Will's Two Year Checkup

We went to the doctor on Monday morning. Will is 35" tall and weighs 31.5 pounds. He is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight.

The doctor was impressed with how verbal Will is. I was frustrated because I had to circle "no" on three of the checklist items before I got to several others Will can already do (colors, drawing a line, etc.). He was a little too distracted to correctly identify their badly drawn cat, and he didn't really know the word for "man," so there was one strike. Not all people who don't know him understand 50% of what he says (although it depends on how well they listen and if they are used to hearing a two year old speak), so there was strike 2, and he can't put on any article of clothing by himself (strike 3). He's almost there with, say, pajama pants, but not yet. Oh, well. He's still ahead of his age group cognitively speaking.

The doctor also said that his eyes, ears, heart, and lungs were "perfect," so that was a big relief. We're so lucky that aside from a few ear infections and a couple of stomach bugs, we've had a happy and healthy boy. Will got a hemoglobin check at his 18 month appointment, so we escaped the doctor's office without any needles at all! His next round of shots isn't until his 4th birthday. Hooray!

Will was not happy the doctor looked him over, but he loved the Nemo sticker he got at the end.

After the visit, we went to Northpark mall, where we made Will a new dog at Build-a-Bear for his birthday. The dog, named Bear, is pictured below. Will was enthralled with the colors and accessories, but there were just too many things to look at to get him to settle down and pick an animal or some clothes. Rolf and I pretty much picked things out for him. I think Will was slightly afraid we were trying to replace Boyd.



Speaking of Boyd, we went on Ebay and ordered him a backup. The way Will flicks that poor dog's tail when he's tired, I know he's going to lose it before too long. This way, when Boyd does start to come apart (or if he's really dirty and is in the wash at bedtime), we have another one to give Will. It'll be interesting to see if he's fooled. I mean, this is the kid who is so smart that he won't be fooled by the dummy Wii remote we made for him out of a Wii remote shaped tin covered in a sleeve just like the ones we use. He knows it's fake because there is no trigger, there are no lights, and there is no wrist strap.

I love that he's so smart, but, dangit, sometimes I'd still like to be able to fool him to avoid meltdowns and/or damage to my stuff.

Will is Two!

And a handsome two-year-old, at that.

Family Birthday Party

We held a combo Mother's Day/Will's Birthday cookout this afternoon. Of course, I didn't get nearly enough pictures. Will got a lot of amazing things, including some really cute clothes, a new pair of Chucks, and lots of cool art supplies. He even got 3-d sidewalk chalk! Totally cool.


Will wanted to answer the door when the doorbell rang, but he couldn't part with the Cheetos. He took them with him to greet his aunt and uncle and cousins.


So many presents...which one to open first?


He almost blew out the candles on his own. He knew what to do, but couldn't quite aim his breath.


He got lots of cool art supplies, including window crayons. I wrote this from the inside, backwards. Not bad, eh?

R is for Rocket

Will is now, I guess, officially a big boy. We changed his room from a nursery to a boy's room this weekend, replacing his purple with blues and his dragons with rockets and space stuff. We aren't quite finished yet, but this is the general idea.


Will now has a twin bed. For now, it's on the floor, so he can climb in and out of it on his own. His sheets have stars on them, and his blanket is navy/red. We stripped his dresser and nightstand of the white paint and trimmed them in red.



We added glow-in-the-dark stars to his walls to complement the ones on the ceiling.




I'm not showing you the corner and the window because it's still a mess. His tall bookshelf is totally junked out right now, and we don't have curtains just yet. On his closet door, he has a cool space growth chart, and on his room door, there's an awesome big rocket. On the bottom is a closeup of his dresser complete with robot decals. A little boy's room should be whimsical and fantastic, don't you think?


Below is Will's reaction upon seeing his room for the first time. He was exhausted from an afternoon playing with Nini and Papa, so he spends a lot of time with his paci in his mouth and flicking Boyd's tail. We think he likes it.

Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere

Will took his first bona fide bubble bath last night. He had a blast playing with the foam. My favorite thing to do was to wait until he had a handful of bubbles, then put some on his nose. Smack! His hand would hit his face, covering it in more bubbles. I'd say I was a mean mom for doing it, but they were Johnson's No More Tears bubbles and will cracked up every time.

Easter Egg Hunt

We had Will's Easter egg hunt the night before due to impending storms Easter morning. Because he had a hunt at daycare on Friday, he knew just what to do. I think he was excited he didn't have to share these eggs. We, of course, didn't tell him that many of these eggs were the same ones he had found at school the day before. Shhh...don't let on.



Then he came inside and explored his bounty with Daddy:





He'll get an Easter basket tomorrow with coloring books, a Word World DVD, and a Hot Wheels car.

My Little Handyman

We had a little technical difficulty with the dishwasher after the remodel (my fault!), and Rolf fixed it the other night. He grabbed his tools and got down on the floor. Of course, Will had to follow suit. He grabbed a screwdriver Daddy wasn't using, and got down to work. He has developed this disgusted throaty exhalation, a la Napoleon Dynamite. Admittedly, he picked it up from me. I can't decide which is funnier - that or the "Aw, man!" he shouts when something falls (he picked that one up from Daddy).

Yum!

It seems that many of the pictures we take of Will involve food somehow. I think it's really the only time he's still long enough for me to think of taking his picture.



Yes, that is a ring of chocolate around his mouth, the result of a chocolate chip cookie + a paci on the car ride home from Denton.


A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated my brother's birthday. Will's grandma sent home a cupcake for him to have later. Will obviously hates chocolate.


I made some peanut butter-oatmeal no-bake cookies for our family retreat weekend (they were awesome). We finished one jar of peanut butter and started a new one, so Will had a good ol' time scraping the old jar clean. Both he and his shirt went into the bath immediately following this.

Bug!

Will watches a beetle climb the wall.

That 70's Kitchen No More!

Rolf and I spent four full days this spring break ripping out and redoing our kitchen. It was a TON of work, we're exhausted and sore, but it was so worth it. I actually have counter space now! Here are a couple of pictures:









Just for kicks, here's a picture of what the kitchen looked like when we moved in in May '04 and what it looks like now.

Family Time

Will had a very busy spring break. Last weekend, we went to his Uncle Jason's house and had a big aunts and uncles and cousins party through Monday morning. Will loved playing along with the big people. Here he is, accompanying Daddy and Aidan on Guitar Hero (on the XBox 360) with his Wii controller.




He also was intrigued by the dog's cage. I think by this point, he was tired enough to sleep, but not so tired he wanted to leave the party.



Will had a great time with his cousin Ian, who was very sweet to him. Here they are, watching Cars.



The best pictures from the weekend, though, came when Will and his cousins took the dog for a walk. How sweet are these?

As promised...pictures!

Will had a lot of fun with yogurt that day...


He skipped his nap that day. We put on a video, and within 10 minutes, we saw this. Unfortunately, it was already 5:30. We couldn't let it last.


He has gotten so tall that he is sitting, on his bottom, in a chair in this picture.


Will likes to talk on the phone...for about two seconds. He lasts longer on the toy one.


He decided that the sun was too bright, so we bought him some cool sunglasses. He actually wears them! Maybe this'll stop the "sun...bight" coming from the back seat.

I'll try to be better about posting in the future..

It's been a looong time...

For those of you who keep up with Will remotely through this blog, I apologize. It just never seems that we have the time or energy to post. We've also fought off sinus infections, stomach bugs, and long standing sore throat accompanied by laryngitis in the past two weeks.

Over the past few weeks, Will has made huge strides in his speech and cognitive development. He has started speaking in rudimentary sentences. His most common:

• "I sorry"
• "I dropped it"
• "I broke it" (usually he didn't)
  
• "Love you"
• "Where go?"
• "Night-night"
• "Thow it" (throw it)
• "Get the ball"
• "Kick it"

He still says "please" and "thank you," which are becoming clearer every day.

