The Fourth Will Be With You. Always.

Preparing to Become the Big Brother

With only days away until Will officially becomes a big brother, we’ve been trying to help him understand that he is having a baby sister join the family soon.  He is still too young to really understand this, however, we did buy a baby doll to help with the process.   On the plus side, Will loves the baby doll.  He points and grunts at “her” sleeping in the rock n play sleeper that Hannah will use and we bring the doll to him and he cuddles her and loves her.  Then, he squeezes her bellly to hear the crying noises she makes and proceeds to throw her on the ground, drop her down the stairs or drag her on the ground behind him as he walks around with her.  So, there are plusses and a few minuses.  He is gentle for the most part and very friendly and curious.  We are hoping that gentle side, curiosity and kind heart will transfer well to Hannah when she arrives.  

Will also gets to reap the benefits of the new backyard we had put in this past week.  No one loves it more than Will!  He no longer cuddles with me in the morning, but after his milk, slides off the bed and goes straight down the stairs and runs to the back door to be let outside so he can go play!  We are so glad, becuase that is exactly the reaction we were hoping for.  Will LOVES it outside.  

We are still waiting for the speech evaluation, but Will has shown a lot of improvement the past month.   While he doesn’t really say words regularly, we’ve all heard him say some words at different times now.  We’ve heard “thank you”, “Loki” and of course “mama” and “daddy”.  Also, he continues to amaze us with his ever expanding understanding of verbal communication. It’s amazing when we say things, he responds appropriately and blows us away.  He is also pointing at everything and wanting us to say and describe to him what he is pointing at.  We do this over and over and over and he just loves it!  He points at everything now and wants to know it’s name.  If you ask him who someone is, like who is grandma, he points to grandma now!  That’s new too.  He wasn’t doing that a week ago.  He also points out things like trees, cars and trucks appropriately when you ask him to point to them.  He’s learning so quickly now.  We are sure talking is just around the corner.   Here are some pictures of Will enjoying himself the past few weeks.  

Will also got to spend some quality time with Grandma Stef.  Stef came out to visit Will and celebrate Hannah at the baby shower.  Will LOVED grandma Stef.  She fed him his breakfast, pushed him around in his dump truck and he gave her hugs when she asked for them.  It was so great to spend some time with Stef and Will before Hannah arrives.  Thanks Grandma Stef for spoiling Will with love, affection and attention.  He just loves you so much!

We honestly don’t know how he does it, but he continues to get cuter and funnier every day.  I think if he gets any more awesome and adorable, he’s going to explode with cuteness!  We just love him so and can’t wait for him to meet his baby sister, Hannah.  He will be the BEST big brother!!

With his friend, Noelle

Playing at the indoor playground at the mall….when it’s too hot outside!

Will crashing Hannah’s baby shower

Loving his new backyard!

Night 2 of Warm Weather - Out on a Stroll With Daddy and Loki

Will loves anything he comes across on his walks.  He holds daddy’s hand (finger) while they walk and loves the trees he encounters :)

Enjoying the Warm Weather…Naked of Course!

18 Month Well Check…Quickly Turns Into a Stomach Bug

On Monday, April 15th, Will went in for his 18 month well check visit.  He is doing great!  He’s feeding himself with a spoon and fork…not neatly or pretty….but he’s using them appropriately.  He plays with toys appropriately.  He runs, smiles, laughs, makes eye contact, interacts with you, loves to be read to, goes up and down stairs holding your hand, blows kisses (without throwing his hand out, but he’s trying), hugs, loves the outdoors etc, etc….He’s fabulous….except he’s not talking yet.  He babbles mama and dada, but doesn’t really call us mama and dada and he mimcs the sound of “uh-oh” but doesn’t really say it.  As far as words go…that’s it. It’s kind of a strecth to say he’s talking.  Doctor says he’s behind in this so she has scheduled a hearing test for him and referred us to the North Bay Regional Center to see a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) that specializes in children before three years old.  

