Will has a good sense for numbers, as Grandma Susan says - he thinks about math a lot. But even up until about a month ago, he struggled with the numbers 1 - 3, and any other numbers might as well have been a zillion. In fact, he still gets those three confused a bit - when it's about time to get out of the bath but he wants to stay in, I'll tell him he has three minutes, and he'll argue back: "no, TWO!".
When we went to visit Cate last month, all of a sudden he was counting much higher. I don't know what happened, but I heard him count to six at the beginning of a race he was running against himself, when as far as I had heard before he could only reliably count to two. Turns out he could count even higher than that, just can't pronounce "seven".
Since this video, he can kind of say "seven" but usually just pauses and waits for Erin or I to fill in for him. But he also tries to count even higher than ten - usually goes a bit like this though: ...eightnineTEN!!! sicteen, farrteen, TEN!!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
baby sittserr.
The three of us - Erin, Will, and myself - went yesterday morning for the 5-month ultrasound for the baby in mama's tummy. We had been asking Will for the last week or so if he wanted a baby brother, or sister, and he pretty consistently told us he wanted a "baybee sittser". This could have been influenced by recent visits to Cate's house, where he got to play with and hold Cate's baby sister, Claire. Then he changed his mind a couple days ago and started saying he wanted a baby Elmo. So when we went into the ultrasound, we were hoping to just have a healthy version of one of those three types of baby.
The baby is a girl. This is good because Erin has an excuse to fill our house with pink stuff. Also, figure maybe there can be tradeoffs between Will and his sister for what they play together - maybe they'll play a little baseball, then do some ballet. He has promised me he'll help teach her to brush her teeth. Also, he thinks she should be named "Claire".
The baby is a girl. This is good because Erin has an excuse to fill our house with pink stuff. Also, figure maybe there can be tradeoffs between Will and his sister for what they play together - maybe they'll play a little baseball, then do some ballet. He has promised me he'll help teach her to brush her teeth. Also, he thinks she should be named "Claire".
Monday, November 17, 2008
AyBeeCeeDees
Will's vocabulary is growing too quickly for me to keep track, but one thing he is really into lately is singing. Until recently it has been too much for him to apply the words he learns to the songs he likes to sing. For example, he likes Take Me Out to the Ballgame, but can only sing the "one-two-three" [strikes your out] part, and otherwise just sings "ball" over and over. Also, he likes "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", but only sings the final word of each line, the rest is too fast.
As his vocabulary grows, he can sing more and more of his favorite songs, which he will request we sing with him (more like demand we sing with him) at any time. The video below has him singing the Alphabet Song (which he calls "AyBeeCeeDees"), with just a little bit of help from dad (he has trouble with pronouncing "W" - which he calls a "Will"). Also note how he argues with me at the end of the song about who you should sing with next time - sometimes we go on for quite awhile with that part.
Will has been singing this song quite often lately. A lot of times when we put him down for bed or nap, we'll hear a few rounds of "ABCDs" before he finally drifts off. Sometimes he only wants Erin, or only I, to sing with him, and sometimes he demands a solo. Yesterday he demanded that we sing it together: "Wyall dada aybeeceedees". When Erin tried to sing along too, he stopped everything "NO NO! Wyall dada aybeeCEEDEES!!". Ouch, sorry mama. He says similar phrases so often sometimes he accidentally applies them to situations that don't fit. For example, I might try to help him get his socks on when he wants to do it himself - in his excitement he may yell "NO! WYall aybeeceedees!!!"
As his vocabulary grows, he can sing more and more of his favorite songs, which he will request we sing with him (more like demand we sing with him) at any time. The video below has him singing the Alphabet Song (which he calls "AyBeeCeeDees"), with just a little bit of help from dad (he has trouble with pronouncing "W" - which he calls a "Will"). Also note how he argues with me at the end of the song about who you should sing with next time - sometimes we go on for quite awhile with that part.
Will has been singing this song quite often lately. A lot of times when we put him down for bed or nap, we'll hear a few rounds of "ABCDs" before he finally drifts off. Sometimes he only wants Erin, or only I, to sing with him, and sometimes he demands a solo. Yesterday he demanded that we sing it together: "Wyall dada aybeeceedees". When Erin tried to sing along too, he stopped everything "NO NO! Wyall dada aybeeCEEDEES!!". Ouch, sorry mama. He says similar phrases so often sometimes he accidentally applies them to situations that don't fit. For example, I might try to help him get his socks on when he wants to do it himself - in his excitement he may yell "NO! WYall aybeeceedees!!!"
Thursday, November 13, 2008
lion racing
When a ferocious lion like this comes up to you and demands you give him a ride, you do it.
Actually, this is a game Will and Ambrose really like to play - no matter what vehicle they're playing with - Ambrose seems to really like to push someone, and Will really likes riding. So they're a good team.
Actually, this is a game Will and Ambrose really like to play - no matter what vehicle they're playing with - Ambrose seems to really like to push someone, and Will really likes riding. So they're a good team.
