Thursday, September 19, 2013

Will at 18 Months

Will turns 18 months old on Saturday. He will be an "official" toddler (although he has seemed like a toddler for several months now). He gets more fun (and sometimes more challenging) every day. Most of the time, he is an independent little man, but other times, he is the sweetest little boy ever.



I have not done a great job documenting all of the everyday details of Will, so this post will be very detailed (for my own records, mostly). I don't expect everyone to care about which specific words he knows, so feel free to skip through and look at the cute pictures.



Sleeping

He has just switched over to only one nap a day. It was sad for all of us. However, he is still a fantastic sleeper at night! We give him his binky, baby, and water, zip him into his sleep sack, turn on his white noise, and lay him right down. He rarely even makes a sound after that. Then, he sleeps for 11 to 12 hours. It is so awesome. Every single night, I think about how lucky we are that bedtime is not a struggle. I'm sure that will change someday, but right now, we are loving it!!!



He still LOVES his binky (all day, not just at night). He likes to hold several at a time if possible. We are working on limiting them, but it hasn't gone well so far. Really, it has been a nightmare and the most difficult thing we have attempted so far.


He is getting so tall that I had to sew him a new sleep sack (that is extra long).



Eating

Will has always been an eating champ (except for that rice cereal!). He eats almost everything that we eat. He tries anything we offer him (and he especially wants the things that we are keeping for ourselves). He loves all kinds of flavors and spices. Every once in a while, I think that we have finally found something that he does NOT like (scrambled eggs, salad, etc), but then he changes his mind a week later. He is a much better vegetable eater than I am.




When we aren't eating dinner with Daniel, Will and I eat most of our meals together on the couch (that is covered with blankets). We like to be comfy and cozy.



He wasn't too fond of whole milk at the beginning (and the following few months), but he loves it now.

Play

He loves to be outside. We went to a park/the zoo/splashpads/on a walk every day this summer (usually multiple times a day). I'm not sure how he is going to handle being cooped up for the Seattle rainy season.




He is ACTIVE (indoors or outdoors).



He loves all things with wheels (trucks, tractors, trains, and buses especially).




He is a good friend. We are still working on sharing at times, but he is generally very friendly and (mostly) gentle. He loves to give hugs to other kids.



He LOVES babies. All babies. Everywhere.

Signing and Talking

He signs around 25 things daily (more, milk, water, food, please, thank you, hurt, all done, airplane, bird, dog, baby, friend, sleep, train, car, bus, cold, hot, boat, fish, cry, potty, mom, dad),  and lots more occasionally.
He started signing to us around 9 months and his first signs were milk, more, all done, food, and bird. He now attempts to say the word with most of the signs.

He says around 35 word regularly (moon, please, Mama, Dad, truck, duck, cracker, cheese, cereal, socks, shoes, Papa, Jesus, bubbles, more, NO, yes, yeah, pray, draw, mints, bye, bus, Yo Gabba Gabba, cup, fish, boat, sit, sad, scary, rain, yogurt, water, juice, milk, apple, snack, down, music).
Besides a few first words, he started really talking around 14 or 15 months. His first words were Dad, moon, and yes, followed by Papa, truck, duck, and cracker, and a bunch of other words before finally saying Mama.
Some of his words are very clear, some only sound like part of the word, but you definitely know which word he is saying. He now tries to say most of the words we tell him.

He is saying "no" more often now, and likes to say, "No, no, no, no." while shaking his head.

Other Random Facts

He will be entering Nursery at church this Sunday! It seemed like this day would never come.

He still loves toothbrushes.

He loves music and singing songs. He "snaps" his fingers when he hears music.

He has learned to blow bubbles (and loves to play in them).



He likes to walk up and down the stairs (and thinks he can do it by himself, which he can't). We live on the 3rd floor, so this takes a while.

His most frequent requests are: binky, food/milk, TV, and to go in the car (on an adventure).

We love him so much!

Sunday, September 15, 2013

New Recipes

I have recently tried a bunch of new recipes from Love to be in the Kitchen (lovetobeinthekitchen.com). Sometimes I plan my entire week's worth of dinners from this website. Becky does a great job of hunting down delicious recipes that are not too time consuming. Here are some of my favorites:

Hash Brown Quiche
Yum! This quiche does not have a normal pie crust, but has a hash brown crust instead. Delicious!

No-Bake Energy Bites
These are my new favorite snack. I have made 5 batches in the past few weeks. They are made with peanut butter, oats, coconut, and honey, so they are pretty healthy as far as a "treat" goes. I recently shared the recipe with my family and they love it too. They store really well in the freezer for a quick snack. All three of us love these.

Bacon Tomato and Guacamole Grilled Cheese
How can you go wrong with those ingredients? These are so tasty.

Pesto Mozzarella and Tomato Grilled Cheese
This only has a few ingredients, but is so flavorful!

Breakfast Sandwiches
Basically an Egg McMuffin. Mmm...

Steel Cut Oats
Love to be in the Kitchen is where I first learned about steel cut oats. I have had weeks where that is all I want to eat for breakfast. I like the texture so much better than regular oatmeal.

Grapefruit Sorbet
So refreshing! I ate the entire thing while Daniel was at Scouts one night.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
We have made these many times now. They don't last long at our house!


A few other favorites (not from Love to be in the Kitchen):

Black Bean Quesadillas
These are a favorite for a quick lunch or dinner. They freeze well too, so you can always have some on hand. We add some sour cream into the mix, too.

Cafe Rio Salad
I just discovered this 3 weeks ago and have made it twice since then. I CRAVE Cafe Rio Pork Salad all the time, but sadly, Washington does not have one. This is a pretty yummy substitute.

Baked Manicotti
This is a simple and fancy-looking dinner. It also freezes really well for dinner on a busy night (Can you tell I love to freeze things?!).


There you have it! Several of our latest favorite recipes.




Monday, September 2, 2013

Thomas the Train

Will has developed a serious obsession with Thomas the Train.

Each morning, before I even get him out of his crib, he asks to watch trains ("choo-choo"). If you ignore his request or try to distract him, he cries real tears. So, that is how we start every. single. day.

He then asks to watch trains at least another 10 times during the day. Sometimes I can distract him, but it is hard work. Really, the only time he is not asking to watch trains is if we are out of the house. That is the ONLY distraction that works consistently.

We started taking him to all the Barnes and Noble stores in the area to get some play time at their train tables. He loves it! Unfortunately, he gets a bit upset when any other kids try to play with "his" trains. He also gets very upset when it is time to leave. We sometimes just have to carry him screaming out to the car.

Well, today was a very exciting day for all of us.

Daniel and I had been discussing the possibility of finding a train set on Craigslist (because they are soooooo expensive to buy new - like $15 per train). We took a quick look, and there was the perfect set for us!!! It was an awesome deal for all the pieces. We were able to go pick it up within a couple hours.


Daniel set it up in Will's room while Will and I watched Thomas the Train (of course).



Here is the video of his first look at his new train set.


He played happily for almost an hour (which is CRAZY for his usual attention span).




Then, we had to move it out into the dining room. We thought it might be a bit too distracting when it came time to put him to bed.



He was not ready for bed.


We still need to find it a permanent place, but we are so excited to have it. Merry Christmas 2013 & 2014 Will!