Christmas Weekend

We have had a great three day weekend celebrating Christmas with my parents and brother. They got here on Saturday morning and Will quickly walked them through the nuances of train operations. We gave Will another set of tracks and trains for Christmas, so now his table is even busier! Grandpa Roger's giant balloons were a huge hit. After the red one got popped, an orange one replaced it.

After playing hard all day, we let Will open one present before bed. He chose a present from Uncle Ryan: a matchbox car and stickers! The car went to bed with Will. The adults stayed up and continued our pool tournament.

Look at this special surprise waiting under the tree on Christmas morning! It was greeted with a "Whoa!" and many smiles. We opened up presents and then enjoyed a delicious brunch!

The grand finale gift was from Daddy: Will's first set of golf clubs! He's been playing with our clubs this past year - mostly my lefty clubs - and clearly demonstrated that he is left-handed, so we could finally buy him his own.

Here he is giving a putting demonstration. Looks like he's used to using a belly putter and will have to redo his grip with the smaller clubs.

Super excited about the tractor! He scooped up his blankets and cup and dumped them out (and repeat).

The afternoon was seasonably cold, so Will bundled up and took Grandma and Grandpa on a bike ride. They hadn't seen him ride his bike before this trip.

On Christmas night we used our new ping pong paddles and balls (gift from Ryan) to have a playoff. Ryan also made up a batch of his famous egg nog. Delicious! A very fun (and filling) weekend was had by all!

Christmas Time In the City

I LOVE big cities during the holidays! There are so many things to do, and the lights and decorations are so beautiful! One of our holiday traditions has been to spend an evening at the Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza (i.e. the German Holiday Market). We picked a nice evening to go last night; the temperatures were relatively mild and the crowd wasn't horrible. Will and I went into the Sweets House for a cookie after potato pancakes bombed (although he did love the applesauce). We decided not to get "dark chocolate cat tongues" but opted, instead, for a large gingerbread cookie in the shape of a reindeer.

Starting in on the gingerbread cookie. Uncle Ryan is enjoying his Gluwein - a traditional spiced wine. This was one of the few times that we could get Will to sit in the stroller. Usually we just used it to hold our stuff.

We went to Macy's on State Street in the Marshall Field building to see the Christmas Tree in the Walnut Room before heading home.

I was also very impressed with these trumpets decorating the outside of the building.

And the window displays were lovely. We were all saying a lot of Will's other favorite phrase, "Look at that!"

All we have let to cross off our holiday event to do list is Zoo Lights. We'll see if we get to that. It was so cold when we went last year!

All By Myself

One of Will's favorite thing is say is that he'll do it (or he did it) "all by myself." I need to get a video because he says it "I did it ahhllll by my-self." Here's a cute picture from this weekend when he put on his purple hat ahhllll by him-self but then decided he didn't want to add pants or shoes, so we just watched Daddy out the front door instead of going out ourselves. And he continues to love having his Rachel around.

New Room Assessment

Will moved into his new room at daycare a month ago. Here's his "One Month Move Assessment" from his teacher:

"Observations: Will is doing very well in the room. He quickly adjusted to our daily routine. He sits well for circle time and participates in all group activities. Will loves to do art projects! He's always the first one to the table. Will has a very positive attitue and terrific sense of humor. He is talking more & more each day. Will enjoys building with blocks. He's so creative and is very focused when he's involved in everything. He is aware of what is going on around him. Will has fantastic table manners! We love having Will as a part of our class and all of his friends love to be around him.

Goals: Sometimes Will needs a few reminders to follow directions. He loves to act silly and follow his friends & make them laugh. With an extra reminder, he uses his listening ears."

Happy Holidays

I'm Two!

Conversations with Will this morning:

W: I want to watch Thomas on TV. Two Thomases (holding up 2 fingers).
Me: Ok; we can watch two Thomases because you're two years old.
W: I two! (holding up 2 fingers).
Me: How old is Mommy?
W: Mommy 3 (holding up 3 finger).
Me: Mommy is thirty-three.
W: Thirty three?
Me: Yes, three - three. And daddy is thirty five.
W: Thirty five?
Me: Yes, three and then five.
W: (Practicing his three and five hands). . . Daddy's old!
Me: (Laughing) Yes, daddy's old. Is mommy old?
W: Nooooo.....Only Daddy old.. . . .Mommy old, too. I'm not old. Daddy old and Mommy old, but I'm not old. I'm two!

