we play with play-dough

We made play-dough a couple weekends ago so Will could give it a try. Maybe it was the confusion with having to wear a bib, but first thing he did was try it.

Then there were a few tears- it did not taste very good.

But we showed Will it was for playing with, not eating, and had some fun for awhile. I wish my hand wasn't in the way in the picture on the right, that's a classic.

We made an alligator and made him roar a little bit, then Will smooshed him.

All done!

The story of breakfast

Here's a summary video of a normal breakfast with Will. We start with Cheerios and soy milk, then we usually offer bananas, toast, oranges, and cereal. Eventually he starts insisting on cookies - you'll see about halfway through the video below where he starts pointing off to the right - he's pointing to the cupboard where the cookies are stored. Also around the time he starts insisting on cookies he also is on the brink of a tantrum, so even when he gets his cookie he still can be upset.

Also note at the end that he signs when he's done - waves his hands like that. He's very good at this, although sometimes he changes his mind about being done when we take the food away.

uh-oh remix

Since the posting of the "things that Will says" list about a month ago, there is one utterance that should be added, and that is "uh-oh". I mentioned briefly in the snowman posting about how he would say this when I threw snowballs at things, and he usually uses it appropriately - like when he (or Erin or I) drop something, or when he falls over. Since those things happen frequently, "uh-oh" has become a very common thing for him to say. So I followed Will around with the camera a little bit and captured him at play, then edited it down to show a few choice "uh-ohs". I especially like when he puts his hand over his mouth when he says it.

do cookies go in your ears?

NO, they DO NOT.



oh wait I guess they do.

Dad's clothes are still too big

Will is rapidly growing, but he does not fit into my slippers. He does like to try them on though. He pulled these out of my closet and put them on himself. He does this a lot with Erin and my shoes, actually - although he usually puts them on his arms and walks around waving them, very proud of himself.

Last weekend he also pulled this shirt of mine out of the laundry and tried to put it on by himself. When he couldn't quite do it he took it to me and I helped him get put it on. He had a great time walking around and tripping over it.

The Fort

We built a fort last weekend, it was awesome. Will immediately recognized it as a new fun place to be. No girls allowed except mom.

Mostly we just played with toys and read books in the fort. The sounds of fun were very interesting to Duke so he joined us for a lot of the playing. Also Duke broke the fort a lot so Erin had to spend a lot of time outside the fort making repairs.

At some point Will got tired of sitting around and started exploring. He discovered he could climb in and out of the fort via the couch, so did this over and over for quite a long time while I sat and read the Dora book.

We also played peekaboo some with the blanket-roof.

bath detour

Since Will has taken to walking everywhere now, it came as a mild surprise that he doesn't care if he's wearing clothes or not when he goes for his strolls. A little while ago he "escaped" when we were getting him ready for his bath and went streaking a bit.



I figure the quality of the video is fuzzed out enough that it's ok to share over the internet.

a fun ride for Duke

Even before Will could walk on his own very well, he has really liked to push things around (examples: his lion; the box of cat litter). Well, now that he doesn't need something to hold onto in order to walk around, he still finds good reasons to work on pushing. One thing he likes to do is push our dirty clothes hamper out of the bathroom, and ideally, then crashing down the stairs. Here, he's having fun giving rides to our cats in an old diaper box. Duke is a good, willing participant in this game.

Snowman

Those of you who know Erin and I well know that we like to play in the snow. Well, Erin has a deeper history of snow sculpting/jumping-in than me (anyone ever heard the story about the snow-slide?), but one thing we always try to do together when the circumstances are right is to build a good snowman.
So we've been waiting patiently for the right opportunity to build one and get Will to "help". With all the snow we've gotten lately, it hasn't been very packable, or it would be but at the wrong times of day (like during naptime). Last weekend the conditions were as good as they were going to be so we bundled up and headed outside.



Will looks very cute when he's all bundled up, but he doesn't do much because it's hard for him to move. So we would just pick him up/put him down in different places so he didn't get too bored just standing there.



Something he found very fun was watching when I threw snowballs at things/mom. I would throw a snowball in the air so that it smacked on the driveway. Then Will would say "uh-oh!" and laugh. He also thought it was funny when we threw snow in the air around him.



