I made a word cloud with Will's vocabulary. I think it's pretty.

Project 365 Week 11

Monday, July 21 - We beat the heat by heading to Dairy Queen for ice cream. Will loved sharing Daddy's Peanut Buster Parfait.



Tuesday, July 22 - Another first. Will started pointing at the words in his books and saying, "bah bah bah dah bah." He's made the connection between the symbols on the page and the words we say. He has also started grabbing our fingers and pointing to the pictures he wants us to name. Often, our reading sessions sound like, "Tree. Alligator. Tree. Elmo. Tree. Tree. Alligator. Turtle. Tree."



Wednesday, July 23 - While visiting his Great-Grandad, Will finds a new toy: Grandad's cane. After a few harrowing moments of Will swinging the cane past the TV and Grandad's head, we maneuvered both Will and the cane out of harm's way.


Thursday, July 24 - Why so serious? Will does his Joker impersonation with fruit for makeup.


Friday, July 25 - I promise, he isn't wearing the same shirt as yesterday's picture! Here is my little piano man, tickling the ivories.


Saturday, July 26 - Instead of a picture today, I'll post a video. Sorry about the poor quality; it was taken on my cell phone. We went out to eat, and Will decided he wanted to share Daddy's french onion soup. The reaction at around 20 seconds is priceless.


Sunday, July 27 - Will is such a big helper that he helped Daddy do the dishes this morning. Unfortunately, he was too fascinated by the utensil caddy (especially the knives), so we had to divert his attention elsewhere.

Another First

Saturday night, Rolf gave Will his bath. This is a fairly unusual occurrence, as I usually bathe Will and Rolf takes care of the tooth-brushing and bedtime stories. We switch out every now and then, though.

I was in the living room, surfing the internet and enjoying a few moments free of Will responsibility. The boys were in the bathroom, and I could hear Will splashing and playing happily. Suddenly, Rolf called me to help. I jumped up and rushed in there. Rolf was holding a naked Will out to me to take and dress. I asked him what was wrong. His response was, "Will pooped in the tub. He just leaned over, grunted, and there it was." I had to laugh. I knew the day would come, and I always assumed it would happen to me. I guess Will figured that since daddy thinks farting is funny, he'd think pooping was even funnier.

I know it won't be the last time this happens, but for now, I'm glad I've escaped it. One of my most vivid memories is taking a bath with my sister when she was maybe 2, reaching for the soap in the water, and grabbing hold of poop instead. I remember screaming bloody murder and scaring both of my parents into the bathroom to see what was wrong. It traumatized me when I was 7. It's funny how things change when you become a parent. When we were first married, Rolf told me he didn't think he could change any dirty diapers because his sense of smell was so sensitive. I can't imagine he'd ever dreamed he would be fishing poop out of the bathtub someday. Bodily functions just become something else to take care of when you are responsible for another human being. I had no problems changing my Granny's colostomy bag, either. It's just something you do if someone you love needs your help.

Tasty Bubbles

It's a very short video because Will decided that he'd had enough right around the time I got the camera turned on him.

Project 365 Week 10

Monday, July 14 - This is Will's "The Whole World Is Against Me and My Life Is Pure Sadness" face. If his feelings have reason to be hurt, it breaks my heart. However, most of the time he uses it to make us feel bad for telling him "no." Then it doesn't affect me at all.



Tuesday, July 15 - I hear a bang from the other room, head to the living room to find that Will had pulled on the cord that plugs in the baby monitor in our room and taken the monitor for a tour of the house. I think he was intrigued by what he could hear coming from the unit.


Wednesday, July 16 - With fresh batteries, the bubble machine cranks out bubbles like crazy. Will thought it fun to catch them in his mouth. I will post a short video of this later.


Thursday, July 17 - "What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a toddler brush his teeth?" He's getting better at it all the time. Instead of just chewing and sucking on the brush, he now twists his wrist to imitate our brushing action.


Friday, July 18 - We were getting ready for a garage sale. I sold some of Will's baby stuff because they were taking up too much room, and while we hope to have another someday, it won't be for a few years (if we're lucky enough that lightning strikes twice). I have some other stuff saved, but I don't know how practical that really is. Here, Will says goodbye to his infant gym. The picture I wanted to get was of him sitting in the gym with the mirror up against his face, cooing at the cute baby in it. Alas, the camera batteries were dead, and by the time I got them changed, this is what I could get.

P.S. Rolf and I went to see The Dark Knight later that evening. Totally freaking awesome. I would love to see it again.


