Boys Will Be Boys

The first thing Will says to me this morning, as he reaches up and sweetly touches my face: "Pick Mama's nose!"

No! Just NO.

Things Will Has Learned That We Didn't Teach Him

Zach and I are continually surprised by the things that Will picks up on, mostly at school, that we don't teach him. Often, we look at each other and ask, "Did you teach him that?" Since the list format seems to be working for me lately, here's a list of things Will has learned and we don't know how:

1. Will can now count to ten. For real. Sometimes he gets hung up on seven and wants two to come after six, but if you prompt him with seven, he can go up to ten.
2. He often calls a clean plate a "happy plate." Apparently this is what they say at school when they are good eaters.
3. All weekend Will would randomly say, "Turn around and sit down." And then he would do just that. Again, this is part of a song they sing with them at school.
4. At school, Will can point out all of the moms and dads for the kids in his class and Toddler Two. As in, "Emma Mama." "Abby Daddy." Even I don't know half of the parents and which kid they belong to!
5. Will now knows several of the lines to the song "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Well, his version of the lines. Such as, "Diamond in sky" and "Up world so high."

Wake UP!

Normally, when Will wakes up (earlier and earlier each day, it seems), he babbles in his crib, sometimes calling out for Mama or Daddy, singing Happy Birthday, etc. Today, he was a bit more insistent:

"Daaadddy! Wake up, Daddy!"

"Mama! Wake up, Mama!!!"

"Mama! COME HERE! Daddy! COME HERE!"

Good thing he's cute.

And now I am a Real Mother

Forget breastfeeding and the countless sleepless nights. Never-mind keeping him fed and teaching him new things. As of Thursday, I have passed the true test of Motherhood: car vomit.

Will was acting a bit puny all morning, but didn't have any specific symptoms, so we headed off to school. As I parked the car in the school parking lot, I heard him make a little whimper. I turned around in time to see him throw up...everywhere. Poor thing. It obviously scared him, and of course, I had NOTHING to use for clean up. The daycare gave me a few things they had, and I stripped him down and cleaned up the best I could. Needless to say, we turned around and went home, and Will did not go to school that day. He seemed to feel better after he threw up, but he had a true "sick day" and watched movies on the couch for most of the day. Unfortunately, my car didn't fare as well. The smell lingered for a while, but a recommendation to put cut lemons in the car to absorb the smell has seemed to work pretty well (in case any of my readers encounter this same problem at some point in your lives).

Zach and I were struck by the bug Saturday night and Sunday, but we seemed to feel much worse than Will had (or maybe we're just bigger wimps). Luckily, my parents picked up Will on Sunday morning and kept him for the day. I'm not sure how we would have managed that without them. We are now all on the mend, hopefully putting the stomach bug behind us for a long while!

The Beach!

This past weekend, we went to the beach with Bragan, Banks, and Coleman, and Molly and Parrish (who were SUCH good sports). Will had been looking forward to this for weeks...we kept telling him we were going to the beach with Coleman and Molly (some of his favorite people), so anytime you asked him where he was going, he would answer "Go beach." Needless to say, he was excited.

I think the beach lived up to the hype for Will. Of course, he didn't realize that getting to the beach required a 4+ hour car ride, and this fact made him a bit cranky (it didn't help that he refused to nap AT ALL in the car). But, once we arrived, it was bliss for Master Will. There was sand! And water! And a pool! Oh yes, and most importantly, MOLLY! (Or, "Moolly. Molly. Moooooolllly. Molly. Molly!" as Will constantly referred to her.) Will and Coleman played relatively well together and even shared toys pretty well. They both loved digging in the sand and building sand castles with their dads. But Will especially loved the water. He took a little while to get used to the idea of the ocean, but once he did, he was like a little fish. Having never been an ocean person myself, I was astonished by his utter lack of fear. He loved the waves, and didn't mind if they hit him in the face or knocked him down. Sand and salt all over his body...in his hair, on his face...this didn't bother him one bit. At one point, he was lying on his belly in the shallow water just waiting for waves to splash him. In short, it was pure joy.