He also knows his primary colors, pink, purple, green, orange (most of the time), black, and white.

He can count to three, sometimes. It usually sounds like, "one, two, one - yay!" More and more often, three gets stuck in the right place though. About half the time he gets to three, he continues to five.

He says his ABC's much the same way. "A, C, C, I, P, S, B, A - yay!"

He knows the sounds and names of the following animals: cow, horse, sheep, dog, cat, pig, elephant (although that one's hard to say), owl, lion, and tiger.

He will sing bits and pieces of songs, including "Itsy-Bitsy Spider," "Little Bunny Foo-Foo," and others he sings at school I don't know.

The other night, he told me a long story about what happened at school that day. I will attempt to transcribe it:

"Gabe, Carsen, bite [pointing to his wrist]. Gabe bite. No! No! Carsen *garbled* bite Gabe." Repeat ad nauseum.

When I asked his teacher about it, she verified that Gabe did indeed bite Carsen on the wrist. Gabe had bitten Will on the butt that same day (through his diaper, so it didn't hurt him), and he yelled out, "No! Gabe bite bottom!" He also told the kids in his class to "go play" because he wanted the teacher to hold him and not them.

In terms of potty-training, it, too, is a bit sporadic. Some of that is my fault. I don't always remember to ask him. He's getting better about telling us when he goes, and he actually tells us before he pees sometimes.

Will still loves to help me cook. He will gladly salt water for pasta, pour in any ingredient I need in any dish, and watch me do the rest. He will say, "See? See?" and drag a chair over to the counter. We always talk about how the stove is hot and he shouldn't touch it. Sunday night, he was watching me scramble him an egg for dinner. I forgot to remind him how hot the stove was. Rolf was right behind him, washing dishes. I grabbed the eggshell and took it to the trash. Rolf grabbed the skillet and began to wash it. Our eyes were off Will for two seconds, which was long enough for him to stick his thumb on the hot burner. Poor baby. It blistered immediately, and once he realized what had happened, he screamed long and loud. We ran it under a cold tap, then iced it. Once he calmed down, we were able to give him a bath and get him to sleep pretty well. Monday, he kept offering his thumb for kisses. The redness was all gone, save one thin line, but the blister was still there. It was tough to see him hurt, although I know this was a lesson he needed to learn the hard way. He's too curious. I have a feeling we're in for a long line of ouchies because he'll have to find out a lot of things for himself.

I will post some pictures later this evening. I swear, he's grown three inches since Christmas.

Some Random Things...

I have had to stay late at school every day because of Academic Decathlon, so poor Will has been stuck at daycare longer than usual. He really seems to be taking it well. I am sure to devote extra attention to him in the evening (until Daddy gets home, when he switches favorites).

Obviously, I think my kid's smart, but I still think it's pretty neat that I can point to a picture of the president and ask him who it is. Every time, he'll point and say, "'Bama." He won't call anyone else Obama, so I have to believe he knows who his president is. One of my earliest memories was seeing Jimmy Carter on TV, so I guess it's fitting Will follows in the poli sci/history footsteps of the rest of his family. (Both of my parents, all of my siblings, all but one of my in-laws on my side, and Rolf and I all have degrees in either history or political science).

Will loves to help me cook. I pull up a chair for him to stand on (right next to me so he doesn't fall - don't call CPS). He is fantastic at salting the water for pasta, and he even helped me bake cookies last week! He poured in every ingredient for me. I think I have a budding chef on my hands. I love it!

Yesterday, school was closed due to ice that melted by 10:30. The district doesn't do late arrival, for some reason. It was nice to be home with Will, though, since I won't see him Friday or Saturday. Will alternated between being a complete angel and being a complete hellion. I suppose he is getting closer to his terrible twos.

