Will Updates

I know, I know. It has been nearly three weeks since I posted. I apologize for the delay. I have pretty much decided that Project 365 is officially defunct. I can post at least one picture a week, but I can't guarantee every day any more. In many ways, that's a good thing. It means I'm living more of Will's life with him than recording it.

Will's vocabulary is growing exponentially. Whereas he once picked up a few words a month, it seems that now he is picking up a few words daily! Much of it it still echoing what we say, but we've heard a good 50+ words come unprompted from his mouth. Fortunately, none of them have been naughty just yet. The best thing is that now he'll say, "love you!" That made my week the first time he said that to me. I'll try to get him talking on camera soon, but he generally clams up once the camera is out.

Reading is still one of Will's favorite activities. He will read to himself and request books to be read to him. One day a couple of weeks ago, Will shut himself in his bedroom (shutting doors is one of the new games he plays). Since we have the monitor on at all times, we decided to let him play. He was shuffling around in there, talking to himself and singing for several minutes. Rolf decided to check on him. He quietly opened the door, peeked around the corner, and called me in from the kitchen. I joined him at Will's door to see our little man stacking about a dozen books in his rocking chair. Once he realized he was being watched, he turned around, stuck up his hands in an "I don't know" kind of stance, and said, "Wead? Wead?" How could we resist?

Brushing his teeth used to be a favorite part of his day, but by October, it had turned into a struggle. Even singing the "Brush Brush Bree" song from Bear in the Big Blue House didn't seem to help. Rolf had a stroke of genius (no pun intended), and let Will try out his powered toothbrush. The vibrations felt good on those molars coming in, so on our next trip to Target, we bought a kid-sized power toothbrush. Will brushes his own teeth, does an actual good job of it, and he is happy to run to the bathroom to brush again.

Will is now officially out of the "infant" rooms at daycare and is in the first "toddler" room. We got the tuition break to prove it, too. $20 a week less. Woohoo! Will loves being with older kids. The younger ones just frustrate him. I know they have a good curriculum there. Will comes home knowing words we havent taught him, knowing what the parts of his body are without our concentrating on that lesson, and knowing songs we haven't sung (or sung in a long time).

The last major update is that today, we bought Will *drumroll, please* a potty chair! All of my babycenter emails suggest getting your child used to the idea once he shows interest. Boy, does he show interest! I haven't used the bathroom alone in two weeks now. There's a little girl in Will's room who is in the process of toilet training, and all the kids in his room are fascinated with the fact that she doesn't have to get up on the changing table. Will has also begun pulling at the front of his diapers when he's wet, and he goes for longer periods of time without wet or dirty diapers. Now, I'm not delusional. I don't think he'll be potty trained in the next few weeks, or even in the next six months, but I don't see any harm in his getting used to the idea of going in the potty.

I'll post pictures in a separate post.

I'll try not to take as long before the next post.