Last night I got home after Will had gone to bed but I smelled a stinky diaper and went in to investigate. Sure enough, time for a diaper and jammie change. Then he was all wound up after that and wanted to play - even though it was 9 p.m. I lay with him in his bed for awhile to settle him down but he was laughing and being silly and he got a chance to play his favorite game: I got your nose! We do that to him sometimes, but he has elevated the game to a new level. . . .

W: (Grabbing my nose) I got your nose!
Me: Oh no, what are you going to do with my nose?!
W: (Pretending to toss it in his mouth) Chomp! I eat your nose!
Me: You can't eat my nose or I won't be able to smell anything!
W: (Pretending to cough it back up into his hand) Here your nose! I give it back! (And then he "reattaches" it.)

Wonderland Express

Jason took Will to the Chicago Botanic Garden to see their Wonderland Express train display, and he loved it! Jason needs to email me some pictures to post, but for now, here's a link to a promotional video from their website. Will's reactions were pretty similar to the excited kids in this video.

http://www.chicagobotanic.org/wonderland/

Christmas Lights Trolley

Our homeowner's association organized a trolley tour again this year to drive us around town to see all of the great Christmas lights. Our neighborhood is actually one of the most consistently decorated ones, so I wonder if we're on everyone else's tours?! This was the best house - although there were two or three others very close - and the only one where the trolley stopped and let us out to explore it up close.

Will can count up to 20. I wonder if he can count down? His favorite at this house was the waving Santa in the window above the "Believe" sign.

And we finished up the night with a pizza party. Santa also greeted us as we got off the trolley with candy canes. Will happily took a candy cane and was smiling at Santa, but we didn't press our luck with a photo op.

Growing Up

Will keeps reminding me that he's not a baby or toddler anymore. Mostly it's his great memory that does it. Last week I was wildly unsuccessful at sneaking books and a Nerf football into our grocery cart without him noticing. But the best is this conversation that we had last night recapping the Christmas tree decorating. Will brought up Uncle Ryan after seeing his picture. I reminded him how much fun it was to have Uncle Ryan over recently and here's how the conversation went:

W: Uncle Ryan decorate Christmas Tree. . . .Daddy did it. . . Will did it.
Me: Did Mommy help?
W: No.
Me: What did Mommy do?
W: Mommy sat on the couch and watched.

Christmas Spirit

Since we had to write off Thanksgiving this year, we launched right into Christmas as soon as we could. This included a Sunday morning trip to get a tree at the small zoo near our house. We went to the same place last year (in the snow), and I think this is a great tradition to continue. Free admission to the zoo to spend 10 minutes checking out the animals (pigs, llamas, ducks, goats, horses, fox, deer); 10 minutes in the gift shop warming up and looking at ornaments; then 10 minutes outside watching Jason pick the perfect tree! In continuing with tradition, Uncle Ryan came out to string the lights and decorate the tree. This year he got some "help" from his biggest fan for a few minutes until he was too tired (and grouchy) to continue and had to retreat to Mommy's lap and/or the TV room.

After dinner and after a super quick bath, Santa pajamas were donned and smiles came out for the lighting of the tree! For the adult dinner after Will went to bed, we had prime rib and sweet potato brulee to practice our recipes for Christmas Eve.
Another beautiful tree - picked by Jason, decorated by Ryan, and admired by Lisa!

Still Thankful

Thanksgiving was cancelled at our house this year, but I'm still thankful for my boys and our usual good health! Will was sent home from daycare at 4 p.m. on Wednesday after his nap with a 102 degree temperature. He was a very sad little guy for the next 2 1/2 days with a temperature between 102 and 103.8, no appetite (thankfully he was still thirsty), and no energy. We took him to the pediatrician on Saturday morning by which time the fever had broken and he was doing a bit better. Sunday he broke out in a rash on his face and trunk, but didn't seem so much sick as just grouchy from missing an afternoon nap. We had the nebulizer from his RSV in February, so we did a few breathing treatments during the holiday. He didn't mind his "elephant" mask; it looks like a fish to me, but with the trunk piece attached, I could buy off on elephant.

