A letter to the birthday boy

Dear Will:

Yesterday you turned FOUR! You woke up to a pile of presents on the sofa and the whole day sped by in a whirlwind of Will-ness. You had a birthday party at the local fire station and you spent the rest of the day moving from new toy to new toy with barely a breath in between. You were pretty excited to unwrap two boxes of 'big boy' legos and I'm afraid your trusty Duplos will gather dust until Reina decides that they are interesting.

So, you are four. You asked me last night what you'll get to do now that you are four. Well, it won't be kindergarten or learner's permit time quite yet, but you are already showing us all of the fun things that come along with four. You love hypothetical questions and you bombard us with them every time we get in the car. Topics range from the mundane to the existential. "Mom, what would happen if we didn't have bones?" "What would happen if there wasn't a morning?"

You are getting really interested in words. I can't drive down the street without you asking me what something 'says'. You ask us to read books, magazines, road signs and the warning labels on medicine bottles. Just today you decided to be interested in what letters sound like. T is for Target, tiger, turkey, tomorrow, etc. You have an inquisitive mind (if it's something that you are interested in) and I can practically see the wheels turning in your brain as you work to figure something out. A few weeks ago you drew your first drawing of our family and it was fun to see us through your eyes (I was really tall and thin - thanks for that!).

Will, you are a really great big brother. You are getting more and more patient with Reina and you include her in your games a lot more lately. Seeing you two play together really makes me and your dad happy. Not that everything is rosy all the time. You two screech at each other and you are quick to tell me when Reina is messing with your stuff/bothering you/refusing your commands. But your teachers tell me that when you see each other at school, there are hugs all around (even through the fence of the playground). Don't tell her that I told you so, but Reina adores her Bobo. She mimics everything you say and giggles when you are being an imp at the dinner table. I already feel sorry for the first girl who treats you poorly, she's going to feel the wrath of Reina.

One last anecdote to wrap up your birthday weekend. On St. Patrick's Day, at dinnertime, you told us all about a leprechaun hunt that you had at school that day. You told us how the leprechaun turned all the chairs upside down, made the milk turn green but you drank it anyway and how you and your classmates set a trap for the leprechaun but all you found were chocolate coins. You confidently told us, "We didn't find the leprechaun. But if we did, I was going to shoot him and show him to my friends."

Happy birthday Wyoming boy. We love you very much!