Today is a momentous day in this house! Will has been working on this
book, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons," since last winter. Tonight he finally finished the last story - and
completed all 395 pages of lessons! He can read short stories in large
print, is beginning to understand punctuation and can now sound out
words like a champ. He's starting to be able to read packaging and signs
now as well. He has worked so hard (all of his own volition too. There
would be nights where I didn't feel like reading it with him and he
would beg me too) and has come so far. I am so proud of my little guy!
As a reward I let him pick out any book he wanted from amazon (and I
remember the days when all you could buy there was books!). Safe to
say we are both thrilled! 
We went to the zoo the other day and while there, he was climbing on this climbing structure (as he is often wont to do), and Nora proclaimed that Will is like a spider, because he can climb well. I relayed this comment to Will and asked him, "Will are you a spider?" Will responded, "No! I am not a spider because I cannot spray webs out of my butt! The only thing I can spray out of my butt is poop!" I will admit that I burst out laughing at this comment and all 3 of us giggled non-stop for a few minutes! 
Speaking of climbing, I was thinking about how active he is and just how fast all of that movement wears out his clothing and shoes. He goes through clothing and shoes at an alarming rate! We are lucky if pants last 2 months (they are often double patched and he'll still put holes around the patches until the patch falls off into a giant hole), and shoes last 3-4! He'll wear holes right into the soles of his shoes. I am always shocked when he'll tell me that his socks are getting wet and I look at his relatively new shoes and sure enough, the sole is practically gone! 
Lately Will has been really interested in nature shows, about both animals and natural events. In particular hes been partly fascinated and partly worried about volcanoes. He watches these documentaries about volcanoes on Netflix, utterly transfixed. He asks me all the time if our state has any volcanoes and if the ones we have will erupt any time. I've told him that there is always that possibility, but that its a low chance, and that even if they do, we would have advanced warning most likely. Its a daily conversation in this house and hes memorized all of these volcano facts and tells them to me whenever they pop into his head. Hes become a walking encyclopedia on volcanoes! 
In the last few years, even though he has a ton of energy, and loves to run, jump and climb non-stop, Will has been the world's laziest walker. He would walk half a block, and then complain about tired legs. It was so bad! This past spring and summer I made a concerted effort at making him walk more and longer distances (while I was heavily pregnant no less!) I don't know if its a result of my efforts, or his attitude just changed as hes been maturing, but all of a sudden he is a great little walker. We went on this 3 mile hike and both kids did the whole thing with no complaints. It was a miracle of epic proportions. Now we've been doing lots more neighborhood walks without the stroller (I put Daniel in the Ergo carrier) and its so nice to be able to walk freely without that contraption and 70lbs of kid in there! 
Speaking of walking, we did a lot of it at Halloween. The kids decided that they wanted to try and get as much candy as they could, and fill up their little bags. So we walked all around the neighborhood Halloween night. It was most funny to see Will and Nora, who are normally WAY too shy to knock on anyone's door (even friend's doors), walk firmly up to a stranger's door and pound on it in much the same way a beat cop would knock, while presenting you with a warrant to search the premises. They did get full bags though. Anything for candy!
Like any kid, Will has some eccentricities. He still likes to sniff the feet of his PJs as a comfort object, and he insists on wearing all of his clothes (including underwear!) inside out and backward on purpose, including shoes on the wrong feet. When you ask him about it, he says that he prefers it that way! If I don't have him fix them (and I only insist on him wearing things correctly when we are going out or hes going to school - otherwise I don't care too much), he will walk around all day like that! Funny guy! I swear he revels in being weird!Suddenly William has really been improving his math and mathematical reasoning skills. Just a couple of months ago he couldn't tell you what one plus one was. Then out of the blue he can do sums in his head. He has been shocking me on a daily basis! All 3 of these instances happened today:
1. He was watching cartoons and a commercial mentioned how a company had been in business for 20 years. About 2 seconds later Will quips, "Mom, that was 1997!" Wow, yes it was!
2. We were reading a book where they mentioned that a certain butterfly would stay in its chrysalis for 3 weeks. Will said, "thats 21 days!" Again, wow and yes!
3. We were driving and were on 145th street (we live on 91st st). Will said, "we have to go 54 blocks south to get home!" Cue jaw dropping!
Michael has never taught Will about this though, which is why it was so surprising the other night when Will pulled the same stunt out of the blue. I was putting Daniel to bed and Will wanted me to come into his room after Daniel was asleep, so that I could tell him a poem (our nightly routine). I told him that I would and he said that he would remind me. Sure enough I had forgotten all about that promise ten minutes later as I exited Daniel's room. As I walked down the hallway towards Will's room, I saw his sippy cup sitting in the middle of the hallway. This immediately reminded me that I needed to still tell Will his poem. When I asked Will about the cup, he said, "I put it there to remind you, mom!" Remember, Michael has never taught Will to do that. Apparently the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!
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