Happy Birthday, Will! (continued)

Will’s first birthday party was a blast! Several little friends came over, so we had some serious kid chaos. Grandma and Grandpa Brewer were here, and Uncle Jamie arrived from the airport just in time! We ate pizza, played, and ate cake . . . cupcakes decorated with 1’s for the kids, and a big cake for the grown-ups, including a 1-shaped cake just for Will! He slowly ate most of the frosting off his cake, and only ate a couple of bites of the actual cake before he decided he wanted out of his high chair. I think he knew what was coming next–presents! It was such a fun party. The pictures say it all!
(For some reason, it is only letting me post the actual photo of the cake, but the others are thumbnails, click on them to see a bigger version. Mommy just barely has enough techno knowledge to do this!)

Happy Birthday, Will!

I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, but I can’t believe Will is one year old.  His big birthday was yesterday, although the real celebration will take place on Sunday.  (So this post will be continued on Monday with a play-by-play of Will Meets Cupcake.)  I thought the first year went by quickly with Christopher, but with Will it seems to have happened in an instant.  (Except when I look back on those first 2 months, which were one long continuous day with an occasional nap sprinkled in.)  It makes me especially thankful to be able to stay at home with my boys, knowing that I couldn’t have squeezed out many more moments with him during this fast first year.  As quickly as it went, at the same time, it feels like Will has always been a part of our family.  It is hard to remember what it was like when it was just Christopher and me at home.

My favorite memory from Will’s birthday (so far), and a moment which I actually captured on video, was when Christopher and I went into Will’s room to wake him up yesterday morning.  Christopher turned on his light and started singing “Happy Birthday To You”.  Will woke up, sat up, and excitedly started flapping his arms up and down like he does these days when he’s listening to music.  Christopher was thrilled, and when he finished singing, he kept asking Will, “Are you excited, Will?  Are you excited???”  When Will stopped flapping his arms, Christopher kept wanting me to “make Will be excited again!”  The whole thing was just hysterical.

Last night we took Will to Chick-fil-a, where he enjoyed his first-ever kids meal.  We got stuck with some old chicken nuggets at first that almost choked him, but once we traded them for fresh, softer nuggets, he wolfed them right down.  He shared a bowl of ice cream with Mommy afterwards, and he couldn’t get enough of that!  Then it was time to go home and open presents from family.  He loves all his new toys and clothes!  Christopher (unfortunately) also loves the new toys–he doesn’t love the idea that this occasion means Will gets presents and he doesn’t.  Life’s hard, kid.  I’m glad little brother gets to have his birthday first, so we can learn all kinds of great lessons in sharing and selflessness.  (I’m also glad that little brother takes more naps, because sometimes Mommy needs a break from giving lessons.)

To be continued . . .

English is hard.

A warning: this post contains serious boasting about my child as well as blunt potty talk. If you find that annoying, do not keep reading. If you choose to continue reading, don’t blame me. This is my blog, and I’m not forcing you to read it.

Christopher has been learning how to spell. I thought we’d save that for first grade, but whatever. He has this Word Factory video and Word Whammer toy that he got for Christmas (by the same people that taught him his letters with another video and toy). You take up to three magnetic letters and put them in the Word Whammer and make simple words. He has been spelling words from the video–cat, bat, bus, mad, pig, etc., but I wasn’t too impressed with that since he watches the video almost daily. But yesterday he tried to spell a word that isn’t in the video. He announced, “I’m going to spell ‘kite.’” He sounded out the sounds–k-k-KAY! i-i-I! t-t-T! And proudly put K-I-T in the Word Whammer. He turned to me for approval, and I thought, “how on earth do I explain to a 2-year-old that you need to add a silent E on the end to make the I have a long sound?” Then I thought, “Forget it!” and told him he did a great job of spelling kite!

On a less intellectual note, I think we are almost potty trained! He’s down to just one accident a day, and he is even doing a great job of going when we are out places. We’ve also done #2 in the potty two days in a row! The other day, I was encouraging him to push out his poop while he was on the potty. He looked at me solemnly and said, “We don’t push people, right? We only push out poop.” Words to live by.

Hopefully this line won’t be pointless and sad several hours from now . . . GO COLTS!!!

The Ladies’ Man

Will is becoming quite the character as he approaches his first birthday.  He loves to give kisses, and these kisses used to be reserved only for his dear Mommy.  But today at mother’s day out, they put all the babies in a padded ring to take their picture, and Will started relentlessly kissing a little girl named Maggie.  Maggie wasn’t appreciating the affection, but the teachers thought it was hilarious.  They tried putting Will next to another little girl, but no kisses for her–he only has eyes for Maggie, his very first girlfriend.

Will has also started to show a love for music.  On Sunday, Daddy was playing some jazz in the car, and Will started bopping and patting his hands on his legs.  All this week he has loved to clap his hands and pat his legs to music!  He was also “singing” along at one point.  He is increasingly verbal, and it is hilarious.  He takes his babbling very seriously, complete with pointing and other hand gestures.  His hair is getting long, but I refuse to cut it until after his birthday.  In the meantime, I’ve given him the nickname Wilma, because he is starting to look like he might need a pink bow for that hair!

