IT is 285 days since William Tyrrell went missing from his grandmother's front yard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
And it is two days until his fourth birthday.
In the last week his family have indicated how they will be celebrating the occasion.
There will be cakes, superhero costumes, Italian food and blue balloons.
The Port News is encouraging readers to mark Friday as a special day.
Place balloons outside your house, light a candle, bake a cake or wear red and blue for the day for the missing Spiderman.
These are small ways to show you care, but they evidence the loss, fear and sympathy we extend to William's family.
More than that, they show our support on his first birthday since he was last seen playing with toy trucks.
Dunbogan's Karlee Butler has wrapped presents and will bake a cake with her nephew on Friday.
Last September she spent 10 days coordinating the canteen at Kendall Showground from 5am until 11pm.
She is frank when praised for her efforts in organising businesses to supply sustenance to volunteers.
"I don't want thanks - someone had to do it, so we just got on with it," she said.
Her "ultimate hope" is that William spends Friday with his mum, dad and sister.
"I want them to be able to kiss and cuddle him, give him presents and spoil him rotten," she said.
Like many, however, she really just wants William's family to have some certainty of what has happened to their son.
Victorian Stephanie Payne has four young children and had to do something when she heard about the disappearance.
The 'William Tyrrell - where are you' Facebook page has been driving the campaign for people to celebrate the toddler's birthday in numerous ways.
The page's popularity has grown exponentially since Ms Payne and fellow administrator Katrina Hogan asked people to get involved with William's birthday.
There have been a staggering 1.3 million views this week.
"We wanted it to be simple, so we started out by asking people to change their profile picture to a photo of William on Friday," Ms Payne said
"There has been so much support already - we almost can't believe it."
Plenty of Facebook posters have said their workplaces are on board with allowing staff to wear Spiderman's colours of red and blue, as well as making cakes in the colours.
"His face should be all over Facebook on Friday," Ms Payne said.
"It's just something to keep him in everyone's mind, because he needs to come home."
The group are encouraging social media users to push the three hashtags #bringspideyhome, #williamsday and #givehimback on Friday.
Anyone with information on William's whereabouts is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
