William

William is growing and changing so much every day. Every time we go out people comment that he is such a happy baby, and he truly is. He continues to be on a fantastic sleeping schedule which I think contributes to his overall good mood.



Eating has been far more challenging with William, but we are working on it. William likes what he likes and is MUCH more hesitant to try new foods than Lily was. With Lily, she would at least TRY anything that we put in front of her. Definitely not so with William. His list of acceptable foods includes: hot dogs, chicken nuggets, blueberries, pineapple, kiwi, pears, applesauce, Cheez-Its, oatmeal, pancakes, graham crackers, Cheerios, goldfish, (sometimes) pasta with Parmesan cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, and corn. This may seem like a decent list, but it gets old fast. A fair number of these we had to keep trying again and again until they became acceptable, and I hate wasting food. But, at least Terra is always willing to clean up the leftovers. Our biggest challenge is vegetables. On most days, he eats none. I tried to hide small smushed up bits of carrots in his applesauce one day, and he actually threw up. Not spit up - threw up - everything that he had already eaten. It was a great tactic to deter me from trying any further sneaky ideas.



As I said, William likes what he likes. And he likes Cheerios. He went into the pantry, got out the Cheerios, and brought them to me saying "Na na" which is is "word" for "I want this" or "I want more". Yay for communication!! I'm getting really excited for the next steps in talking. William doesn't say many words yet, but we are so close, I can just feel it. By 15 months, Lily had over 20 words in her vocabulary. William is not even going to be close to that, but that's just fine because he communicates in his own way. Plus, I know the "naming explosion" is just around the corner (usually around 18 months), and by 2, he'll probably be talking up a storm (which does not feel that far away).

William is so quick to destroy any space that he enters and has a pension for getting into things that he should not. The pantry often is a prime target for his destructive ways. As you can see, he is loading up on marshmallows before he gets caught. Naughty boy. He also decided to try the dishwasher detergent the other day which prompted both a call to poison control and relocation of this and other items.


More sneaking and destruction

Climbing is the ultimate activity for this little guy. He loves, loves, loves to climb. Here he is, of course, trying to climb through the window into the kitchen (a vestige from before the addition of the hearth room).

William has also learned to move the step stool so that he can reach things that were thought to be out-of-reach.

His climbing knows no bounds, and you can see why he must be watched like a hawk.

More climbing. William has stood on the built-in seat before. Slippery when wet? William laughs in the face of danger.

One of William's favorite toys is actually Lily's toy. Lily received a Strawberry Shortcake remote-controlled car for her birthday, and William adores it. He also loves his big blue ball. He, of course, enjoys putting things in any container and dumping them out. He also plays with the play instruments quite a bit, loves pushing things like trucks, cars and trains, riding on his Radio Flyer fire engine, and tries to get on the bike every time we are in the garage (c'mon Spring!). He really likes the tunnel he received from meema for his birthday as well. He truly loves to be active and play the day away. He has, however, just gotten into reading books. He received a book from Santa called Beep! Beep! Peekaboo! that he wants to read over and over again. Other favorites include Pat Them Gently, Peek a Who, and Farm Animals. He brings me many, many books to read, but normally we only get through a couple pages before he tires of them. I'm really enjoying sharing this activity with him though, and Lily has gotten a kick out of revisiting some of her old board books.

William has quickly figured out how many things work. He generally gets the idea that you put the phone up to your ear, brush your hair with a hairbrush, and glasses go on your eyes. However, he puts all these things to the back to his head when he is playing which cracks me up.

William has also figured out how to go up and down the stairs while stilling standing (by holding onto the banister) and how to get on and off the couch.

Another mechanical thing William has figured out is his nighttime aquarium. When William wakes up, he turns it on and will happily listen to it for quite some time. (He very rarely cries when he wakes up unlike our little Lily when she was a baby.) When I come into the room to get him, the first thing he does is turn it off before I pick him up. What a precious little energy-saving boy!

Of course, he has to clap for himself when he turns it off. Actually, William can quite frequently be found saying, "Yay!" and clapping for himself throughout the day. We feel the same way, little one.