The past week, Will has been so nice and compliant when it is time for bed. Even yesterday, at naptime, he went without a fuss. We read to him and then let him walk and climb into bed on his own. This way, he feels as if it is his choice.

Every day since Sunday, Will has gone potty in his potty chair once a day! We have to ask him, of course, and he's only taken care of #1, but I am so proud of him! On Tuesday, we had to run by the grocery store on the way home. We didn't get home until nearly 6. I took him to the potty, took off his dry diaper and he peed! It's really exciting to see him start to take control of his actions and gain more independence. I am not mourning the thought of his getting out of diapers. They're expensive!

Will Pee-peed in the Potty!

This morning, Will patted himself and said, "poo-poo," which is his universal signal that he has done something in his diaper, be it #1 or #2. I was about to jump in the shower, so I handed him off to Rolf to take to the potty. By the time they got to the other bathroom, it was too late for #2. Rolf sat him on the potty chair, told him to be still while he fetched a clean diaper, and ran to Will's room. When he returned, Will was still on the potty, just as daddy had asked, and he had tinkled!

We are super proud of him. If this keeps up, we'll have him potty-trained by summer for sure!

P.S. Rolf left the tinkle in the potty chair in case I wanted to take a picture. I'm an embarrassing sort of mom, but I'm not THAT embarrassing! :-)

A Few Pictures

Just cute.

Will's stunt the other night: he dug out two pacis and chewed on them both.
He was so proud of himself!

When Will gets a hold of markers, he does this

....then he tries to make hand prints on his easel.


A boy and his daddy

Elton John?

Will's new play mat. Yes, there is a 9, but Will had pulled it out and stashed it somewhere.

Update and Milestone

Bedtime has been better since the weekend. I think maybe Will is getting used to the routine again. He was down by 8 last night. He had a nightmare at about 10 (at least, he started crying then). Rolf went in, calmed him down, and put him back in bed. Will started crying again almost immediately. I unearthed myself from the papers I was grading to go to him. He was sitting up in bed, and I picked him up. I rocked him for a few minutes, then tried to get him back to bed. He had horrible sinus breath, so I asked if he was thirsty. "Thusty." I tossed Boyd into the bed and retrieved the sippy of water we keep for him. Several pulls on the sippy, and he leaned over to get back in bed. Yes, you read that right. He actually voluntarily got back into bed. And stayed there. He was awake for another 5-10 minutes, but I wasn't in the room with him. Hooray!

As for the milestone, not once but TWICE in the past three days, Will has sat on his potty chair with no pants on. He hasn't actually gone potty in the chair yet, but he's getting more comfortable with it. Saturday night, I was bathing him, and he said, "poo-poo." Because of our past experience cleaning poop out of the tub, I pulled him out quickly. I plopped him on the potty chair, where he sat until he got chilly*. Tonight, he had already pooped a little in his diaper, but when I went to draw his bath, he came to sit on the potty chair. I ended up pulling his pants down and taking his diaper off to see if he needed to do any more. He didn't, but boy am I proud of him for wanting to try!

He's gotten to the point that if one of us is in the bathroom, he'll come in and sit on the potty chair along side us. I don't harbor any illusions that we'll get to stop buying diapers any time soon, but it certainly seems he'll be ready to try giving them up this summer.

*ETA: I didn't torture the poor boy; I merely let him sit there a couple of minutes. He was wet from the bath. As soon as we saw that little chin wiggle, we picked him up and dried him off. I realized later that the way I wrote it sounded bad.

I love this...

Okay, so he doesn't turn the pages quite in the right order, and he's not quite speaking English, but this is seriously one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

Yes, those are post-it notes on his back. He and Rolf were playing with them shortly before the reading commenced.

Rough Week

This week was our first week back at work/school since December 19. We loved spending time together and with Will.

Monday came around, and we got Will up and ready to go to daycare. He, contrary to my expectations, did great! He loved having other kids to play with. They said at music time, he was the only one really participating with the music teacher's songs and hand gestures, grinning the whole time. Monday night, we were able to get him to bed with his usual routine at his usual time. No sweat, right? Wrong.