Here Erin is trying to explain how snowman building works. At this point Will was getting very antsy to get out of his snowpantsy's and back to his Wiis. We eventually completed our awesome snowman (although it was mostly due to Erin's work while Will and I threw snowballs), but by then, Will was really tired of being outside. As you can see.

return of the funny lip noises

This has always been a fun game for Will: first, as a modified version with Grandpa's help, then he discovered the fun of sticking his slobbery fingers in dad's mouth, now here's a good clip of funny lip noises, mom style.





Every few months, he goes through spurts where this becomes almost a constant amusement to him. This time around he's gotten pretty good at making the noise himself but he prefers trying the lips of other people - as many as possible.

The best nap ever.

I mentioned in this month's blog post how difficult it is to separate Will and his Wiis. To clarify, we are usually talking about the Wiimotes, but if those aren't handy, some equally enjoyable things to possess are the Wii-nunchucks, which are accessory controllers that go with the Wiimotes.



Last week Will was happily hauling around both Wii-nunchucks that we own and Erin thought he had cried enough that day so she let him keep them for his nap.



It made for a pleasant surprise for him when he woke up. Got to start playing Wii right away!

bath pictures: 16 months

I can't bring my Wii in the bath?!

Hey, not all the bath pictures can be winners. Granted Will had a rough day yesterday and was a total basketcase by the end of the night, but this picture is actually appropriate for the current stage in Will's attitude development. He's still very sweet most of the time, but he has discovered how to throw a powerful temper tantrum.

I guess the tantrums are all about Will asserting himself as a real person and depending less on mom and dad, or at least letting us know about it if we oppose his wishes. He knows how to use the tools available to him to get what he wants. He's also learning to test his limits - getting into places he knows he shouldn't and doing things we tell him not to do.

With his recent mastery of bipedalism, Will can go where he wants in the house, or even run away when he knows we're going to make him do something he doesn't want to, like put his coat on. If he knows where something is that he wants (like the Wiimotes - or as we refer to them - his "Wiis" (pronounced "wees")), he just goes and gets it/them. He's so happy when he can get things himself that it's very hard (for all of us) when we have to take things away - especially the Wiis. I've gotten pretty good at using distractions and slight-of-hand when we need to put them away for meals/naps/baths/whatever, but if he's on to me, it usually ends with having to pry them from his hands and a very angry and sad boy. Sometimes (like last night), after we've finally gotten him calmed down after putting the Wiis away, we'll put him down for a minute, and before we know it he will have already slid down the stairs on his tummy and gotten them back out of the drawer. Then we start over...

Will is also learning to use language to assert himself. He is starting to speak, use meaningful pointing/gesturing, and even using some sign language - he can fairly reliably sign "more" and "done" during meals. He also tried to send me a message via email.

On a related issue - Erin and I are trying to help Will assert himself and develop independence as he grows up. So this month we completed the weaning process and quit giving him the bottle. The name of the "b-o-double T" could not be spoken around Will without an accompanying meltdown if he didn't immediately get one - this was bad for several reasons, but most specifically, his changing diet required more solid food and needed to de-emphasize liquid nourishment, and it was becoming evident that he wanted the bottle for comfort and not nourishment.
So to replace the bottle, we have worked our way through several models of sippy- and straw-cups. We have a few that work now and I'll say he's doing pretty well. We just have to encourage him to drink a little more often to replace the 10 oz of liquid he was drinking in the mornings with each bottle.
So, appropriately, here are pictures of Will drinking his bathwater last night. He didn't like it much I guess.

One final note: the site hit counter currently reads 1519 visits to Will's Page since 12/11/07. That's almost 900 visits since last month's bath picture post. Thanks for checking in everyone!

the dada song

I mentioned in the "things that Will says" post about the song we sing together where the only word is "dada". Seriously, he sings it all the time, but it has been notoriously difficult to capture on video! So I got some of the song in the video below (although this is kind of the "easy listening" version of the song - he usually sings with more expression and volume), but as you can see I had to shoot it covertly so the video angle is pretty terrible, and in fact the shot is behind a towel for much of the song. I was holding the camera at waist height so he wouldn't notice it... Then he does notice it and quits singing.

Anyway, it's a very special song to me, obviously. So I want to be able to remember it forever.