Liam's 4th Birthday!

In some ways I can't believe our little boy is 4 years old. Other times I forget that he is only 4. I think he is really advanced for a little kid. Thanks to his daddy he has a great vocabulary and he is getting much better on his pronunciation. He makes a deliberate effort to use the correct sounds. He still would prefer to play by himself than with others and is learning to stand up for himself when playing with Julia. He is also kind of stubborn. He and Julia are getting to where they take delight in causing each other grief. Its really annoying to me. But I know they love each other, and they still play really well together a lot of the time. Liam's love for dinosaurs has waned and a new love for superheroes has superceded it. We miss the dinosaur talk, but enjoy watching Liam show off his super powers: Super Strength, and Super Speed! He loves to run and asks everyone to watch him and see how fast he can go. He also loves to show off his muscles and prove his strength by picking up whatever large objects are around.
He is so sweet. Liam consistently prays for "everyone on the whole earth" and tells us that he loves everyone on the whole earth. He loves to be a gentleman and hold doors for me. I just adore that sweet little kid. When I asked him what the best thing about being four is he told me, "Being bigger and faster, and being almost 5."

We had a fun Super Hero birthday party for him. He had quite a few friends come and play. We made capes and masks (which Liam wore all day and didn't want to take off at bed time, we compromised with letting him sleep holding it but not wearing it). We had a Super Hero training obstacle course that Mark creatively made. The kids had to "walk across rooftops" and over a barrel of toxic "radioactive goo," through a "sewer" etc... it was really cute. The kids also got squirt guns to shoot the bad guys. We had fun. it was better than you could expect a party full of 4 yr olds to turn out. Liam wanted to open his presents right away and I asked him to wait until after the games. He asked again a little bit later and I asked him to wait longer. Then he told me, "Its my birthday party and I can do what I want when I want to," so we opened the presents. Grandma and Grandpa Wainwright brought cousins Gary and Sara, and we also had Uncle Brandon and Aunt Valerie and Joshua and Seth. It was a fun weekend.