Saturday, July 19 - After Will returned home from Grandma and Grandad's (his refuge from the late night movie and busy garage sale morning), we played outside. Will, of course, had to find a stick. Here he is using it to chase down the bubbles.


Sunday, July 20 - Will and Mommy discuss the idiocy of holding a garage sale in July in Texas. Saturday was very successful (the high only reached 92 before we quit), Sunday, not so much (the temperature was a muggy 92 by 10:30 A.M.). The bear and pillows ended up in Goodwill, and the couch will either go there or to the Salvation Army. It's a great couch for an apartment - a very lightweight, easily movable (Rolf and I can each carry it on our own), and it folds out into a sleeper. If you know anyone who might need it in the metroplex, send them my way!

Words, words, words

I received my weekly Babycenter email update on Will's development. Physically, he seems to be right on track, getting into everything, walking with confidence, etc. However, I had to laugh when I read this line: "At 14 months, your toddler understands many more words than she can say. Her spoken vocabulary likely consists of about three to five words, typically "Mama," "Dada," and one other simple word such as 'ball' or 'dog,' but she learns the meanings of new words every day." Three to five? Rolf and I made a list of the words Will says on a semi-regular basis, words he obviously understands and connects to objects around him.

1. Mama - he doesn't say this one often enough to my liking, although my mom said he saw my picture at her house and said, "mommy!" He prefers Dada.
2. Dada, Daddy, Da - he recognizes Rolf in pictures, and he grabs my cell phone, puts it on his shoulder, and says, "Da?"
3. Grandpa - he learned this one staying with Grandpa in MO
4. Grandma - he has two grandmothers called "Grandma," so this one is fairly easy for him
5. Grandad - he loves my dad, who has taken care of him several times when he's been sick
6. Bubbles - will request them from either the bubble machine or the bottle
7. Done-done - said with the accompanying baby sign, the only one he ever picked up
8. Down - when he is finished eating and wants out of his high chair
9. Bear - ashamed to say, this is not just when he sees a teddy bear, but also when he requests an episode of Bear in the Big Blue House. He'll even take the DVD case up to the TV and hold it up when he says it
10. Ball - one of Will's favorites. He'll point across a store and yell out "BAH!" if he sees some
11. Dog - Will, like his parents, loves dogs. We'll have to get a new one next summer, I guess
12. Bird - he learned this one in MO, watching the hummingbirds fly around his Grandma and Grandpa's porch. Also applies to Big Bird and any other bird in his books
13. Please - we taught him to say this as a request before he turned a year old. It sounds similar to his version of...
14. Cheese - his favorite food up to this point. Good thing he got over the lactose issue!
15. Read - R's are hard, though, so it sounds more like "byeed"
16. Outside - Will's favorite place
17. Door - he knows it will get him outside
18. Window - ditto for our sliding glass door
19-24. Moo, Baa, Bow-wow, neigh, meow, quack - when prompted for the correct animal about 85% of the time
25. Star - he has glow in the dark stars on his ceiling, and he loves looking at them at night. He looked up at the light in the hallway this morning and said, "tar!"
26. That? - fairly obvious what that's for
27. Num-num - besides being the "yummy" sound, I think this is what he calls bananas. That's my fault for calling his baby food "'nana num-nums" when he was little
28. Cookie - for Cookie Monster and his arrowroot cookies
29. Trash - I haven't really heard him come out with this one yet, but Rolf says he says"tash"
30. Teeth - he LOVES to brush his teeth and asks to do so after his bath each night

Additionally, we have heard him mimic us when reading That's Not My Puppy and That's Not My Dragon. It comes out "nah mah bubbee" and "nah mah dgun." Last night, Rolf was reading him a book featuring Grover and "cute things to touch." Rolf showed Will Grover on one page, then Elmo on the next. He explained how Elmo was the red one, and how Grover was blue, and we both heard Will say, "that's not the red one" as he pointed to Grover. I'm sure some of that was shared hallucination, but I wasn't really listening to them, and I heard the same thing Rolf did.

Will babbles all the time. There are so many words just hanging out in there that I know are just going to pop out any time. His mind is obviously faster than his tongue, but that tongue is catching up quickly. I love watching him work hard to pronounce a word correctly. For example, "please" used to be little more than a voiced "th." Last night, he worked really hard and came out with "pteeze."

