I'm such a good mom...

that I had to run across the house and get the camera before I helped him out of this situation:


Poor baby.

My Little Bookworm

My students would say that it's typical that an English teacher's kid would have a lot of books, and I take that as a compliment. Will now has so many books that we had to get him a couple of new shelves to accommodate them all. Here are a couple of pictures of Will helping Daddy put them together.

Will's First Thanksgiving

Last week went by in a blur. Since I was off school Wednesday through Friday, and it costs full price at daycare if they watch Will even one day, Will stayed with Grandad on Monday, and Rolf stayed home with him on Tuesday.

Will had a good time on Thanksgiving, although he really didn't want to nap at all. He's always afraid he's going to miss something cool if he goes to sleep when there are more people than just us around. After his vegetable turkey baby food, we tried a little table food on him. A small bite of mashed potatoes, a couple of peas, mashed, and a teeny tiny taste of chocolate pie. He seemed to like it all. Here he is, looking like a typical American after Thanksgiving dinner.




Friday, Rolf's dad and stepmom came in with his aunt and uncle. We hosted a secondary Thanksgiving dinner for them that evening. Saturday, we took them to North Park mall to see the toy train exhibit. Will was enthralled. I wish I had pictures of him watching those trains roll by. After lunch, we went to the big Half Price Books, where Will had his picture made with Santa. As soon as we get a printer that works, I'll get that scanned in and posted, either here or in the picasa album (see link on the right). Then we visited Central Market, where Will had massive (wet) diaper leakage. Fortunately, we were in the company of doting grandparents and a great aunt and uncle who spoiled our boy by buying him clothes when we were at Macy's. I rushed Will to the car through the cold rain, opened the back of the Vibe, and changed him as quickly as I could in the parking lot. That evening, it was once again difficult to get Will to sleep. Rather, I should say it was hard to get him to STAY asleep. He was tired enough to drop off multiple times, but he was so afraid of missing the party that he'd wake up after about 5 minutes. Finally, after the relatives headed off to their hotel, we were able to get him to stay asleep.

Sunday, Rolf's relatives concluded their all-too-brief visit, and Will took a long nap. We were going to go cut down our Christmas tree with my parents (a tradition), but the cold rain started up again. It was fortunate that the weather didn't cooperate, however, because Will had a bad afternoon. He was inconsolable. I'm sure it was the combination of being the center of attention for three days, his teeth hurting him (they STILL haven't broken through, poor baby), and his schedule being out of whack for nearly a week. He screamed himself to sleep on the way home from my parents', and slept for over two hours. He woke up in a MUCH better mood. Getting back on schedule was the best thing for him. He had a great day at daycare, even though he didn't nap much, he ate a good dinner, and he is now taking his evening nap (which he approached without getting fussy).

Hooray!

Will has decided carrots are okay again. We went to Rolf's stepdad's for dinner on Sunday, and we were served a fantastic stew. I took a carrot, a potato, and some peas out of my bowl and mashed them up with my spoon. Will ate it all up. This inspired me to try out the last tub of carrot baby food we have in the pantry. What a difference a couple of months makes! He made a little face when he first tasted the carrots, like, "what are you feeding me now, woman?" But soon, he was eating them up. Hooray! Tonight he finished them off and even ate some green beans. He wasn't as sure about the green beans as the carrots, but I can't blame him. Have you ever had just plain green beans with no seasoning whatsoever? Bleah.

Here's Will with carrots on his face, much happier than in the earlier video with carrots.

6 Months Old!

Where on earth has the time gone? My baby, my tiny little man, is already six months old, and it's time for Thanksgiving again. I was thinking the other day about our time in the hospital. He was such a little guy, weighing less than 7 lbs. at birth. He was less than 20" long, and his little body had almost no fat on it. Now, he's a big, healthy boy.

At his appointment today, he was 27" long (50th percentile), 17 lbs, 2 oz. (50th percentile), and his head measured 17 1/2" (also 50th percentile, but the measuring tape slipped as he squirmed, so I don't know if that's accurate). He is eating more types of solid food, he's trying to drink out of a cup, and he's started in on the teething biscuits. Just look at the changes over the last six months. The first is the day we brought him home from the hospital, and the second was taken this week, his requisite "naked in the bathtub" pictures...

His vocalization is getting more and more specific, although he still speaks in Sim ("dag dag"). I'm still waiting for the day he comes out with "Mama." I've been waiting to hear that for over five years. For now, my heart is full when he snuggles into my shoulder or when he sees me enter the room at daycare and shoots me that fantastic grin.

Here's a video of the little guy laughing at his daddy. He's just such a happy little boy:

Food Fun

Will kept showing intense interest in the bowls I was feeding him from, so I told him that one afternoon, he could play with his food. Here are the results - a big mess, but a ton of fun! Will really enjoyed feeling the different textures of the peas/oatmeal combination and the banana/blackberry/blueberry fruit mixture.