We watched a bazillion On Demand episodes of Thomas, Mickey Mouse, and Dora (well, the same three or four dozens of times each), as well as played the Thomas "Day of the Diesel" iPad app. Here he's doing the memory card game. He's crazy good at the game - and operating the iPad. Both my iPad and Jason's have that app, but he likes to claim my iPad for his. He laid further claim to it moments after this photo but throwing up on it. All was well; Will, the iPad and the couch all cleaned up just fine.

On Friday morning (well, closer to noon), we just had to get out of the house, so we walked to Starbucks to share an orange-mango smoothy for lunch. Will chose vanilla milk, as well. He was pretty crabby on the stroller ride to/from, but was pretty good at the store while he drank his milk box.

We were very disappointed to miss our annual trip to Indiana to see Jason's extended family. It's the one (and only) day each year where we see everyone (and anyone), so I guess we'll just keep our fingers crossed for a healthy 2012!

Notes for My Record Book

November 13

• It isn't snowing or raining, so we had to get started on the outdoor Christmas decorations!


• Will wore his new "Thomas undies" for all of 3 minutes today before wetting them. He is currently wearing "Percy undies" over a diaper. The Thomas ones were my great idea after he walked out of his room after his nap not wearing a diaper. He sat on the potty for 10 minutes playing cars before putting on the Thomas undies. Mommy has so much to learn!

November 12

• Family pictures day for our Christmas card. Good thing you only need one or two good ones for a card. . . Mr. Will had his tongue out of his mouth on most of the other ones. I think he was licking his lips where the corners were cracked.

November 10

• First snow of the season. It only lasted a few hours but a small amount accumulated on our deck and lasted overnight since it was frosted/iced over.

Scissors

Will's report cards have recently mentioned that they are practicing with cutting out shapes, so I bought him a two-pack of safety scissors at the store yesterday afternoon when Uncle Ryan was here. After Ryan showed Will how to make snowflakes, Will showed Ryan how to destroy them! He also cut up the anniversary card he recently made for Grandma Joni and Grandpa Roger. . . . A Sunday morning drive through the living room is not complete without scissors and paper to cut!

And this is (part) of the result of an evening and morning cutting with scissors! This was about the time Uncle Ryan decided to go home! :-)

Jason and I enjoyed a fabulous dinner out on Saturday night at The Capital Grille in early celebration of his birthday. We were glad that Ryan agreed to baby-sit after hearing about all of Will's recent sleep woes. Ironically, Will actually fell out of bed last night while we were out, but Uncle Ryan soothed the sleepy, confused boy, and he was back asleep before we got home.

Just Funny

So, literally 30 minutes after I finished my last blog about not rushing potty training, Will decided he wanted to use his potty to "poopy." So, he set up shop in his closet on the potty and sat and played for more than 30 minutes. During that time he chose to drink almost an entire sippy cup of water (and he'd just finished dinner). I though we would have a huge breakthough but - amazingly - he didn't pee or poo! We had fun playing race cars though! Then we put on jammies and went to bed. His nighttime diaper was gigantic this morning from all of that water!

30 Month Check Up

Will had his 30 month check-up yesterday. I was a few weeks early, but I wanted him to get his flu shot early in the season.

The doctor said Will was doing great. The only conversation item was how much interest he was showing in potty training. His thoughts were that peer pressure at school would naturally lead to potty training and not to pressure it (we aren't).

• Height: 36 1/2 inches


• Weight: 29 lbs, 4 oz.


• Head: still big

Will continues to track steady right around 50th percentile for his age. He gained 3 pounds and 3 inches from his 24 month check up. Now I know why all his jeans from last spring didn't fit when I go them out for fall!

I'm happy to report that the 2T coat we bought last winter and rolled the sleeves up on still fits generously this year. He has gained a shoe size, but I'm hoping he'll still fit into last season's snow boots!

Will was not happy about the flu shot but the screaming quickly stopped when he focused on the band-aid design and the Halloween M&Ms that Mommy had stashed in her purse. In this picture he is trying to show off the Dora sticker that he got at check-out but can't get his arm turned out correctly. :-)

Happy Halloween

I have learned this week that candy is a great motivator! And who wouldn't want to give this adorable giraffe some candy?! (Big thanks to my friend Jen who saved Halloween by sending us this costume last minute after the dinosaur that I bought was way too big!) As soon as we got home from daycare (early, of course, since little kids need to trick-or-treat before dinner), Will grabbed his pumpkin and sat still long enough for me to put his giraffe back on. This photo is a little out of order, but I can't figure out how to move pictures around after I upload them. This is our neighbor friend, Jessica, who is three months older than Will.Here he is racing to our first stop at Jessica's house. Since they were out they left the candy on the porch (which is also what we did).