I wish I could crawl inside his head to know exactly what he understands and how much is right there under the surface. Parenting is like putting together a million-piece jigsaw puzzle: it takes a lot of searching for the right piece, a lot of trial-and error, and a lot of patience, but slowly and surely, a complete picture emerges. From what I've seen so far, Will's picture is a masterpiece.

Project 365 Week 9

Monday, July 7 - While playing in his room, Will decided to use half of his Kansas City Chiefs bank as a hat. His Grandma and Grandpa gave him that bank, and we took the rare coins they had put in it out of the little guy's reach. Since this bank isn't breakable, we don't mind if it's within his reach.


Tuesday, July 8 - Will helps Mommy unload the groceries into the refrigerator. Somehow, he missed the memo that Mom had already cleaned the old stuff out of the fridge. He cleaned out the entire bottom shelf of the door before I got a single bag unloaded. We put everything back in, but by the time I emptied another bag, the door was empty again!


Wednesday, July 9 - Target finally put the kid-sized sling-back chairs on enough clearance for me to buy one for Will. We tried it out on the rug before we put it out on the patio with the big people sling-back chairs. Will really liked sitting in it. He can easily crawl out of it, but he hasn't quite figured out that he's not quite tall enough to be able just to back his bottom into it. It's cute to see him try, though.


Thursday, July 10 - Background Info: My grandad, who has been in assisted living apartments for just about a year now (he's blind from macular degeneration and uncoordinated from brain tumor surgery in 1976), is moving in with my parents soon. My mom had to get rid of the sleeper sofa they had in one of their guest rooms and offered it to us. We jumped at the chance so that we can have guests sleep at the house again. Unfortunately, our office looked more like a junk storage room than an office. I had been meaning to clean it out for a while, but this forced my hand. We cleaned out the closet and office, pulled up the nasty 35 year old carpet (we only have it in one room now!), repainted the room, and carried the tile from the living room and hallway into the office (hereafter to be referred to as the "library"). This is day one of Operation Guest Room. I was working at clearing off my desk, and I heard little grunts and shuffling sounds behind me. I turned around to see this. There really is no better toy than a box, is there?


Friday, July 11 - After months of eschewing tomato sauce in any form but ketchup (a trend that dates back to his days in utero), Will suddenly ate his lasagna with gusto. Maybe there was enough cheese to counter the tomator sauce, or maybe he was just really hungry. Whatever the reason, I was thrilled to see him try something new. Now if I could just turn him back on to more green veggies...



Saturday, July 12 - The biggest day of Operation Guest Room. We finished painting, pulled up the carpet, and laid the floor. Will wanted to help every step of the way. Unfortunately, that usually meant that he would pick up a knife or a screwdriver or something equally dangerous. This time, though, he picked up a (dry) paintbrush and helped touch up an already painted wall. Poor baby. I feel like this was one of the few times somebody wasn't yelling, "no, no!" at him. It was a tough weekend for the little man. He really just wanted to help. He's such a sweet and inquisitive boy.


Sunday, July 13 - Will sits on the couch in the new library/guest room. (I promise, the paint isn't nearly as pink as it looks in this picture. It's really a nice clay/terra cotta color.) Will is getting better and better about climbing up on and off of couches. It's more reassuring and more nerve-wracking at the same time.

We just have a few more things to place back into the guest room closet and some more books to move around, and we'll be finished. I am refusing to stash things just wherever the mood strikes this time. I've cleaned out my files and have a couple of boxes' worth of papers to shred, we've put shelves in the closet for stuff, and we have pulled enough stuff out to have a pretty good garage sale this coming weekend. If you're in the metroplex, tell people to come by! We have furniture, sporting equipment, baby items, and toys.

Project 365 Week 8

Monday, June 30 - Will stayed with my mom and dad while Rolf and I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was our first time to see a movie since Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last summer. We enjoyed our date and the movie. Will enjoyed my parents' backyard, including a fire ant pile that he stood in, uncomplaining, until my dad noticed the critters on him and swooped him out of danger. Unfortunately, over two dozen of the beasts bit my baby. Will had his foot covered in blistery pustules, as you can see here. They were on the top of his foot, on his ankle, on his toes, between his toes, and even on the ball of his foot! He never complained about his foot itching or hurting, though. What a trooper! I took this the day after, when we were on the first leg of our road trip to Missouri to visit Rolf's family. The kid has great timing, doesn't he?



Tuesday, July 1 - This was after Will had awakened from his first nap on the road. I don't believe we were quite out of Texas at this point. He was still in a good mood. That would change intermittently over the next couple of days, although I must say, Will was extremely well behaved for 95% of the trip. The other 5%, I was tired and grouchy, so I know Will was. He was amazing.


