Will sits in his new chair and thinks about math

Grandma Brenda brought Will some fun things when she visited a week ago, and they have been THE things to play with recently. First, he got this new chair, which he really likes because it's small enough for him to carry around to somewhere he wants to have a seat, and he can climb into it by himself. He sits in it a lot now, and his favorite place to sit is about one foot in front of the TV in the basement. In case you're wondering, that giant sticker he is proudly wearing on his tummy is half of the label to the diaper genie bag dispenser. See if you can find where the other half is.

Grandma also brought Will these cool glasses. So Will got to double his pleasure by trying the glasses on while sitting in the chair.

After he wore the glasses for awhile to feel smart, Grandma unveiled this pretty toy, which in addition to being fun to touch is actually a functioning calculator called an abacus. I'm not sure how it works exactly but there are stories of Chinese and Japanese children who can do complex arithmetic with one of these and get answers faster than another person who punches the numbers into an electronic calculator. That normally takes several years of training but we're starting Will at a young age, since, as Grandma Susan says, he "thinks about math" a lot.

Do you see the other half of the diaper genie label?

awesome shades, dude

Will got some new red sunglasses a few weeks ago and for some reason he likes wearing them. He's always been a fan of mom's or dad's or Aunt Jenna's sunglasses, but never really wanted much to do with the strap-on little guy ones that we've gotten for him in the past. He would instead usually prefer to squint directly at the sun when we play outside. But I guess he likes these new shades.




Probably because he looks so baaad in them.


What do you think YOU'RE looking at? That's right, I got a cookie. I gets what I wants. In FACT, gimme another cookie!


Yeah, that's what I thought.

Grandma & Raisins save the RC Volunteer Banquet

Last Wednesday was the annual Washtenaw County Red Cross Volunteer Recognition Event, and this year Erin was the chief organizer. I was the background music pianist. The event went really well. Will came with Grandma Brenda and entertained us all as the event was getting started. He wasn't dressed as sharply as last year, but was still very cute in his little tie.

Anyway, as mom had to be running around getting things ready, Will started to get a little impatient. He had been sick and was eating irregularly, so Grandma and I guessed he was hungry and got him out a little snack - raisins and juice. After giving him a few raisins, he let us know that he was not going to be happy unless he got to hold and eat the entire box. Soon it became obvious that we had to either give him what he wanted or take him home, as arriving people were being greeted by a screaming mad little guy.

So Grandma saved the day and he got exactly what he wanted - a whole box of raisins.

Then he was happy for a few more minutes before something else made him mad and Grandma took him home.

Easter Willie

Happy belated Easter everyone. We had a very nice one - the Easter Bunny came and Will got some new toys to play with. Also we did an Easter Egg hunt at church which was pretty fun and Will got a balloon. It was hard to beat last-year's Easter getup, but Will had a very nice sweater to wear that Grandma Susan made him - nice work Grandma, it looks great on him.




We took this picture with the camera on timer delay - I couldn't believe it actually turned out as well as it did, so I didn't even care that we weren't quite lined up right.




Will is too young for candies/chocolate yet, so he got some new books and toothbrushes and some sidewalk chalk and other stuff. But DAD got some candies, and I let Will check them out. It turns out that those Cadbury egg things are perfect for holding in a little hand, then throwing. So that was something that Will did for much of the day. At one point, Will whipped one of the eggs right into Duke's face. Duke was a little surprised but he shook it off and we all had a good laugh.

Will gets caught kissing the computer screen

Will worked a lot on the computer at Grandma & Grandpa's house, which was a treat for him because Erin and I rarely let him play with our laptops, even for a second, because he usually messes them up with some random key combination that ends up being the precise sequence for deleting some important file or program.



Anyway, in order to keep him entertained, I set up this visualization to a song that was on the computer so when he pressed buttons the screen was constantly changing. He was so intrigued by the colorful display and the music that he leaned in to give the screen a quick taste, then a couple more. Then by the time I had grabbed my camera he was just kissing the screen over and over. We were really quiet so he didn't know we were watching until I announced myself - as you can see in the video below. Busted!

being silly at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sara's

On our ways to and from Lincoln for my Spring break, we stopped in Peoria to visit Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sara and their cat Sonoma. Will found plenty of things to play with there, but he had the most fun running around after Sonoma and throwing/sucking on her fetching balls (including the yellow soccer ball). Also he had a good time with Uncle Jeff's hat.



Yes, that is in fact one of his socks on his hand in the picture on the left.