Comin' Home...

Once I get the ticket dates settled I always get super excited to come home. It is hard for me to not get anxious for all the things I miss. It makes me sad that Will is being raised so far away from what Jason and I still consider home. If we do end up here for good it will be ok. We will buy a house and Will will have a yard to run around in, we can get a second car and he and I won't be stuck in the house so much. But, it won't be the same enviroment we had in Washington. No mountains, and no sound. Very little green in comparison, no seagulls, no good public schools, no fantastic pizza, Chinese, or seafood. I can't wait to take Will back to the Children's Museum in Everett, play at Forest Park, go to Mukilteo, ride a ferry, get Ivar's and feed the seagulls, Mom and I are going to take him to Ocean Shores too, so that will be fun. I also want to take him up to Larrabee State Park and take a picture of him on the cliff we got married on, and he can play on the same beach my Mom played at when she was a baby. There is a history there that we will never have anywhere else. Molly is coming home in September too, and she will be staying with us for 10 days so that will help break up the time. And of course we will see Cookie, we can't forget about her! I hope William will be good and not terrorize her too much!

Art Nouveau...

"Blueberries with Mustard" by William
"Yellow Morn" by William

"Friendly Dinosaur Eating His Veggies" by Mommy

Big Boy Booster!

Will has graduated to the big boy chair and is now sitting at the table like an accepted member of society. He has been very insulted by his high chair for the last couple of months and if we tried to put the tray on he would cry and push it away. Thankfully the travel booster we already had works for our dining room chairs. Other than that, we went to Petsmart this morning to look at fishies, hamsters, birdies, and kitties. Will was so enamoured by the hamsters I had a few seconds of weakness and seriously considered buying him one. Thankfully I came to my senses quickly and reconsidered. We went to Michaels instead and bought fingerpaint to console ourselves. I think it is going to be an outside only activity though, or maybe in the tub. I can't see it going well in the house.
I am seriously considering enrolling William in a toddler class. The Little Gym is literally 3 blocks away and it would give us a chance to meet other people and get out to do something a few times a week. The price is high, but without 2 cars I can't really do much else. William is getting bored with the parks, especially the one closest to our house, and it's too hot to be outside for long right now anyway... I was thinking about trying to organize a storytime at the library...but I am not sure of how to get the word out. I wish I was back in Madison, or Washington right now, there was so much more for kids, and lots more Moms around! Let's just say I am counting down the months till we can hopefully leave here!

The Peace Corp has NOTHING on this job!

This is indeed "The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love". William is testing with a passion I only recognize as my coming from my 23 chromosomes. He is hitting, and almost hitting. He is pushing. He is flinging himself to the ground and screaming. He is refusing to comply with the simplest requests, and pushing my buttons like crazy! He knows he is not supposed to touch electrical cords and so he will look at them, say "No,No!", look at you and then touch them! It's like we are starting all over again when it comes to discipline. We were in a nice honeymoon phase and now it's like we are going through a rocky divorce! I think he is old enough for real time outs now, if they only last a minute. We figured out a spot to do it in finally after much debate. We didn't want to use his crib, since it is such a nice place for him right now and he loves it. We have a little chair and put it in the corner of our entryway. There is nothing he can hurt or play with there so I think it will work.... We shall see.

Friday...

Pool Party with Maya...
Maya was less thrilled...

We skipped our nap...then slept through dinnertime!

Since Will slept at such an odd time we ate dinner late and then went to the park and got ice cream. I hope this doesn't reinforce the idea that skipping nap equals ice cream and late night park visits!

Yes, It will be called "The Summer of Farms".

I have this weekend off so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to visit ANOTHER historical farm! This one was called "Kidwell Farm at Frying Pan Park" and it is in rural Virginia. It is based in the 1930's and was very nice. Best of all, it was FREE! Love that! It wasn't very big, which was nice for William, but they packed a lot of animal fun into one small area. It wasn't very crowded, but I don't think it would have been as nice if it had been. William enjoyed the pigs and chickens, but largely ignored the horses and cows this time. His favorite was the tractors! He is developing into a boy in the truest sense and is captivated by all things mechanical. He would have climbed on the tractors all day if we would have let him. We had a picnic lunch by the horse ring, they were having an English Riding competition today, so it was nice to have some built in entertainment. After that we stopped at a mall that we never had been to, and we will probably never will again! It was huge and really crowded, but it had every store you could ever wish for. I got Will some stuff at Old Navy and Pottery Barn Kids, but nothing for Jason and I. We mainly went to cool off and go to the playground which we had heard was wonderful. It was nice, but so crowded and some little hellion was in a tunnel attacking children as they went through it. Will came out crying and then a few seconds later a little girl came out with scratches on her face and was bleeding! Her older sister said there was a mean kid in there! Crazy! If I could have figured out who it was I would have told them what's what!

This week...

Scary Shark!
Baby Gym

William is 17 months old as of yesterday. Time has FLOWN by. I can't believe that in just one month he will be a year and a half. He is becoming such a little person now, very opinionated, and passionate about how the world should work. We are having more tantrums, and more defiance, which I am working hard to nip in the bud. Jason and I struggle at times to decide how we want to approach a situation, so that makes it hard to deal with something immediately. He isn't hitting anymore, but he will put up his hand in the air and wave it at you and say "hit, hit, hit!" We are trying to ignore it, or just look at him sternly when he does it, when we gave it too much attention it became more frequent. I am taking Will home to Washington in September, so I need to start putting him to bed again occasionally, normally Jason does it so Will always finds it a little weird when it's Mommy doing it. Development wise he is right on track... he can say over 50 words, he can do a 6 piece shape sorter and name 4 shapes, he can scribble and paint ( and eat 2 crayons in one week!). He insists now on drinking from a cup with no lid, so I only put in a little bit at a time. He is getting better and better at his little kiddie car and is very good at dinging the bell! He still sleeps great, and loves to stay in his crib a while and show you all the animals he has in there. He is eating very strangely these days, sometimes gorging himself all day and then not touching his food the next. His favorite foods right now are: Naan(Indian Bread) with Raita (cucumber and yogurt sauce), Mac and Cheese, Pancakes, Peas, Greek Yogurt, Chili, Spaghetti, Edemame, Raisins, and Chicken Nuggets. He still loves to take baths, and will stay in as long as you let him. He is a good little man, but not a snuggler and that breaks my heart from time to time. I still give him 3 bottles a day so I can hold him, otherwise he is on the go all day non-stop! He will deal with me grabbing him a few times a day for a big snuggle but quickly wiggles away. I try and not let it bother me though. I am amazed how much he has changed in 17 months! I don't miss the baby stage that much though, I love seeing the person he is becoming!