Monday, November 10, 2008
a lion, tiger, and alligator play ball
Watch how these three ferocious beasts take on the game of baseball.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Trick-or-Treat
We had a lot of fun with Halloween this year. We let Will pick his costume, and he told us he wanted to be the "Rarr!" [lion]. The fun started right after Will's afternoon nap, when we went to the Red Cross to Trick-or-Treat there. Will got to roar at Erin's boss and coworkers and got lots of fruit snacks. Jenni (Dr. Meredith Grey, in the picture below) was thoughtful enough to give the fruit snacks out to the coworkers so Will could trick-or-treat at their cubicles/offices. Also, we got to see baby Justin, who was dressed as a monkey.
When we got home we got ready for trick-or-treaters and played outside until they started coming around.
Ambrose and some other neighbor kids came out to play too. Ambrose was an alligator. These two were a couple of fearsome animals.
Will was more interested in playing and protecting the hoard of candy we had than going out to trick-or-treat, despite our tries to convince him that it's something he would want to do. We had him practice with his mama.
Finally we convinced him that it might be fun to go trick-or-treating. We went to Moni's across the street first and that went ok, but he was his usual speechless self in front of people he's not very familiar with.
Eventually we made it to four neighbors' houses, and Will eventually gave out a few roars. He said (signed) thank-you at every house. Then he went home to guard our candy bowl until he started getting sleepy.
I think we ended up getting 60-some trick-or-treaters (Erin follows Grandpa Paul's practice of always gets an exact count), which was pretty good but significantly fewer than last year. But the difference was probably due to the scary lion guarding the candy.
When we got home we got ready for trick-or-treaters and played outside until they started coming around.
Ambrose and some other neighbor kids came out to play too. Ambrose was an alligator. These two were a couple of fearsome animals.
Will was more interested in playing and protecting the hoard of candy we had than going out to trick-or-treat, despite our tries to convince him that it's something he would want to do. We had him practice with his mama.
Finally we convinced him that it might be fun to go trick-or-treating. We went to Moni's across the street first and that went ok, but he was his usual speechless self in front of people he's not very familiar with.
Eventually we made it to four neighbors' houses, and Will eventually gave out a few roars. He said (signed) thank-you at every house. Then he went home to guard our candy bowl until he started getting sleepy.
I think we ended up getting 60-some trick-or-treaters (Erin follows Grandpa Paul's practice of always gets an exact count), which was pretty good but significantly fewer than last year. But the difference was probably due to the scary lion guarding the candy.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Halloween cupcakes and "pumpies".
Halloween is right up there with Christmas for Erin in terms of holiday excitement. She loves to dress up, and now has an excuse to dress our cute boy in ridiculous outfits for the better part of the week. Before I get to our Halloween night, including Will's first trick-or-treating experience, there are a few activities we did during the week.
First, Erin made her famous Halloween cupcakes, which take about a whole day. She makes the decoration frosting from scratch and has some very fine icing skills, if I say so. See for yourself:
Anyway, Will helped out this year. And by "helped out" I mean generally interfered with the intense process of making and decorating the cupcakes. I'm sure there were plenty of "mistake" cupcakes that needed to be eaten, but the icing has dairy in it so Will couldn't eat it. But so he wouldn't miss out Erin made him his own cupcake, with a "Will" on it (he calls the letter 'W' "Will").
Erin & I worked late a lot of nights last week, but made sure we could both be home Thursday with enough time to carve pumpkins - the ones we got on Will's birthday - before Halloween on Friday. Will got to stay up late to help out. He colored on his pumpkin while Erin and I carved the big ones. We have a Halloween decoration which is a pumpkin that lights up and one of Will's jobs was to check to make sure that "pumpy"/"pumpin" - his names for the thing - was lit up. So during the carving and later when we played outside by the pumpkins, Will spent a lot of time talking about the "pumpies".
The carvings turned out pretty well. Scary!
First, Erin made her famous Halloween cupcakes, which take about a whole day. She makes the decoration frosting from scratch and has some very fine icing skills, if I say so. See for yourself:
Anyway, Will helped out this year. And by "helped out" I mean generally interfered with the intense process of making and decorating the cupcakes. I'm sure there were plenty of "mistake" cupcakes that needed to be eaten, but the icing has dairy in it so Will couldn't eat it. But so he wouldn't miss out Erin made him his own cupcake, with a "Will" on it (he calls the letter 'W' "Will").
Erin & I worked late a lot of nights last week, but made sure we could both be home Thursday with enough time to carve pumpkins - the ones we got on Will's birthday - before Halloween on Friday. Will got to stay up late to help out. He colored on his pumpkin while Erin and I carved the big ones. We have a Halloween decoration which is a pumpkin that lights up and one of Will's jobs was to check to make sure that "pumpy"/"pumpin" - his names for the thing - was lit up. So during the carving and later when we played outside by the pumpkins, Will spent a lot of time talking about the "pumpies".
The carvings turned out pretty well. Scary!
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