Accident

Will face-planted on the sidewalk yesterday and busted his lip. I wasn't there at the time, but Colin was wearing a bloody t-shirt when I returned from my errand. Poor little guy! After screaming for half an hour, he calmed down, but his mouth still looks pretty bad. It's unfortunately worse-looking in person than it appears in the pictures. And it even shook up my husband, who sees some pretty nasty stuff over at the hospital. It's hard to have a hurting child, and it's really scary to see blood. With our little daredevil, I'm worried that we'll deal with this more in the years to come... He's tough though!

Happy Thanksgiving to all, & Early Happy Birthday to Will

Hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings! We certainly did. Our families came down here, and we ate a ton of tasty food and enjoyed the good company. Will reveled in all the attention, of course, and appears a little depressed that it's just me today. It's been a paci morning so far. I had decorated our house for Christmas last week--just couldn't wait--so at least now it's "ok" to have a festive home. No big tree for us though this year...Will would take that down in a second. The Christmas music is playing, the mini-trees are up, the candles are going in the windows--love this season!



Since Will's birthday is so close to Christmas, we decided to celebrate it a few weeks early... He loves his new toys! Our house is overrun by plastic things, some large, some small, some quiet, many loud. He loves them all. Sometimes I forget to bring in his outdoor toys at night, and our yard looks quite trashy. Colin thinks it's funny, though I remind him I typically make fun of such yards. Oh well.



And yes, there was cake. I generally don't give the kid pure sugar, so he went wild.

I'm walking! Check me out!

Playing Ball (& Steps!)

Will was enjoying playing a little football with his post-call, very sleepy dad this evening. Within the past week, this 11 month old athlete has started to take a few steps. He won't do it on command, but he'll do what he needs to do to get from one toy to another. He is SO proud of himself, and he can't get enough of his spectators' clapping and cheering. Such a ham!

Saturday

I should’ve known better. Today was Colin’s day off, and I suggested we take a family trip to the mall. I rarely go alone to the mall nowadays, since Will (unless under the influence of Baskin Robbins ice cream or while “riding” the 50 cent kiddie vehicles) screams most of the time. Not pleasant. I’m accustomed to it, but other shoppers aren’t so thrilled by my child’s wailing. They smile and think he’s oh so cute--until he throws a fit, of course. I’ve been dying to try on clothes for myself, but Will either shrieks in the dressing room or escapes from it. Not fun to chase after a strong-willed faaast crawler while halfway clothed. So I was hoping today might be a good time to attack this task, as Colin could watch after Will.

The mall was absolutely packed, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to detest crowded shopping arenas. It makes me claustrophobic. Also, I couldn’t bear to leave Colin with our antsy child for long periods of time on his one day off. My poor husband has been working like a dog these past few weeks, and I already had torn him away from good football-watching. So, the shopping portion of it was a bit of a bust.

It was fun though—we stopped off at the kids’ play area and let Will enjoy himself for awhile, and it was also entertaining to watch him play with the stuffed animals at Nordstrom. Unfortunately, he took a liking to a pink toy poodle—not the manliest of creatures—and it wasn’t easy for him to part with it. We even attempted to dine out, and this is where I really should’ve known better. I think Colin and I devoured our food at Rockfish Grill (yummy!) in 5 minutes flat, since Will decided he’d had enough of our fun family outing. Let’s just say I better clean my contact lenses out really well tonight, since I’ve got mixed veggies in my left eye at the moment. I do miss leisurely meals…

Now it’s 7 pm, and we’re ready for bed. Another call day for Colin tomorrow and another day of who-knows-what for Will and me. It’s always a surprise :) I though my prior job as a high-school teacher was unpredictable and dynamic, but being a mom is so much more so! Each day, I wake up without a clue if Will is to take a decent nap, eat something other than yogurt and cheerios, scream or be perfectly cheery, want to cuddle and read all day or autonomously push his car down the street. I am thankful for every day I get to hang out with my baby (nearly a toddler!), but I must admit, those “easier” days are nice. I heard somewhere recently that truly parents aren’t “raising” kids; it’s the kid who “raises” the parent. On those not-so-easy days, I can see that. How ironic that God uses these teeny little people to mature and grow up the big people in their lives.

Question: Any advice on babies that still insist on eating baby food? Other than little pieces of fruit & crackers/cheerios/goldfish, Will won’t eat “real people food” that isn’t smooth in texture…It’s like he knows the difference between carrots that I cooked and pureed and the ones in the little Gerber tub. I’ll be sending him to college with his pureed squash in plastic containers.