Posing for Mommy as he deposits his first loot into his pumpkin! He was very good about helping himself to only a piece or two out of each bucket. And he said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" to each person with only limited prompting.

Photo op at the next door neighbor's house. They were giving out bags of microwave popcorn.

At the neighbor on the other side of our house, they had a special treat for Will: a red fire engine!

We had been to about 5 house by this point, so he needed to stop to see what was in his pumpkin now - and make room for the fire engine.

We went to about 10 or 12 houses on our street before calling it a night at 6:30 and heading inside for dinner. Will wore these pajamas under his giraffe costume, so getting ready for bed was easy, too! We ate cheese soft tacos, tortilla soup, yogurt and CANDY for dinner. I let him pick two pieces and he picked gross ones: Whoppers and a Dum Dum. He said they were yummy, and that left more good stuff more me, I guess! :-)

Our neighborhood was dark and quiet by 7 p.m. except a few packs of older kids. But most people ran out of candy and were turning off their lights as we were finishing up.

All Aboard!

Above all else, Will loves TRAINS right now. We got him this Thomas starter set last Christmas (although I don't think he got it until Valentine's Day) and he recently has been obsessed with it. He builds tracks all over and ideally is watching an episode of Thomas and Friends On Demand (both his demand and the cable company's system. . .). So we have had our eye out for a train table. Toys R Us ran a section in their past few circulars but I didn't love what they had. We were at Target yesterday for odd and ends and I made the mistake of going near the toy department. Will yelled "Thomas!" and pointed and almost jumped out of the cart. We stopped and he played with a train set on the end of an aisle while I spied an entire train section (hmmm, who knew?). They had this cool "activity table" for a great price, so Christmas arrived at our house yesterday! Will helped me put it together instead of taking an afternoon nap and has been enjoying it ever since.

Now he's hoping that Santa brings more trains and tracks. Mom sprung for one new train ($2.99 Circo brand not that crazy $20.99 for a Thomas one!) while shopping yesterday which bring his total to 4 cars.

Then to make the weekend extra awesome, we were already planning to RIDE the big train into the city! That was an event by itself as there were 20+ stops where we got to "pick up people" and he could practice saying, "all aboard!"

Be sure to notice the Thomas clutched in his hand. . . . .and the expression of pure joy on his face! :-) We rode the train to Union Station; met Uncle Ryan for a yummy brunch; and rode the train back home. A wonderful day!

Game Day

As with other K-Staters, we've been showing our pride and sporting lots of purple recently due to the great success of the football program this season. Saturday was a beautiful fall day, so we did a little yard work before catching the afternoon game. Everyone already knows the result of the game, so no need to discuss that. We actually were on our way to Target for odds and ends when while loading Will into the car he spied his bucket and toys in the garage, bolted from the car to grab them, and ran away into the front yard. I didn't see any reason not to enjoy the beautiful day, so I joined him in the sunshine and said Target could wait.

We didn't have any responsibility except to enjoy ourselves, so we moved around some small piles of leaves and soaked in the sunshine. Here Will is carrying a few from one pile to another. Doesn't he look like such a big boy?!

Bedtime Stories

After living it up on vacation by sleeping in a big bed (more precisely, Mommy's bed), Will decided he did not want to go back to sleeping in a crib by himself! His immediate solution was to climb out of his crib and head for the master bedroom to find mommy. So we felt like we needed to convert the crib. Originally we were going to go straight to the full size bed (the back of the crib as the headboard) but everytime we talked up the big bed Will cried that he didn't want a big bed. So, we just took the front off the crib and now it's a "day bed." It most certainly isn't a night bed. . . Will enjoys playing in his bed and he likes me to lay on it with him, but he's been really hit or miss on sleeping there this week. It takes an hour plus to get him to bed and then whether he stays there is another story. A few nights he slept with me (Jason was traveling) and one night he slept all the way through. So, I guess we'll see. But we're all tired. . .

This picture is him hiding from the camera. He's saying, "no more cheese!"

