Da Bears

Raising our child in Chicago, of course he has to have a Bears jersey! For the past few weeks, he's been wearing it on Sundays. (He wears his K-State shirts on Friday and Saturday.) But, this week we saved it for school on Monday, since the Bears were playing the Packers on Monday Night Football.

Here's our little fan on the way to school on Monday morning. His spirit obviously paid off - the Bears won (in a nail biter)! Ha, that actually reminds me of his "Bears" picture last season: http://shieldsinthecity.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html

Hmm, I'm new to the links, so not sure how to get just that specific post instead of all of September. Well, enjoy them all as you scroll down to September 26th.

Crayons are Fun!

Will's daycare teachers had been talking about how much he loves art time (and playground time), so we finally got him paper and got out his little 8-pack of crayons. He's been enjoying them for a few weeks, and I got this great picture on Sunday morning.

Cheese! And crayons!
Hmmm. . .which page next?Look, Mama, I can use both hands to color!

(And hold all 8 crayons at once. . .)

All About Me

This month at daycare is "All About Me," where each kid has one day where circle time is to learn about them. Today was Will's day, so I needed to get a picture of him. Isn't he adorable in his fall jeans and polo shirt? His Powercat pacifier is cute, too, but I wish he wasn't so dependent on it. He's been a bit of a bully at daycare this week, so we think his teeth are bothering him again. All except one canine tooth and his 2-year molars are in, so not sure what happening. But, he's chewing on everything (including people!!!) right now.

Here are a few pictures of him enjoying his new Puppy touch-and-feel book and his Lego table - both great deals from last weekend's garage sale.

First (Non-Family) Babysitters

On Thursday and Friday, I spent a lot of time getting stuff ready for our subdivision garage sale (luckily held inside the church gym since it poured this morning)! I haven't received my final tally (or proceeds) yet, but I think I cleared enough to pay for my purchases and the baby-sitter!

Will stayed home on Friday evening with Ms. Jillian who used to be an assistant teacher at his daycare. She left this year to focus on her senior year of college but she sent home notes with the kids saying she was available to baby-sit. Sold! Hopefully one of these days Jason and I can get another date night, because Will did really well with her.

On Saturday morning our next door neighbor came over to watch him which also went great. She's a high school teacher and empty nester, so she loves Will. She also loves Rachel and has a Shepherd of her own. Thank goodness, because she was very understanding of Rachel's need to go outside to potty every 5 minutes. Yesterday we suspected a bladder infection and today it was confirmed (by the vet $135 later with exam, lab, and meds. . . argh!). Last night when I was at the sale, I just left Rachel tethered outside, but this morning there was the rain so she had to keep going in and out. Our neighbor was also super sweet to come back over while Will was napping so I could take Rachel to the vet.

Except for the frequent urinating, Rachel seems to be in normal health and spirits - enjoying, as always, Will's affections! He has taken such interest in her recently. He's always enjoyed chasing and watching her, but now he's hugging and kissing her and saying "dog."

15 Month Stats

Will had his doctor's appointment on Monday and I have posted his stats in the sidebar. Jason said the doctor didn't comment on his size (good, bad or indifferent) or offer up his percentiles, so I just popped them into a calculator online. It seems reliable! :-) Actually, it seems consistent with where he's been, so I think it's reliable.

• Weight: 25th percentile


• Height: 65th percentile


• Head: 97th percentile

The doctor asked if Will could say six words. Mmmm, probably not. He only regularly says dog right now. He's done mama and dada in the past and will tell you that a cow says moo when asked. And everyday he points at his belly button (or Jason's or mine) and says a word. Sometimes he doesn't chat much at all, and other times he has a long monologue of indecipherable words. As expected, the doctor said that it's likely that he hasn't focused on the speech since he's always been more physically focused. The kid can scale our staircase in about 5 seconds, so I don't think he has time to talk about it! :-) We're aware that we need to be doing more to encourage his speech, so we'll keep working on ourselves!

Tomorrow and Saturday is the neighborhood children's clothing and gear sale in the church gym. I can't wait to shop! I'm a seller, too, and hope that I break even or better! I've got some of the big stuff to sell (bouncy seat, swing, bassinet), so hopefully that makes up for the potty seats, long-sleeved t-shirts, and books that I plan to buy.

This picture of Will is from Sunday morning when I went to go get him at 9 a.m. I took one picture of him stretched out on his tummy and then he flipped over and yawned and stretched as I got this one. You can see why he loves to stay in his crib for 12+ hours. He's got his "TV," books, Froggy and Seahorse, a pacifier, and a blanket. This kid would be set if we had milk service to his room. Thank goodness for overnight diapers!

