How is William. Well. He's BIG. I can't figure out if he grew over night, if it's a trick of the mind because he just seems so big with an itty bitty boy around, or if he became big just by becoming a big brother. In any case - he's a big kid now.
The month of may (and April and maybe march) proved to be a challenge for william. He had some behavior issues at school that spiraled down and it got to the point where Austin and I cringed taking him to school for fear of what report we would hear back. We still have no clue what started it all or what happened to spur the spiral, but it went fast and by the time I was on bed rest I was ready to find a new school. I had already started looking and getting recommendations from people but then bed rest kind of put a hold on that. The day before Charles was born William and I actually visited a place and I told her 'I'll talk to my husband and give you a call Monday'.
That didn't happen! But I did call later that week and in early June William started at a new preschool. It is a lot smaller, the environment and structure are both very different, and so far he really seems to be loving it. I wouldn't expect any big behavior problems this early, but with each passing day I grow more confident that the issue was either environmental or just dealt with a person/persons and we have hopefully removed all of that.
I struggled with the idea of moving him back in April when we first debated it. I didn't want him to think it was ok to just run away from problems and felt like we should work through it. But - he's 4, and that just wasn't going to happen.
In the end I am SO happy with the move. He's back to his happy, confident, secure self who loves going to school and is excited to play and see friends. wish I'd done it months ago, honestly.
As for being a big brother, he's better than I ever could have imagined. I knew he'd be helpful because he loves jobs and responsibilities, but I didn't know just how much he would adore Charles. He loves to give him kisses (nonstop!) and loves talking to him. His pride radiates when we go places - he constantly asks strangers, 'do you want to see my baby?'. I always wondered if he would get tired of people always wanting to talk about his baby brother but 9 times out of 10 he beats them to the punch. When people come over he is quick to say 'oh! Let me show you Charles!' And he always wants to be in on whatever we are doing with him.
He's still his quirky funny self, and the words that come out of his mouth still crack me up! Yesterday he weighed himself (like he does almost daily) then asked me if I could weigh myself. Before I could answer (with what would have been a resounding NO anyway) he said 'oh noooooo you can't! You'd break it!'
He is still working on the art of manipulation. Most of the time I can catch it, like the day he tried to tell me that we needed to read Charles bedtime books after he realized he had lost all of his due to behavior earlier in the day. But sometimes he gets one by me, like the day we picked Cici up from the airport. He asked me a few times if he could play octonauts on my phone and I kept saying no. 10 minutes later he said, 'mommy can I show Cici the Jesus loves me song I made on your phone?'
Why OF COURSE you can, my little sweet child who melts my heart each time he sings that song. Here, take the phone I repeatedly said you couldn't have and you show Cici that precious song. He did play the song for her and I grinned ear to ear. Then suddenly I realized I heard the theme song to octonauts. Oh, my child.
He's a ball-playing, bike riding, almost-reading 4 year old...it's like I blinked and he developed all of these skills. I can only imagine it goes even faster from here, so I better hang on tight!
Oh the Harvard shirt I got him! Love that little man!
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