19 Months Old

My baby boy is now 19 month old! Jason and I are continually impressed by how much he can do and say and understand, but now I'm struggling to think of specific examples.

• Favorite word: Mama! (usually followed by Up!)
• Favorite things to do around the house: watch football, play basketball, color and draw, read and listen to books, run laps while giggling, practice somersaults (no idea where he learned that!) and climb into the rocking chair to rock himself.
• Favorite food: clementines (which we call oranges; he'll easily eat three of them)

We still think he may be left-handed. He regularly throws balls, eats, and colors using his left hand. But, he also uses his right hand at times, so we'll see!

He continues to do incredibly well with his routine. He can go from racing around like a wildman to being quietly content in his crib in less than 5 minutes if it's naptime or bedtime. You just have to give him his blanket and pacifier and turn on his fan and his Baby Einstein soother! :-) But he'll wave good-bye to you and sit down with his stuff and if it's nighttime, you won't hear from him again for 12 hours.

These new pictures are from our first trip to the children's area of our public library, which Will would have happily played at for hours.

A Very Merry Christmas

Lots and lots of pictures, because we had lots and lots of fun! My parents flew up on Friday morning, and Will and I picked them up from the airport. As a special treat, Will got to wear pajamas almost the entire weekend! Different pairs, of course.

Oh how Will has missed his Grandpa Roger! They haven't had a chance to play since Will's birthday party in May! First up, a game of tug-o-war with a wrapping paper tube.Then, some indoor sledding on Will's Christmas 2009 sled!Then, as a reward for putting on clothes, cookies on the couch!Finally, it was Christmas Eve night, and Will got to pick out a present from under the tree! He opened a lawn mower from Grandma and Grandpa and thought it was great fun. You'll also notice Tickle Me Elmo in the sled. That was from us as an early present (a few weeks ago). After Grandma and Grandpa left, the Elmo count was up to 3!We had a very white Christmas, so we had to take advantage of some outdoor sledding as well.

And then more presents! We let Will open some more of his presents before lunch and then did the non-Will presents while he was taking his afternoon nap. Luckily we saved a present from us, because we needed it last night to distract Will when he broke down after all of his guests left.I got exactly what I asked for; and apparently I asked everyone for it! My wish list included a reusable coffee cup sleeve, and I got three of them! Jason also gave me the reusable coffee cup that I had picked out and then decided not to treat myself to on an earlier shopping trip. Look at the joy on that young boy's face!

Ryan and Steve remembered Jason's love for A Christmas Story and bought him the DVD and some "Oh Fudge!" fudge.

What a fun weekend! I'll also have to post a picture of yesterday's excitement once I download it: a giant coyote in the backyard!

Brrr at the Zoo

We live in a cold city, so we just have to bundle up if we want to get out during the fall and winter. Saturday evening we went to "Holiday Magic" at the Brookfield Zoo; which I have been calling Brrr at the Zoo (instead of the somewhat warmer, Boo at the Zoo in October)! Although we were wearing plenty of layers, our exposed faces got a little wind burned. We spent about an hour or so at the zoo looking at lights, seeing a little song and dance show and playing inside at the Family Zoo.

Hurry up, Daddy! It's getting dark!Lots and lots of Christmas treesPretty carousel
The main concourse had lots of neat displays

Checking out the household pets in the Family Zoo

(that's a black bunny rabbit with crazy red eyes)

Those Funny Little People singing carols in the Holly Jolly Theatre

(i.e. the big refreshments tent)
Cold but cute!

Conversations with Will

Will has some very clear words and then others just seem to make sense in the context. I'm sure he's not really putting this all together as "real" words, but it sounds like it.

Greetings:

Will: Hiiiii.
Me: Hi!
Will: Howzitgoin'?

When a car drives by outside:

Will: Izacar!
Me: It's a car?
Will: Yeah!
Me: Do you want to look out the window?
Will: Yeah!

We drove to the zoo tonight (that's another post for after I thaw out more) and the first 10 minutes he said "Izacar!" pointing out the window about a hundred times. Every once in a while I feel the need to interact and say, "Ooh, there's a big truck!" or something like that. Jason always looks like he wants us both to be quiet when we play that game! :-)

Will is also getting good at repeating words that we say although if he doesn't initiate them and use them regularly, they aren't added to the word roll. Last night he surprised us with one. He was with us on our bed and he was swinging around one of my beaded necklaces. He hit Jason in the face with it. I said, "Will, pat Daddy's head and tell him you're sorry." And, immediately he patted Jason on the head and said, "Owwy!" We were shocked! I had no idea he would actually do that.