Christopher is slowly getting the hang of potty training.  He has definitely done better the last couple of days, and I’m so glad!  Today at mother’s day out, the other little boys introduced him to the joy of peeing standing up, and now we are peeing in the potty with renewed enthusiasm!  (So much for keeping my bathroom clean by teaching him to pee sitting down!)

Mommy’s new plan to fight crime

First, I forgot yesterday to write about Will’s latest amazing trick–when I say, “where’s Mommy’s nose?”, he will take that sweet little index finger and point right at my nose! Of course, when I ask “where’s Mommy’s mouth?” or “where’s Mommy’s ear?”, he also points to my nose, but there’s plenty of time for learning those things later. One reason this is so exciting to me is that it is the first indication that he actually understands some of the English language. Hopefully his understanding of the phrase, “don’t throw food off your tray!” will follow soon!

So maybe I should run for president in 2008, or at least for mayor, with my innovative new plan for fighting crime and dealing with jail overcrowding. Forget prison sentences for convicts–how about sentencing them to months or years of potty training toddlers? They could travel from carpeted home to carpeted home, be handed a toddler, six pairs of underwear (which won’t be clean for long), a small potty that has to be emptied and cleaned out when the toddler manages to pee and poop in it (what’s worse, cleaning up the underwear or that potty?!?), and one large bag of M&M’s.  (It is kind of like being on house arrest anyway, because you certainly aren’t going anywhere without that little potty and your washing machine!)  If the toddler is ever magically transformed into one of those children who regularly approaches an adult and informs them that he/she needs to go potty, the convict goes next door and starts it all over again. I can’t imagine a better deterrant! You know it wouldn’t take long for word to get out about THAT!

Christmas and recent events

The boys and I got back Monday from a long stay in Arkansas.  Daddy was able to join us for over a week, including Christmas, which was fabulous!  This trip was extra-special because the kids got to spend time with all four of their living great-grandparents.  I love to see them interact with these wonderful people who have influenced Christopher’s and Will’s lives in ways the boys will never fully understand.  We also got a fantastic surprise on Christmas Eve–a visit from Uncle Jamie, who was supposed to be stuck in Boston over the holiday. It was a fun, family-filled Christmas!  (We missed you, Uncle Brian!)

Christopher learned even more of the Christmas story than he understood last year.  He really enjoyed playing with nativity sets at both of his grandparents’ houses.  And he kept us entertained by playing Grandma Brewer’s piano and serenading us with his favorite Christmas carols–Hark, the Herald Angels Sing and Joy to the World.  Of course, the presents were a big hit!  He started off slowly, wanting to play with each toy before opening something else, but it wasn’t long before he shouted, “I want to open another toy!”  Ah, the spirit of Christmas.  Will also enjoyed opening presents (especially the shiny bows) and playing with his new toys and books.

Some recent Christopher quotes that have cracked me up . . . One day, he was eating pizza and having trouble getting it on his fork.  We often have to encourage him to eat with his fingers and “get messy.”  (Yeah, I know it is weird, but the kid hates to get stuff on his fingers!)  So I told him that he should just eat it with his fingers, and that I do it all the time because it is fun to get messy.  He looked at me seriously and said, “It is not fun getting messy to me.  I’m going to use my fork.”   Then yesterday, he was trying to carry three toys at once and starting to drop them.  I asked him, “Is it too much?”  His reply: “No, it is three much!”

Will is crawling well now and also enjoys pulling up and surveying the world from a vertical perspective.  He is the pickiest eater ever, but I’m starting to find a few things he’ll eat.  His new interest is emptying buckets, boxes and bins of all their contents.  One night at his Grandparents Brewer’s house, he emptied a bin of legos with such gusto, it had all of us laughing hysterically!  He’s also getting really good at saying “mama” and “buh-buh”, which I think might mean “brother.”  Usually the “mama” is uttered as he is reaching for me after being handed off to someone else.  We’re entering that stage, which can be tough but makes Mommy feel really special.

I’m proud to report that Christopher has started potty training two days before I intended to, and he’s doing great!  I planned to start Thursday, but on Tuesday, we went to buy the potty and the M&M’s he would get as a reward.  As soon as we got home, he announced that he wanted to go potty.  I thought, what the heck, we’ll give it a practice run.  So I put him on his new throne while I unloaded the groceries, and when I came back, he had peed in it!  And in the 2 1/2 hours between his nap and bedtime yesterday, he peed in it about 6 or 7 times.  (I lost count.)  My friends assure me that this is a good thing, even though I can’t figure out where all this pee is coming from!  Tomorrow we’ll put on the Thomas the Train underwear and work on staying dry between potty trips.  Please pray for patience for Mommy and continued success for Christopher!