Willem Jay Mowery - 7!

It's a "mom" maxim: middle names are for when you're in trouble.
Your full name?  Triple trouble.

But "Willem Jay Mowery" is how Nathan refers to his older brother, always, constantly, from breakfast to bedtime prayer, only it comes out fast and a tad muffled in Nathan's slightly higher key:

"Where WiumJayMaui?"
"Look at me, WiumJayMaui!"
"WiumJayMaui stole my LEGO!"
"Father in Heaven, thank for Dad, Mom, Leah, WiumJayMaui, Mawee, Eli..."

Maybe Nathan figures that when it comes to Will, it's always that urgent.  (And it usually is.)

It used to be that when the doctor or the cashier at the grocery store or the old man at the park would ask our kids' names, they always had trouble with Will's name.  "Oh, Will-yum," they'd say hesitantly.  And I'd just let it be.  But ever since His Royal Highness Willem-Alexander became King of the Netherlands a while back, it goes more like this:
"Oh! Willem!?  Like King Willem?"
Yep.  Like that.

Only this Willem is:

King of LEGO-Building...
King of "Let's Go Fishing at North Lake Park"...
King of Paper-Airplane Folding...
King of 1,000 Reasons I Don't Have to Practice My Piano Today...
King of 1,000 Plastic Containers of Nightcrawlers in the Refrigerator...
King of 1,000 Plastic Containers of Insects in the Freezer...
King of Not Wanting to Get Out of Bed in the Morning...
King of Crafting Things out of Cardboard, Styrofoam, Wood, Nails, Screws, Sticks, Leaves, Trash...
King of Pedaling His Bike Like a Madman...
King of Cheese-Grating, Hamburger-Browning, Vegetable-Peeling...
King of Checking Out Library Books About 1) Airplanes.  2) War.  3) Airplanes and War...
King of Sneezing at the Breakfast Table...
King of "What Ifs" at the Supper Table...
King of the Calculator While Grocery Shopping (the only way to keep him from becoming King of Driving Mom Crazy While Grocery Shopping)...
King of Leaving His Loose Teeth in His Mouth Until They Fall Out and Are Swallowed While He is Sleeping...
King of Getting His Bedroom Ready for Morning "Room-Check" in 1-Minute Flat...

There are times when Will melts my heart.  Usually I'm too worn out for his sweet smile to do a number on me, but every now and then...  ;-)  The other night I was wiped out and helping him get ready for bed. Not a good combination.  While Will located his pjs, I picked a Chick-Fil-A meal "toy" from earlier this summer off the floor - a little booklet entitled "My Favorite Things." Most of the pages were still blank.  But on one page Will had drawn a smiling woman with a lopsided triangle for a skirt and a stringy pony-tail sticking out of one side of her head.  Beneath the picture was printed "My Favorite Place:  _________."  In the blank our beginning reader scrawled, "MOM."

Happy Birthday, Will!
Dad and I thank God for you.
(And I'm thankful that, for now, I'm still your favorite "place."  :-)
Love,
Mom