Trolley Lights Tour

On Sunday the 5th we joined our neighbors for an hour long holiday lights tour throughout our town. We had three trolleys (each ran twice) fulls of residents - mostly people like us with their young kids. This is suspicious Will before we left the parking lot. He's sizing up the woman in front of us who was handing out caroling sheets. (Smart kid.) He ended up making friends with her 3 year old son, who very tenderly patted Will's hands during the ride. We learned he has a 10 month old sister at home and really likes being a big brother. On our car were two boys who will be in Will's class in school (when the 18 month olds get to kindergarten). One couple - Jim and Kate - had a remarkably similar story to ours. Their son, J.J., is about 10 days younger than Will, and they were also house shopping at 9 months pregnant! She lamented how her husband had to attend the inspections himself because it was the day after J.J. was born. I shared how my husband had to fly to our closing because I had a 4 day old baby at home. When we told her where we lived, she said they looked at our house, too (which she referred to as "the brown house" much to Jason's dismay). They weren't ready to buy yet since they had to sell their old house and were shocked when ours was under contract so fast. If you recall, back in April 2009, we were on a whirlwind trip to find our new home and get the contract executed all within a 5 day house hunting trip. It just so happened that the house we bought had only been on the market about a week when we saw it. We'll have to look them up again once the weather gets nicer and get the boys together to play!

There were 5 or 6 fantastically decorated houses in town and a few blocks that were consistently good. However, our neighborhood is one of the best decorated in town, so we're a little spoiled. The best was the neighbor to this house. They just had an arrow on the front of an otherwise dark house; the arrow was pointing to this, of course!

Or maybe it was these people's neighbors?! I can't remember, but another great one. I think the upstairs middle left window has the leg lamp in it.

So, Jason has been a little sensitive about our "brown house" (although it never bothered me to have one color) and since we've moved in we've been phasing out the monotone tan. The brown roof and shutters were exchanged for black ones and we just got our bright white garage door to replace the brown one. Next up are the porch lanterns, but that may not be until it thaws now. Either way, our curb appeal is picking up!

Our Christmas Tree

I'm just going to come right out and say it: this is the most beautiful Christmas tree ever! But, it did not just deliver and decorate itself! No, the Christmas tree process began hours before it was decked out with 900 white lights and dozens of ornaments. . . . . First, Jason had to fire up his new snow blower to clean off the driveway of the first real snow of the season so we could go buy the tree.

Then, we had to bundle up in our warm, winter clothes - including snow boots and a hat that got a little sideways.

Next, we ventured through the tree selection at the Cosley Zoo, which is next to our gym. They are a small zoo with regionally native animals like deer, fox, llamas, cows, goat, etc. Admission is free during their Festival of Lights and tree sale! So, we spent a few minutes looking at the animals before our family's tree expert (Jason) picked us out a beautiful 8 foot tall Frasier fir.

Then, we rushed home for lunch and to meet our holiday guests. Ryan and Steve spent the afternoon and evening with us baking Grandma Leona's favorites: peppernuts and popcorn balls! We made two versions of the cookies and had a mini drama with the sauce for the popcorn balls being too runny. (Don't worry, Dad, the second half of the batch was salvaged and awaits your arrival.)

Meanwhile, Jason thawed out the tree in the garage and trimmed the bottom up. We need to have room for presents for the little fella! Jason is really proud of that tool. He just bought it at an after Thanksgiving sale.

Later, it took all three guys to wrestle the tree into its base and get it turned to the precise angle for decorating and display.

And finally, a beautifully decorated tree to charm the baby! Although I should note that this was on Sunday evening; Will went to bed before the tree was decorated on Saturday.

Christmas Card 2010

Getting Ready for Christmas

We've spent parts of three different days over two weekends getting Christmas lights up. Cold weather and burned out (new) net lights have slowed the progress. We haven't started inside at all. Sunday at the end of Jason's light hanging, Will and I went out to play with the chalk for a bit.

I've been good! Really!

No, really! She likes when I do this!

Oh, bless Rachel and her patience with Will! By the time I got the camera out, he'd already climbed on her three times. I was fully expecting her to stand up or roll over and knock him off, but she didn't. I gave her some treats right after this picture, because she deserved it.