Wednesday, July 2 - We finally arrive in MO, and Will takes a walk with Grandpa in front of their house. You can just see the lake at the bottom of the hill. It is beautiful up there.


Thursday, July 3 - Will plays peek-a-boo with one of his great aunts. He has two named Vicki, although I don't think they spell them the same. The Missouri Aunt Vicki(e?) was having a great time with the little booger here. They were laughing their heads off.



Friday, July 4 - Will's first boat trip. Once he got used to the noise of the motor, Will loved looking out at the lake, picking up sticks from the floor of the boat, and wandering around in his swimsuit/life jacket. A word of advice: swim diapers are really only good as poop catchers. Poor Will had pee running down his leg before we'd been out an hour and a half.


Saturday, July 5 - Will says goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma. Literally. While we were there, he started to say, "bye-bye" as he waved. Before, it was more of a "baaah!" Now he's got it down. I'll post later on the other vocabulary he's picked up recently. (Get your minds out of the gutter - it's all innocent. Sheesh.) He had a great time up there, running around, looking at the birds, petting the dogs and cat, and seeing new things. He also enjoyed spending time with his Grandma and Grandpa. I think they enjoyed the time with him, too.


Sunday, July 6 - My brave little guy has survived five nights in strange locations, out of his area of comfort. He's also dealt with three and a half 4+ hour days in the car, a disrupted nap schedule, people making a fuss over him (as well they should) :-), and unfamiliar food. He has been amazing, only screaming in the car 20 minutes total. We went to a Toys 'R' Us in Arkansas to pick up more diapers (I ended up being one short for the week), and we got him a couple of books as a reward for his bravery and patience. Here he is, reading about pets. He saw lots in MO - five dogs and a kitty. He loves animals, and he loves books, so he was thrilled to read this book. I love his look of concentration.

Night Terror

Last Wednesday night, Will had what we assume, in retrospect, to be a night terror.

The night started out innocently enough. Will went to bed at his usual 8-8:30 bedtime without a fuss and settled into sleep pretty quickly. Around 11:30, he started crying. Loudly. Rolf went in to soothe him, and I hopped to the kitchen to get him some water. His cries just got louder and more frantic. When I reached the room, Will was sitting up in bed, shaking his head from side to side and batting at Rolf's hand. I tried to give him the sippy cup, and he knocked it from my hand. When Will gets up at night needing water, he will often knock the sippy away until he realizes what it is, so I didn't think much of it. We tried to pick him up and cuddle him, but he just thrashed around in our arms, screaming. We assumed he was having a nightmare, so Rolf brought him to our room where the light was on.

Will continued his thrashing and crying, which had by now become full-fledged screaming. His eyes were open, but he wasn't seeing us. He beat at us, kicked at us, wrenched away from our grasps, and writhed around. Rolf eventually calmed him down by talking low to him ("shush"ing wasn't working at all), and Will stopped his freakout. Unfortunately, he wanted nothing to do with sleep. He fought us tooth and nail until 1:00 AM, when I finally took him back to his room, held him, rocked him, and sang him back to sleep. At 1:30. He was wary of his room the whole time, looking around suspiciously, pointing at things and whimpering. I had his low-wattage star lamp on for him, and that seemed to help. When I turned off the lamp, he started crying again. I had to hang over his crib and rub his back and sing to him before he settled down enough. As much as it hurt me to do it after such a horrific episode, I had to leave him before he was fully asleep and let him cry. I knew he was good and tired (and knew for damn sure I was), and my presence just kept him on the defensive and awake. Within five minutes, he was asleep. He was up by 6:15, acting as if he had slept the night through without incident.

The only thing that makes us wonder if this episode was something other than a night terror is that Will's foot seemed extremely sensitive. He kicked his leg like he was in pain, and if we touched his leg, his screams turned into his "I'm hurting" cry. Everything else pointed to night terror - 1st 3rd of the sleep cycle, awake but not aware, resistant to soothing, and not seeming to remember a thing about the episode in the morning.

My other thought was that he had either a) growing pains or b) achy joints left from his feverish start to the week combined with the night terror.

Fortunately, it hasn't happened again, although if it does, we now know to leave him alone, watch to make sure he doesn't hurt himself, and let the terror run its course. That will be so hard to do, watching my baby panic without being able to help, but I know that any ministrations on our part will not do anything but prolong his panic.

Ugh.