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.