I Want Mama!

I can't believe I forgot about this until now, but my day intentionally started early and ended late so I could get some projects moving at work. So, the plan was that I would get up early and drive myself to the train station as soon as I was ready instead of having the guys drop me off on the way to daycare. But, Will woke up even earlier than my early alarm. After realizing he was serious, I got him up and changed him and took him, his blankets and his sippy cup of milk to hang out with Jason who was still in bed - but obviously awake by now.

Ok, I'm making this an unnecessarily long story. I left the unhappy baby in bed with his daddy, and as I closed the bathroom door I heard the cry "I want Mama!" It was plain as could be, but impossible. However, as Jason and I were just recapping the day, he said he heard it too. Wonderful and horrible all at once!

18 Months Old

This picture really sums up what Will is about right now: sports and stories. I've abandoned the regular Froggy pictures (which I'm sure I'll regret) since Will doesn't sit still on command anymore.

The past month or two have just been tremendous from a developmental perspective. I guess I think that every month or few months, but the talking and the rest of his communication skills are taking off, so it seems so dramatic.

Here are a few highlights I don't want to forget:

• Loves to look at all of his books, all of the time. His favorites involve pictures of animals. Current must reads are the Little Golden Books "The Jolly Barnyard" and "Baby Animals" and his two big board books that Jason bought him called "On the Farm" and "In the Jungle" that have flaps to open, wheels to turn, and pages that slide. The jungle one is his favorite because it has monkeys eating bananas. "Nana! Nana!" It - and his children's bible - also has lions. For the past few months, I've been saying, "What do lions say? Roar!" And just this weekend he started doing the "roar" back. In his adorable baby voice. :-)
• Loves to play outside and still has great love for rocks and sticks. He also waves and says "hi" to cars and people who go by. The waving has been for several months, but the hi is new this month. Again, super adorable in his little baby voice.
• Has a ton of energy. It may be directed for good (art projects, hide and seek, going down the slide, playing basketball, throwing the toy for the dog) or evil (hitting, pulling the dog's hair, climbing on the dog, digging through cabinets, or throwing a tantrum when we stop him from any of the above).
• Acts like a big kid. He can easily open all of our interior doors thanks to their levered handles. Although he's speedier while crawling, he often walks down the steps while holding our hand and the wall.

More Thanksgiving Fun

We spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday with Jason's family at his parent's farm in Indiana. At one point we had 10 adults, 6 kids (including 4 toddlers), and 3 dogs racing around the cabin. As Will says, "Whoa!" But we had lots of fun and are so happy we got to see our family! Molly (unlike Buddy) wasn't so sure about all the visitors to her house. Will is an equal opportunity dog lover and spent time snuggling with Molly, Buddy and Rachel. Oh, and (mostly gently) pulling out their hair to hand to people. Pre-teen and toddler, working collaboratively. Ali and Carter are so sweet about wanting to make their younger sister and cousins happy! Here Ali has Will's attention with one of his favorites. Will giving Ali a "yay!" and a clap for her excellent tower building skills. He just started saying "yay" a lot in the past few weeks, and I first saw the clapping last Sunday when I got it for my tower skills. It's just the sweetest thing; it melts your heart -- and makes it glow with pride for your accomplishment! Friday was Jason's birthday, so we celebrated with a cake. The outside of the cake was decorated, but Hilary bought a can of spray frosting for Ali to spell out the Happy Birthday. I added the Jason on the graham cracker for good measure. Ali said earlier that she wanted to hear about sorority life; I felt it was important to demonstrate the transferability of puffy paint skills to frosting decorations. :-) Unfortunately it was very, very cold for Thanksgiving, so we didn't get to play outside much. Too bad, because Will is in love with all things with wheels and with animals. So, we were really looking forward to our visit. Although he was very excited to spot the tractor (mostly used for spreading horse and donkey manure this time of year. . .), it was just too cold for much more than a quick photo op. Yes, even in his fully decked out snow gear, the wind was brutal.We just got Will his new winter coat last weekend, and it's a size too big (wishful thinking that it will last for next winter, too). Sadly, it contributed to him falling over and scraping his forehead on our front porch yesterday. He bent forward to get on his knees/stomach to scoot back off the step, and he just fell over flat on his face onto the pavement. He was two body lengths away from the step, so I didn't sense the safety issue and wasn't close enough to grab him. Although, as with most kid falls, it was so quick. . . . The coat goes down to mid-thigh length so he doesn't have the same bend at the waist as with his baby coat.

