The Youngest Foodie

Baby in high chair photo #23. I know, it's all I post anymore! We have established a really good bedtime routine in the past month, and it is predicated on sitting down to dinner at 6:30 (in order to be in the bath at 7 and in bed at 7:30). So, we usually only have about 10-20 minutes of playtime after work/school, and it isn't always conducive to pictures. So, there are dinner pics!

Ready for his first taste of Chipotle: sharing Mommy's veggie bol
Loving his vanilla yogurt dessert much more than the Chipotle!

Will ended up picking out most of the black beans and eating some rice and a little of the other toppings. Lest you fear he went hungry, he also had an entire (small) banana and the yogurt. He was full enough that he was sharing with Rachel. This is his daily sign that he's finished, or about to be!

Class Clown

I've learned a lot about Will and his popularity at daycare the past two weeks as I have been doing drop off and pick up. He's the second oldest now in his class (8 weeks to 15 months is the infant room age bracket), and all the other babies and their parents love him! (And we always knew the teachers loved him!)

Today when I got there, he was working the room. He bopped over to Adrian who was standing in an exersaucer and spun a few of the toys and made him smile. Then he moved on to grab the beach ball and bounce it around - every move intently studied by Blake. All the while chitter chatter is pouring out of his mouth, and Miss Heather was laughing. And this was in the 30 seconds while I stood outside the door taking off my shoes!

Adrian's parents have both told me how they love Will, and they've only been there 3 weeks! On Monday a brand new baby started (only 10 weeks old; I saw her nervous mom dropping her off as I was leaving.). When I picked Will up at the end of the day, I asked about how the new mom and new baby did, and the teacher said, "well, the mom was nervous, but she sure got a big laugh out of Will before she left this morning!"

My son - the class clown, the politician and the peace maker!

{Note about this picture from Sunday: he's actually putting the cow in the barn! Wow! Oh, wait, that's the chicken coop, but he put the chicken in first! No pants, but at least he's got socks on. . . }

My Mother's Day Presents

Obviously my very best Mother's Day present is to have a great little baby boy! But, how fun is this little gift that he made at daycare? It's a baby magnet! That's his handprint that his floating head is resting on. :-)

I love that they got his big bald head and goofy smile. That's my boy! And now I have something to hold his school papers on the fridge. You'll notice his daily report from Friday. He ate Alot of his lunch: Hotdog, broccoli, bread, beans & pears. Oh, and his fave grahams which he gets every afternoon between 3 and 4. Below the feedings section is naps. On Friday and today he only took one hour long nap right before lunch. Yikes was he a grouchy monster by the time we got home! Good thing he ate a lot of lunch both days, because we didn't even attempt lunch on Friday and tonight I had to spoon feed him applesauce and vanilla yogurt through tears. He was better once he ate up a little and then tried some of the chicken and pasta I had made while he was napping in his carseat. Bath time was quick and bedtime was quicker.

Big thanks to my super mother in law for sending me these beautiful flowers! I was working at home the day they were delivered, and I was so excited that for once the delivery man brought something for me! :-) I've been enjoying them all week!

All In

Will spent Saturday entertaining me (at least when we weren't both sleeping - this kid slept an awesome 12 hours overnight and two hour-plus naps!) with how intently he plays. Recently he has started to step right into the middle of his track here (this is the broken down exersaucer) to play. And while it may look (it does to me) like he has a ton of toys in this picture, I should put it in perspective that this photo captures the entire one section of the family room where we put all of the toys.

I put Joey there the night before. Will used his face a few times for leverage while dropping small items into the tube. No other real interaction with the baby.

Recovering something that he dropped into the tunnel, so he can examine it and then drop it down again perhaps.

I'm a Mom!

Well, how about that?! My first Mother's Day! I only had to wait 11 1/2 months! (Or 31 years, 10 months, however you're counting) :-) I never imagined how much I would love being a mom to Will. There is no denying the maternal instincts that take over and how intensely you can love and feel an overwhelming need to protect one little person without even thinking about it. If you're a parent, you know what I mean. If you aren't, I probably can't explain it. No one could ever convince me how much it would change me. :-)

Day 2 (day 1 started at 11:47 p.m. - we didn't take any pictures of us that day)
6 months
10 months

Mother's Day! Our self-portrait after our swim with Ryan at his YMCA

Today is about the little guy who means I am a mom and the big guy who made me want to be a mom and who is such a great dad. Unfortunately Jason is traveling this weekend/week/month, but I hope that means he'll be home on our anniversary this year! He only gets to be gone one personal holiday per year, right?! :-) He's about 4 for 8 on anniversaries, I think, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed his work doesn't send him anywhere this year! He did remember with a great email (and promise of a present) when it was Mother's Day in his part of the world yesterday afternoon, and called me today when it was Mother's Day here!

Driving the Truck

Will has learned an important driving lesson this weekend: trucks are much harder to manuever than sports dogs. Yes, I said dogs. He's been running behind his puppy push toy for a week and deftly manuevers it around all obstacles (that he chooses to avoid) to do laps through the house. Today, with the puppy upstairs, he tried to push his truck instead. It was pretty frustrating for him when it wouldn't corner, so I showed him how to ride on the truck instead. He quickly figured out how to get off and on. . .and off and on, and had a fun time! I feel like my camera is too slow to catch all of his great smiles. So many of his pictures end up with the face below. It was a huge funny grin just seconds before! The brown part is the seat that lays down, but Will preferred it up so he had the opening for his feet as he climbed in. With the seat down, it was a little too high to get his leg over.

And, yes, although it was 50 degrees outside, he was traipsing through the house in a diaper and t-shirt. He had on pants on socks earlier, but he's tough to keep still long enough to redress after a diaper change. I just feel lucky to get the diaper on!

Top 5

Traditional names continues to rule in the "name your baby boy" game. According to a press release today, people aren't as inventive with the naming or the spelling of boy names. We definitely followed that rule! We wanted a traditional name, traditional spelling, let this baby grow up to be an international businessman! This year's top boy names:

1. Jacob (again!)
2. Ethan
3. Michael
4. Alexander
5. William

This kid's already a hard worker! He's definitely CEO material!

(Note: in the interest of full disclosure in case you're questioning a prop baby or prop vacuum in comparison to other vacuuming pics, we do have two. Vacuums, that is.)

Funny Games

Will's favorite activities include unloading the kitchen drawers of plastic cups, lids, and bowls, and spreading them throughout the house. Especially popular is walking around with a sippy cup lid clenched between his teeth. I usually assume he's thirsty and fill up a cup with water and attach the lid, but he's not interested in that game!

I'll have to get a picture of one of his other favorite kitchen games: pulling the Leap Frog magnet game off the fridge and throwing it around on the tile floor.

All Boy

This morning we had a crazy schedule. Will woke up early (5:30) and was really clingy, so I wasn't sure if he wasn't feeling well or just sleepy. We were back in bed for an hour nap by 8:30. When we woke up, we went outside to play where Will beelined for the rock pile. I just sat and snapped pictures, as he was pretty oblivious to me!

Sadly, shortly after the fun in the rocks, Will tripped on the patio and bumped his forehead on the cement. He is sporting a road rash, but he's doing fine. He had a busy, busy day playing with his visiting fans: Grandma Hilary and Uncle Ryan. We were going to all go to the zoo this afternoon, but traffic was bad and the weather looked worse. Instead, we played at the house and took a quick trip to the elementary school playground.

Smiles for Uncle Ryan - even with the bump above his eye