We are hoping this will help us guide Will in the right direction to help with his talking.  Will understands so much of what we say to him.  He knows to put trash and empty bottles in the trash/recycler.  He puts bowls and dishes back in the pantry and drawers they belong in (clean or dirty…he’s just helping), he knows that the broom and dust pan are for cleaning leaves out back to help grandma :)  It feels like everyday, he learns something new or associates ‘tools’ with their function.  It’s amazing to watch him every day.  We are just waiting for a return call from the SLP to set up a date and time for them to come and evaluate Will.  

Will’s stats from his check up:

Weight:  29.7 lbs  (96th Percentile)
Height:  33 inches (2’ 9”)  (65th Percentile)
Head:  49.8 cm (19.61”)  (95th Percentile)



So, as you can tell, he’s still growing healthy.  Dr. says he’s growing perfectly, just a big, healthy boy :) 

Sadly, the day after his Dr. appt, Will came down with a stomach bug.  He threw up all over me several times in the Target parking lot.  And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere!  We were both a mess.  He was such a good little sick guy.  He never made a sound and never cried.  Poor little boy.  He was such a trooper.  It’s been a couple of days now.  He’s finally feeling better, but not quite himself yet.  He’s getting an appetite back, but not drinking/eating quite as much as before.  He is LOVING all the popsicles he is getting :)  He eats them like a champ now.    He is just the most amazing little man.  It’s amazing how much you can love someone.  I never knew having a child would be so amazing.  We’re just *im*patiently waiting for his little sister, Hannah, to arrive.  We bought a baby doll to help Will adjust to having a new baby in the house.  We’re hoping he learns to be gentle.  At this time, Will is PURE boy.  All energy, strength (we call him the Hulk) and guts.  He is not scared of anything…and he’s a climber!  Yikes…he’s going to give me a lot more gray hair than I already have.  XOXOXO  Just makes me love him even more.  I’ve loved every minute of the snuggling/cuddling time I’ve gotten since he’s not feeling well.  I’m going to miss it when he’s back with full energy and all over the place again!

Here are some pictures of Will from the past few days, including those when he wasn’t feeling well.  

Poor sick little boy :(

Starting to feel a little better

Happy 18 months to our little angel XOXOXO

Will LOVES his showers!  So much so, he runs into the shower before we get in and stays in after we get out!  He even tries to get into the shower with his clothes on and no water is running.  I love that he has discovered the beauty of a warm shower at such an early age.  Even funnier, that he hates going into the shower directly after waking up but loves the shower if he gets to go in it after being awake for a while.   

Spring Time for Will

It’s been an amazing month for Will.  He is establishing his own little personality.  It is just so fun watching him grow up and get more independent.  With it, of course, comes some mild tantrums now.  We haven’t experienced one of those awful scenes in public yet, however, he is starting to stomp his feet, and make a very funny fake cry face when he doesn’t get his way.  We love watching him.   It is the greatest thing ever.  Here are some pictures and videos from the past month.  We took Will to the beach on a beautiful day.  He loved it.  He put his feet in the freezing water and laughed and laughed.  Then, when he discovered he could throw the sand, he loved the beach even more.  

Mama is getting ready for Will’s baby sister, Hannah.  Since Hannah has some cute clothes, she couldn’t help but test what they’d look like by using Will as her model.  Needless to say, daddy wasn’t too happy about it, but Will only had the dress on for about 1 minute will never remember it happening….except by seeing it in this picture :)  Will also enjoyed helping daddy put Hannah’s room together.

A couple of other pictures of Mr. Independent learning how to climb up on everything.  Will is most definitely a climber.  Then, when he can’t get down, he starts yelling for us to come get him down, so he can climb right back up to where he was :)

Have to get one in there of Loki.  She loves to sit in Will’s chair when he goes to bed.  

Will got to participate in his first Easter egg hunt that the Easter Bunny left for him.  He LOVED it!  He especially enjoyed the yogurt melt treats left inside by the Easter bunny.  The Bunny is so smart and left exactly what Will loves most!  

Random Pics and videos from the Past Couple of Weeks :)

Will LOVES his baths!  Even puts his face in the water now and puts his head under the running water.  He loves the shower even more and just stands in the warm running water and squealing with glee :)

Will at Howarth Park!  He loves the carousel and the slides :)

Three’s Company…Will loves his pets :)