this fun game

Here's a game Hallie likes to play - take turns blowing air at each other.

Hallie waves "dye dye"

It's really sweet when babies wave at you. Hallie usually doesn't do it on cue, but she's gotten quite good at waving and saying bye-bye to people. If she doesn't return your wave when you're about to leave, she'll say bye bye and wave at the door about a minute after you've left.

Do you want another bite? NO.

Hallie has used many defenses to avoid eating anything but cheerios/rice puffs. Below is a video of her latest behavior, which is very effective. She's telling us "No, I don't want that" and also making it impossible to slip in a spoonful when she's not paying attention.



Besides "dada" and the occasional "mama", shaking her head 'no' is probably Hallie's most reliable form of using language to communicate. This is very much like her brother when he was her age. Maybe when she starts speaking a little more she'll also be as fond of verbalizing the word as Will was.

Will: Big Doctor

Here's another Will-ism from last week. Erin sent this via email and I thought it's worth sharing here, although I'll second Erin's statement that you have to use your imagination when reading Will's responses because his enthusiasm and inflection are what make these conversations so classic. Two things to note when reading this: Grandpa Paul is recovering from a recent hospital stay, we're very thankful he's doing better and will be ready to play when we come visit in a few weeks. Also, Will and Hallie have spent a lot of time playing with Will's "doctor kit" recently, which includes toy stethoscopes and thermometers, but is supplemented with real doctor stuff like gloves and masks and tongue depressors, courtesy of Grandpa Mike.

From Erin on 6/10:
We dropped Tom off at the hospital, where he would be giving a presentation, one morning this week. As we drove away, the following conversation took place...

Will: What's wrong with Daddy?

Erin: What do you mean?

Will: Is he sick?

Erin: No, why do you ask?

Will: Only sick people go to the hospital.

Erin: Actually two kinds of people go to the hospital. Sick people, like Grandpa Paul, go to the hospital. But doctors, like Grandpa Mike, and nurses, like Grandma Brenda, also go to the hospital. They take care of the sick people.

Will (after a long pause): I'm a doctor! (I wish I could write this sentence in a way that would allow you to hear Will's tone of voice. He was very matter of fact, but it was also as it he just realized this "fact" at that exact moment.)

Erin: No, you're not.

Will: Well, how do I get to be a doctor?

Erin: You'll have to graduate from high school, graduate from college, graduate from medical school, complete an internship, and then complete a residency. (I don't know if that's right, but it sounded like a good answer.)

Will: How do I get to do all those things?

Erin: First you have to apply to get in at each school, and then you have to pay a lot of money.

Will (after another long pause): Ok then. I'm going to do all those things. I'll go to all those schools, pay a lot of money, and then I'll be a very BIG doctor.

Erin: Good luck!

Will: Thank you!

walk to daddy

I mentioned in this month's bath pictures post how Hallie is now quite the walker. Up until recently she might stand for a second or two in order to reach something, but if you asked her to come to you she would drop down and turbo-crawl. She's finally transitioned to toddling over for her daddy hugs. Here's a video of her in action.

Because it's one of my favorite videos of all time, here's a flashback to Will at about the same age toddling around the house.

Hallie's bath pictures: 14 months

This is a special humid summer edition of Hallie's bath pictures. It turns out Hallie got a little bit of Will's curly hair, and it is humidity-enhanced just like her mama's. Because taking it out would mean a crazy-looking frizzy hair-nest, we left her pretty hair bow in for these shots.

It has been especially fun to have Hallie at this age, probably more fun than ever before. She plays games and laughs about them, talks and sings a lot, hugs, and lets you know when she's displeased with you. Reading is a new thing for her, every night she happily gets a bedtime story, and she'll grab a book and climb up in your lap lots of times during the day. Here she's enjoying Rainbow Fish in the tub (seconds later, she also tastes the book).

She took her first steps over a month ago, but has been very stubborn about walking until the last few weeks - now she's standing and walking everywhere. We can't get her to sit down - not even in the bath. Erin and I have agreed that the bath safety seat is on its last days, it doesn't do anything except get in the way anymore.

I have some great videos coming soon: walking, head shaking, playing a "blow in your face" game, and waving and saying "bye bye".
Visits to Will & Hallie's page as of this post: 25810

peekaboo!

This is a fun game, and also a good way to get Hallie to eat more baby food. She often covers her eyes when she doesn't want to do something, such as eat (her thinking: if I can't see it, it must not be there). If you make this hiding a game of peekaboo, she'll happily emerge from her hiding spot with a grin that's wide enough to sneak in another spoonful. I have to indulge her whenever she wants to play this game so I'll always have that feeding trick up my sleeve for when she goes through streaks of particularly defiant non-eating. Also I have to make sure we play it without every time shoving another bite of food in her mouth or she'll stop trusting me when we play fun games...

oh, dad!