Thanksgiving Fun

After a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, the grandkids put on their new Christmas jammies for a group picture! Carter (9), Lily (2 1/2), Lexi (18 mos), Will (18 mos) and Ali (11)
Will and Lexi

Will and Lily

Ali reading to Lily and Lexi

We had a mostly good night's sleep. Will went to sleep in his pack 'n play at regular time (7:30ish) but barking dogs (including Rachel) woke him up at 10:30. When I picked him up, he went right to sleep -- on me. Jason and I let him sleep with us for the night, and it went ok. Luckily when the guys got up at 7, I could sneak back to sleep for a few more hours alone.

A Sort of Healthy Recipe that Tastes Great

I was looking online yesterday for a zucchini bread recipe that was semi-nutritious and found this one that I edited just slightly. I highly recommend it; I have no pictures because we ate up one loaf and the second had to be wrapped away for Thanksgiving before it tempted us!

Banana Zucchini Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bread

Dry ingredients:

1 cup white flour

1 cup wheat flour

1 cup oats (I used my Quaker quickoats)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup applesauce (this is the amount in a snack cup)

3-4 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp vanilla

Other ingredients:

2 cups zucchini, grated, with excess water squeezed out

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl and set aside. In large bowl or mixer bowl, beat eggs. Add the rest of the wet ingredients to eggs and mix. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients at a time into the wet mixture and mix until incorporated. Fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips. Bake for 45-50 minutes in two loaf pans that have been sprayed with Pam.

I covered my pans lightly with foil for the last 10 minutes since the loaves were getting dark on top.

Eating Out With Kids

Well, it only took me a year and a half, but I have developed an appreciation for family restaurants. We've spent the last 5 years avoiding them, but now we've got our own mac 'n cheese eating, milk-bubble blowing little buddy to take with us!

We semi-regularly eat lunch at Panera with Will, and we've been out to a pancake house for brunch a few times. But we've only had dinner out a few times - mostly because we aren't out on weekend evenings. Saturday we decided to tackle errands after Will's afternoon nap. After we stocked up on snow gear for Will at REI, it was dinner time. We tried Rock Bottom Brewery but the line was too long. I wanted the California Pizza Kitchen next door to it, but Jason vetoed. So, we went across the parking lot to Red Robin. I was very impressed - from the less than 10 minute wait, to the quick mac 'n cheese, to the refills of mandarin oranges, to the football playing on TVs (boy, this kid loves football!), to the balloon on the way out. Oh, and Jason and I each had time to enjoy our adult beverage since Will was content and not fussing about the fact that it was an hour past his bedtime. He's actually very well behaved (usually) when we eat out, because he likes to eat and he loves to people watch.

And so there it is. In the week leading up to Thanksgiving, I am thankful for restaurants that hand out crayons and serve milk in plastic cups with straws.

[Editor's note: the picture is pb&j at home for lunch on Saturday. I had managed to clear his plate but not wash his face before he popped his pacifier back in to chew on. Better to bite the pacifier than people!]

Almost 18 Months

At almost 18 months old, Will has become such an interesting little person! He seems to understand all of the words that he hears and can point to a lot of things when asked such as yours and his body parts (ears, nose, mouth, belly button, feet) and the pictures of animals in his books (pig, cow, horse, dog, cat). I've started a list of the words that he regularly says in the sidebar. They are in the order that he started using them. Well, the Mama and Dada were early words, then he stopped, and now they're back, so they get top billing. He was saying "buh-bye" last month but hasn't been saying it recently, so it's not on the list.

As grown up as Will often seems, he's still a real cuddler when he tired. And he loves his blankets at all time of the day. We have a half dozen, and they - like his pacifiers - are interchangeable (thank goodness!) so we can always swap out clean ones. About a month ago when it started getting colder at night, we gave him a thicker blanket as a cover in addition to his regular receiving blanket that he holds. He actually prefers to hold the thick blankets, as well, versus using them as a cover.

He is also obsessed with his Boppy pillow and doesn't allow anyone else to use it. In the picture below, Jason has been allowed to get as close to the pillow as it allowed; but don't you dare rest yourself on it!By Sunday morning, four blankets were in the family room: the two from Saturday morning and the two he brought with him this morning. Here he is assembling them all and then heading to get his Boppy pillow so he can snuggle back in.