Tuesday, Will had a lot of fun at daycare again. I was relieved, thinking that this might be a fairly easy transition back to work. Tuesday night, we got Will into the bath around 7, got him dressed for bed and ready to read by 7:15, and ready to sleep at 7:30. Ha! As soon as we put him down in his bed, he started screaming. Not crying, but screaming, as if in terror. I tried rocking him for a while more, got him to doze off, and set him down. He screamed again. Eventually, I brought him into the living room, turned off the lights, and got him to sleep again. As soon as we reached his bed, he bounced back up and started his screaming again. The process: snuggle, sleep, bed, scream. Repeat ad nauseum. We were absolutely unable to get him to calm down, so we broke one of our cardinal rules and brought him to bed with us. There, in the dark, he whispered something around his paci that sounded really creepy and went to sleep. We were not so lucky. I know I was up once an hour, worried that my pillow had fallen over on Will's face and was smothering him. Rolf nearly fell off the bed twice. We have a queen-sized bed, neither of us are small people, and Will made himself at home and stretched out diagonally. It was a rough night for all.

Wednesday, he had another great day at daycare, although he seemed a little reluctant to sleep there, too. Wednesday night, though, brought the same screaming. Ugh. At one point I figured we were going to just have to let him cry it out. Usually, he's down in 10 minutes. Not this time. He screamed 20 minutes straight, barely taking a breath. He sounded terrified. I was starting to wonder if there wasn't something in his room bothering him. My mom joked that I needed to tell Granny to go away and let him relax. I believe that kids are able to see things adults can't, and his sudden terror of his bed had me thinking that maybe her joke was close to the truth. Earlier in the day, I had taken him to his room and asked him what was bothering him. I sat in his rocking chair, and he babbled something and headed for the door. I watched as he closed the door and went into the hallway, like he wanted me to see what happens when he's alone. I looked around and tried to feel any change in the room, but he burst back in with a "mama!" after 10 seconds. It was almost like he was worried. Rolf finally got him to sleep in his own bed at 10 PM.

Thursday was more of the same, but Rolf was able to get him down by 9:45.

Friday, we let Will stay up with us while we played on the Wii. By this point, I was figuring that his reluctance to go to bed was more separation anxiety than anything. After all, he went from spending all day, every day with us to seeing Rolf for a mere hour and a half before he had to go to bed. He went to bed with much less of a fuss around 9:00.

Saturday, Rolf tried putting him to bed at his normal time and was able to get him down by 8:00. Of course, we had spent the entire day with him, and he had pulled the "I fell asleep for 20 minutes in the car so I'm good for the day" thing. He was pooped. The real acid test will be Monday, after we're separated again all day.

Ugh.

Ice!

While Will's Missouri grandparents were in town, we went to the Gaylord Texan's Ice exhibit. They bring in artisans from China to create amazing ice sculptures. The display is kept at 9 degrees, so they issue parkas to the visitors. Problem - Will is a Texan, and he doesn't understand the necessity of covering up when it's cold. The sculptures were amazing, but Will pitched a fit through most of the display. He didn't want his head covered, he didn't want his hands covered, and he didn't like the cold. Ugh. We managed to get a couple of pictures in which he isn't crying, though.


The North Wind greets you as you enter the exhibit.


This is the entry tunnel - before Will started his screaming fit.


A gingerbread house made out of nothing but ice!


Okay, I agree with Will on this one - the Santa is pretty scary.


This was an ice slide, but they wouldn't let Will ride with one of us. Nobody got to slide. :-(



An amazing life-size nativity scene.



The goofy critters at the end.

There were, of course, other things there, including a 15 foot angel, but there were a lot of people to try to take pictures around, and as I've said before, Will was no fun to be around.

Very neat exhibit, though. Expensive, but fun. We'll try it again when Will is a little older.