Young Will had the "dada" song, and here is Hallie's mantra: "awww... dayd!"

In this video we're at the annual Touch-a-Truck event, where it started to rain. Hallie, in the baby backpack, was unfazed - she was content to dance and sing about her dad.

Cousin E

Will & Hallie have a new cousin on the way! Congrats to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sara!

grandma adds a Will-ism

After reading the previous post, Grandma Brenda sent an email response that I'm sure she wouldn't mind I share. Last week Erin and I took at trip to College Station, so the kids got to spend a long weekend w/ Grandma and Grandpa in Madison.

From Grandma:
We were all 4 out for a walk when 2 runners came by on the other side of the street. One of they guys was not wearing a shirt. As they passed us Will yells out "look Grandpa! He's BUCK NAKED!" Not sure if the runner heard or not - he just kept going. When I said he's not really buck naked because he was wearing shorts Will said "well, he's buck on top"

more Will-isms

Yesterday Erin and I went to Will's school for his first parent-teacher conference. Miss Gabrielle gave us a very good report - while he has trouble listening sometimes and is a bit too rowdy with his friends other times, in general he is a very bright and imaginative kid and scores very well on many of his developmental milestones. She gave one example to illustrate his rowdiness/listening issues, it gave us a good laugh. It is paraphrased below from Gabrielle's description. Something is lost without the vocal inflection, but imagine Will putting a lot of drama into each of these statements.

[Miss Gabrielle has taken a child to the bathroom, this reminds Will that he also has to go potty so he races from the preschool room to the bathroom to meet them]

Other Child: Will was running!!!
Will: Yes, I ran because I LOVE running.
Miss G: That's great Will, but we only run outside. We don't run in the hallways at school.
Will: NO we don't! We walk when we're inside... [sheepish look] but I know that already.

We have been affectionately referring to these as "Will-isms" and there have been lots of them lately (here's one and another of my favorites from the past year). A few weeks ago, the same day/place that Hallie took her first steps, we were walking out of the restaurant and made way for a very old gentleman and his wife. The old man had probably recently had eye surgery, because he had a protective patch over his right eye. As we waited for the couple to pass by, Will very excitedly and loudly enough for everyone around to hear, exclaimed: "He's a pirate!"

I'd also like to share this recent Will-ism as related by Erin, who sent me this email yesterday. Note that this conversation takes place more than an hour after Will was supposed to go to sleep, during one of his many "you are allowed to get up to go to the bathroom ONE time after you go to bed" nightly trips to the bathroom/see what fun things mom and dad are up to after bedtime.

Will and I were in the bathroom together this evening. While he peed, I took my daily women’s multivitamin, and after seeing me swallow the pill, Will began the following conversation…

Will: “When can I have some of that medicine, Mama?”
Erin: “Never bud – this medicine is just for mommies.”
Will: “So… When I’m 16 then?”

[Note: We have been having a lot of conversations lately about the privileges Will will have when he gets older - chewing gum, peeing standing up, getting a big boy bike, etc. - most recently he is very interested in when he will be able to race cars, I told him he needs to be 16 before he can drive.]

After a brief pause…

Will: “Do you have a baby in your tummy, Mama?” (Just what every non-pregnant woman wants to hear.)
Erin: “No.”
Will: “When will you have a baby in your tummy?”
Erin: “I won’t ever have another baby in my tummy.”
Will: “When will Daddy have a baby in his tummy?”
Erin: “Daddy won’t ever have a baby in his tummy either.”
Will: “Then what do Daddies have in their tummies?”
Erin: “Food.”
Will: “Hee hee. Food. G’night!”

stink eye

Hallie has been trying out different expressions lately, and she's got a "stink eye" now, as you can see. She's not necessarily angry at you when she gives this face (like I said, she's just trying it out), but in this case and often, she's trying to let you know she's not happy with you. Here I think we were trying to get her to eat more breakfast, and she felt very strongly she should be able to get down and play. It is a struggle not to laugh at her when she's trying to be so serious.

Hallie hugs

Hallie is a hugger, and they're really nice hugs. Will started hugging around the same age, but relatively quickly gave up on it. Maybe we wore him out on hugs by trying to get them so often, but Hallie seems to always be interested in a good, long hug. When we went to Denver last month to see Uncle Grant's recital, Hallie was giving them out like candy.

This is her favorite kind of hug - head down on the shoulder, arm across the chest and around the neck. She'll stay like this for quite awhile, especially if you rub/pat her on the back.