Of course, I'm thrilled that Will had such an enjoyable experience, and for the most part, so did I. Well, I did get sunburned, sun-poisoning, stung by a jellyfish, and some weird, itchiness on my feet, but I have recovered from all of these ailments. I just didn't realize how tired I would be after this "vacation"! (I'm sure being six months pregnant didn't help.) I've always known that Will was high-energy, but he seemed to take it to new levels on this trip, which makes sense, given the never-ending excitement of lots of people, new experiences, a permanent playmate, and the general absence of rules and routine. Of course he was wound up. Of course he didn't nap and considered eating optional. But still. I had some moments where I thought I would seriously lose all patience, especially when watching Will in comparison to the considerably-calmer (and 5- months-older) Coleman. All I was asking for was a few minutes of quiet. A few minutes of stillness. In the moment, I was completely frustrated, but looking back now, even just a few days later, it doesn't seem like a big deal. I guess that's how memories work, or else we'd never go on another "vacation".

One last thing about the beach...when we were children, I always remember my dad getting frustrated with my sister because she wouldn't just WALK. She would hop, skip, walk backwards, shuffle, jump, run, etc., but she couldn't just walk. At the time, I didn't understand why this irritated my dad so much...I mean, what was the big deal? Let me just say that now I get it. I think Will must have inherited this trait from his aunt, because I don't think I ever saw Will just walking on our trip. He worked on the Will Mather shuffle, he wanted to "jump to sky" as he kept saying, he would walk backwards so he catch one last glimpse of the beach as we were leaving, etc., etc. While these things shouldn't be a big deal, when the walk on the boardwalk takes 30 minutes when it should take five, a mother's patience begins to wear thin. I really wanted to move more than two feet per minute. I really did. As usual, though, it just takes a bit of perspective...how many years will Will want to jump and play, and more importantly, want me to watch? I know these times are fleeting and I know I need to have patience. I'm still working on that.

Beautiful

Will loves to brush and comb hair, particularly mine. This morning he was brushing the back of my hair, and I asked him, "How does it look?"

"Boo-ful." (He's never said this word before.)

Zach hears him and says, "Did he just say that?!?"

Yes, yes he did.

Ten Things Will Did Over Memorial Day Weekend

1. Continued his affinity, which started last week, for wishing everyone a happy birthday and singing the Happy Birthday song. He really only likes the third line, where you say "Happy Birthday dear " and gets a bit frustrated when I sing the whole thing. His preferred people to sing to are Abby (from his class at school), Coleman, Molly, and Daddy.
2. Starting referring to everyone, including himself, as a "silly boy". As in, "Will Silly Boy" "Daddy Silly Boy" (except it comes out as "See Boy"). This comes from when we asked him, "Are you a silly boy?"
3. Developed a new love, in addition to Molly and Abby: Lissa. Our friends, Ryan and Lissa, came to visit from D.C. for the weekend, and Will was obsessed with Lissa! Luckily, she was a good sport, because he drug her around all weekend, demanding to "hold hands" and telling her where to sit so that he could sit in her lap.
4. Went swimming for the first time this season. He was a bit tentative at first, but loved it once he got the hang of it. He even ducked completely under the water with me and also worked on kicking his legs and splashing. (He's particularly good at the splashing, having perfected his technique in the bathtub.)
5. Ran his typical holiday/vacation-weekend-fever: 102 on Friday and 101 on Saturday. He had no other symptoms, so maybe it was from teething. Who knows. Yet, in standard practice, he didn't act sick at all, and the fever was gone by Sunday. He also went on a bit of a hunger strike, probably due to not feeling his best.
6. Perfected his new dance, the Will Mather Shuffle. It looks like a cross between a galloping horse, a basketball player shuffling sideways down the court, and a man with a limp, dragging his leg behind him. He debuted this dance at the ice cream shop on Sunday, but we've seen it several times since then.
7. Experienced euphoria when Daddy turned the ball popper into a confetti machine by tearing up pieces of paper and letting them spew out all over the place. It certainly made a mess, but was worth it for Will's reaction. Of course, the ball popper is now in permanent hiding.
8. Played with his new water table and learned to run through a sprinkler with Daddy. He seemed to like it better when just Daddy ran through the sprinkler, though. I'm not sure he was convinced that this was a great activity.
9. Played golf in the backyard and learned some golf "slang". He picked up his driver and declared "Big dog eat." Apparently, Zach taught him this, and Will only says it for the club that is supposed to be the driver. I believe it's a golf term that people say before they use their driver to smash the ball really far. It's funny, though, because Will has certainly retained this information and says it each time he uses the driver.
10. Looked at me and said, "Night night, Mama. Lull-loo." (aka Love You) when I put him to bed last night.