William's Second Birthday

Well, I wonder in future years if William will ever get his "own" birthday post again, or will he always share it with #5? Anyhow, let's see what I can do for now as far as a recap of his birthday and his little life. We had a campfire with hot dogs for his birthday and then came in and ate chocolate cake and opened his gifts. Mom and Dad Boehler were here for the celebration and they gave him a stick horse for his present. We got him the cowboy hat to match. (We even had a cake in the shape of a horseshoe :-)) Being the fourth child, it not being one of our "big party" years for him (those are your first birthday, the 5th, the 10th, the 13th, etc,) it was a pretty low key party, but he had a great time. He really didn't care that his cowboy hat from Mommy and Daddy came double-bagged in plastic Walmart shopping bags. He started out the day being rather offended when anyone wanted to sing him "Happy Birthday" but finally it dawned on him that it was a good thing, and then he joined in singing for himself rather heartily.

As for a little broader description of William . . . he has several nicknames: Iam, Wee, The Wee Um, and Little Man are the ones that come to mind first. He loves to rock in his crib, getting up on all fours and swaying back and forth and making the crib knock up against the wall. He used to like rocking similarly in his high chair, just throwing his head back, but then we got an all-wood high chair . . . William loves his siblings. Fights the least with Katherine and the most with Jane. He loves to be "helpful" throwing things in the trash for me, sweeping with the broom, picking things up off the floor, etc. In fact, he gets rather offended if his offers of help are refused. William seems the most bent toward books at a young age of all the children. I will regularly find him with a pile of books stacked next to him on a chair as he spends 5 or 10 minutes looking through them. He is quite the talker. He has just recently started putting sentences together. Examples: Jane pushed me. Jane hit me. Jane pinched me. Jane, please stop. William is very insistent at being understood as well. He is not content to babble incoherently. He will keep repeating a word until you can repeat back the correct word he is trying to communicate. For instance the other day we were on the way to church and we thought he was saying "Jane" and we kept answering, "Yes, Jane is in the back seat." He was getting more and more frustrated until we noticed the train outside the window and realized that he was pointing out the "train", not "Jane." Then he was content. William has learned all the tricks of the trade for prolonging the bed-time routine. He will drink his milk VERY slowly, and then stop until Bo or I ask him if he is finished and ready for bed, then he "rediscovers" his milk with renewed interest. He also wants to kiss everyone good night, then he wants a song, etc. We humor him most of the time. I think that he is in for a rude awakening with #5 arriving soon. He has been the baby for two years now, and it is going to be an dramatic change, but one that is good for him. He is a very sweet boy, but like all children, is in much need of a guiding hand and a regenerated heart. We pray that God would grant him a saving knowlege of Jesus very early in his life and that William's love of books and communication in general will be used to teach him and to communicate to others the wonders of God's grace in his life.

The pictures are pretty self-explanatory, so I'll let them speak for themselves.