21 months old

Today William is 21 months old. The leaves are changing colors and falling off the tree in our backyard - so we thought there might be some good pictures to take outside in celebration. We did a similar shoot last year about this time also (click here or here for last year's pictures). This year was more challenging for several reasons: because our neighbor has a newish dog that likes to do his "business" in our yard - yuck and William is now WAY more mobile than last year. Maybe at this time next year we'll have a kid who likes to hold still for a change. I'm not super happy with our results so I can almost guarantee that we'll be back out again in the next week or so to try and get a few more fall pictures of the big boy.

Weeeeeee! Leaves are fun!
I have to shut my eyes because Mama is throwing leaves at my face!
Enough sitting! I want to run down the hill in our backyard.
And now back up the hill again!
And now it is time to stop and smell the flowers (for all you green thumbs out there - I need some serious advice about what to do with the mess I've made out of these Zinnias. They are HUGE, each plant is over 3 feet tall with massive flowers. They aren't strong enough to stand up on their own so they fell on top of everything else and have about managed to kill everything with their bigness. Oh yeah, and I planted 8 of them in a smallish area. Please advise how to deal with minimum work involved. I promise if your advice involves a shovel, it ain't happening.)
In constant motion...but so happy!
You're right Mama, it is fun to throw leaves!

New Words

William has been picking up words like crazy over the last few weeks. Many of them seem completely random (pocket?) to me, but I guess that is just how the toddler brain works.

However, a handful of the words I absolutely certain he doesn't understand. He is just repeating them after we say them. It is not only time to start watching what we say, but the meaning behind what we say as well...

Here are two new additions from this week alone:

1) I was getting dressed and came out of the bathroom to get a second (and third) opinion about my shirt. Clothes have been difficult lately because most of my normal stuff is too small and very unflattering. However, most of the maternity clothes I have are way too big and also unflattering. So, my question was "Fat or pregnant?" John carefully studied the outfit and declared it pregnant. William was sitting with John and looked up and said "Pregnant". Does he know what it means? Absolutely not.

2) William and I were in line at the store last week and William was having a great time pitching the items within his reach out of the cart and onto the floor as fast as I could get them back into the cart. When he ran out of items, he then started pulling items off of the conveyor belt and throwing them onto the floor- which were not ours. All of my distractions (toys and snacks) in my purse were not helping in the least and also ended up on the floor. Laughing (because the other option was crying), I looked at William and said "You sure are trouble today". He looked at me for a second and then nodded his head before saying "Trouble".

How does that Work?

I went to get my flu shot today and brought William with me. Normally, I would have found Someone to watch him or scheduled it when John would be home. However, the flu shot clinic is pretty quick in and out. I would have needed someone for maybe 15 minutes.

Anyway, I brought him with and I got my shot while William looked on. Yet, when we left, William had the following: a huge Halloween decorated cupcake, a mini bag of pretzels, a 3 musketeers bar, a box of dots, a bag of M&M's, and a Halloween sticker. Did I mention that I was the one getting the shot? Where is my sticker?

Why am I the Only one Laughing?

Today during story time at the library, the librarian was trying to teach us all a new song: Soft Kitty. However, I couldn't do it with a straight face at ALL. And here is why (song starts about 55 seconds into the video):



PS This does not contain video footage of William or anyone in our family. So, if you have a slowish internet connection, it is okay to skip this one.

Video from Grandma's house last weekend

Just for fun, here is a little of what we did last weekend at Grandma's house.

Aunt Megan taught William how to bump his way down the steps on his behind

William and Grandma Rocking...

And here the piggy gets it - who started this game?

The CHASE is on!

Here is a First

Yes, past the first trimester of two pregnancies is when I finally throw up. Wonderful.





For those who care, it was the dishwasher that did me in. Most days I'm finding I wish I didn't have a nose.

Where did that come from?

Yesterday morning, William woke up and we played for awhile in our living room before we went to have breakfast (I need to wake up before I eat...so William waits too). We were reading a book and when we were done, William stood up and stuck his hand into the back of his pants (not the diaper). I wasn't sure what he was doing, so I studied over him for a few seconds before he cleared things up. He looked at me very seriously and clearly said "pocket".

New word of the day: Pocket. All before breakfast.