Before Porter was born, it was really important to me to create a book that celebrated our life as a family of four. After all, we’d had almost four years together, and Porter was going to change our dynamic quite a bit. There wasn’t such urgency with Seamus and Gilbert because we’d only had Seamus a mere 16 months before Gilbert crashed the party! I wanted to make another one to celebrate our time with Porter as the baby. It’s been really fun to look back over the last 19 months because, wow! there’s a lot of stuff I’ve forgotten…mostly to do with how much the older boys have grown in the last year and a half. Seamus can read, can play games by himself, loves to think. Gilbert can read a little too, is always paying attention to what’s going on around him, and can fix pretty much any toy in the house, if he’s motivated to. The changes wrought in Porter are obvious–he walks, talks a little, feeds himself, has opinions, etc.
Yesterday, Patrick fixed up the balance bike for Porter. He is so excited to have his own bicycle. He likes this toy in the picture below, but it’s not a bike. And he knows it. Funny story on this thing…we were coming home from swim lessons a few weeks ago, and Gilbert spotted this toy on the curb. He yelled, “A toy for Porter!” So I pulled over, and as it was 20 degrees out, I asked if he wanted to take it home for Porter. He insisted. I said, “Well, then you need to get out and put it in the car.” He did! Gilbert was so proud to present this toy to Porter as a gift.
However, while Porter likes this toy, and he does ride it all over the cul-de-sac and the front yard, he knows that a bicycle is even more desirable. Seamus got a new bike, which he is getting much more proficient on. Porter wanted to check it out:
Porter also got to go to a birthday party for a friend of his who lives nearby. We walked to the party and Porter got to carry the present that he had more or less picked out at the store. He was so proud of himself to go in and give the gift. The little treat that he got afterward was also carried carefully home and he showed it to Seamus and Gilbert with a lot of pride. He still may not talk a lot, but he exudes his feelings. (He does talk more than he did. No, More, Ew are popular this week! He also is very cute if you say, “Whose boy are you?” He yells, “MAMA!”)
Being Porter is pretty good right now…at least for a few more weeks.
Academic Leigh Speaking 
Porter looks a lot like Bret at the same age.