15 1/2 Months (With Froggy)

I took a few pictures on Friday evening to memorialize Will's cute preppy outfit: khaki pants, navy polo shirt and GAP jean jacket. The jacket was just a size-check, because it's starting to get cooler. I was thrilled that it still fits! Since I had the camera out, I tried to get some Froggy pictures. Froggy is sure shrinking! We have Will's 15 month appointment tomorrow, so I'm eager to see his stats. He seems so big to me these past few weeks!

Smarty Pants

Of course every parent think their child is the cutest, smartest, funniest, cleverest child in the world. . . .but mine really is! :-)

And I think all of this about a boy who has only said the words "mama," "dada," "up," "ball," and "moo," and those last three are only decipherable in context!

Will doesn't talk much, but he does have great command over his nonverbal responses, so I feel like we're having real conversations. We're certainly getting our messages across to one another. He shakes his head "yes" and "no," in response to our questions, and he points at pictures or objects that he wants or to identify an object. And, he just runs and grabs the things he wants that are within his reach (including things we didn't know were within his reach! Ha ha!). He also responds to our instructions such as getting his shoes or putting something away.

Will's current favorite thing to hear is, "Do you want to go outside?" To which he vigorously shakes his head "yes," and runs to the door and starts pulling on the knob. He also gives a big head nod and a run for the stairs if you ask, "Do you want to go upstairs?"

He loves reading, and we let him take board books to bed with him. On weekend mornings, we often find him sitting up in bed and flipping through a book - having never cried to let us know he was awake.

He may not be the most verbally advanced 15 month old out there, but he's the most advanced one in our house, and we're thrilled with how many new things he shows us every day!!

All Boy

Will loves to dig in the mulch in the front yard and in the rocks in the back yard. When we got back from a bike ride this evening, he spent some time working in the bed next to the garage. Then our next door neighbor stopped by to return our cooler, which he borrowed for their annual summer party which was last night. We stopped by and enjoyed all of their yummy food, drink, and hospitality. Will found a new spot to deposit his mulch, and then wanted to take it into the garage.

But not before I asked him to demonstrate "Grandpa Face!" It looks a little Popeye, here, but it's pretty hilarious. Grandpa Ed taught him that face last weekend, and he and Jason have been practicing it!

And then after a little more digging and some exploring up and down the sidewalk, Will fell and skinned his knee. It was bleeding a little but he didn't cry. But then he fell a second time and it started gushing and there were tears. Mama was so sad, too! Here we are cleaning the knee in the kitchen sink before he got a giant band-aid on it. We put him in pants for the rest of the night so he wouldn't mess with it.

Growing Up

Our little guy is just growing up so fast! He can climb up and down the stairs; knows how doorknobs work and turns them when he wants to go out (but thankfully can't actually open a closed door); and gets just as excited as Rachel with the phrase, "Do you want to go outside?"

On Saturday, Will's booster seat tray was in the dishwasher during dinner time, so he got to eat off the table. And he's been very successful with his fork. I think we need to get him bigger spoons, because the ones we have are too small to keep anything on. This kid loves his fruit!And starting Thursday afternoon, Will gets to ride facing forward! I didn't see it until Sunday evening, so he'd had some time to get used to it, but apparently he was a little freaked out the first ride! Most kids turn at one year old, but our seat is rated to be backwards until 35 pounds, and his feet weren't kicking the back of the seat until recently, so we left him backwards for an extra three months. But, here he is world!

Will's eating his afternoon snack in the car so we could get on the road to our favorite weekend spot: the health club indoor pool. We had another fun Sunday afternoon swimming as a family. We just joined in August, but he's already getting so much more assertive about splashing and jumping in the water. It's a lot of fun to watch!

So Sleepy

We had an exhausting holiday weekend! The guys did lots of errands, and I spent two of the three days at work. Will and Jason were ready to cheer on the Wildcats on Saturday afternoon, but after a big trip to the grocery store in the morning, Will just passed out during lunch. That's pb&j in each hand and head on shoulder. This is the first time we've had a sleeper during a meal.

We went to the elementary school playground before dinner to wear off a little more energy, and Will surprised me with walking all the way back home while I pushed the stroller. Two blocks seems like a long way for a little guy, but he actually "ran" most of the way - stopping only to collect a handful of twigs along the way. It was adorable!

One Year Ago Today. . .

a determined Will found his toes! One day ago, a determined Will found the doorknob and was really close to opening it! Wow, what a difference a year makes.

Workin' Workin' Workin'

It's that time of year again! Tax time! (September 15th is the extended deadline for companies to file.) I'm staying busy - including a quick business trip to NYC on Tuesday and Wednesday - and, as you can see from the pictures below, so is Will. He enjoyed helping Uncle Ryan with some of his work when he came to spend the evening with us.

Ok, let me read you this, and you add it to our database.

Whoa! Have you seen how many text messages we got today! Do they ever stop?!