Our Big Roadtrip

This is a long post with lots of pictures, but we had such a fun-filled 8-plus days on our trip that I wanted to remember all of the great memories! We hadn't been to Kansas City since Will's 1st birthday and we hadn't been to McPherson in even longer, so we wanted to get there this fall. I have a lot of vacation left to use, so Will and I took out in the MDX for our roadtrip on a Sunday morning with Jason flying in the next Friday to join us!

Will was an exceptional traveler and wonderful companion. I'd also like to think my planning of no more than 3 hours in the car and lots of fun and tiring activities helped with that! First stop was Davenport, Iowa for the first of many chicken nuggets and apple juices. The original plan was to go to a children's museum in Iowa City, but we got a late start out from home and I had no idea how pokey Will was during a meal, so we skipped the museum due to time and stopped to play at a park in Davenport. That wore Will out the necessary amount to get us the next 3 hours to our evening stop in West Des Moines.

I highly recommend the Hilton Garden Inn in West Des Moines where they have a delicious breakfast (Will ate 3 plates of eggs. . . I need to look for that photo) and an indoor baby pool. We swam before bed on Sunday and after breakfast on Monday before heading to Olathe to visit my friend Nikki and her family. Will LOVED Lindsay's toys -- especially her kitchen where he "cooked" for hours!

Tuesday morning was a trip to the popular Deanna Rose Farmstead in Overland Park which is FREE and has tractors! I must say that road construction was a huge hit with Will who pointed out diggers, tractors, cement mixers, etc, to me along our drives.We met my friend Mandi and her boys Mitchell and Maverick who were old pros at the farm and showed Will all the ropes -- like how to scale the fence at the baby goat exhibit!

This picture is dark but shows how Will sleeps. The little sliver of bed to the right of Will's head was my space to sleep! We confirmed that he had outgrown his pack 'n play since he could climb out and he slept with me all 8 nights. He also slept with me our first night back home since he showed us (several times) that he could climb out of his crib. We were shocked to hear his bedroom door open!

On Wednesday, Nikki and I took the kids to the Louisburg Cider Mill where they had their small pumpkin patch set up. The corn kernal silo was a big hit, as always. There were also two pigs out on the loose which you can see to the right of the picture below.

And no trip (or so I had heard, so I had to indulge!) is complete without the apple cider donuts. Will and I each had two and then had no interest in lunch before starting the next stage of our roadtrip: to Grandma's house in McPherson!

My parents were thrilled to have Will visiting and bought him this ATV to use at their house. The "dump trunk" on back was a big hit, as it was filled over and over with rocks, paver stones, sticks, balls, dog toys, you name it, as it was driven inside and outside.

I talked a lot before our trip about their "two puppies" to get Will excited, and he thought "Maggie puppy" was tons of fun! She seemed to like having him around, too, and showed him how to use the doggy door to/from the back yard. . . .

Finally at 2 years, 4 months old, Will got a real haircut. We took him to my mom's hair dresser on Thursday night. He sat quietly and patiently on my lap and watched in the big mirror over my shoulder.

Look at that great looking kid! I liked this smile and his haircut, but it's one more shot of him filling up the ATV trunk.

Finally it was time to pick up daddy, so we drove to KCI on Friday morning to get Jason. We were excited to spend the weekend with our great friends, Keith and Desiree, and their son, Aiden. The boys played together like the little buddies we always hoped they would be. Aiden did an amazing job of sharing his toys with Will and being patient with the younger kid.

Will was in heaven with all the truck and construction toys that Aiden had! Wow, oh, wow!

On Saturday we enjoyed a beautiful day at the Kansas City Zoo. The polar bear was diving and putting on quite a display, and the Sky Tram was very cool! Aiden got a huge, bright blue, stuffed snake and Will got a super soft zebra for being such good boys all day!

Sunday brought an early alarm and more miles in the car as Will and I drove to Manhattan for the 15th annual Kappa Alpha Theta WildKAT Chase philanthropy 5K. We were so happy to catch up with some more good friends!

Since Will sat in the car and then sat in the stroller, he was ready to run and play after the race. We walked from Aggieville to City Park and played on their awesome new playground before driving home and collecting Jason (who spent the day at NASCAR) before doing a late night drive to West Des Moines to get a start on our long drive home.

We had a wonderful week, and I'm so happy to have shared the time with our family and friends! I also really loved getting to spend so much quality time with my little boy!