look forward with excitement as to what the Lord has in store for this special boy.