Amy and Will sliding together.
Here is the whole gang.
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silver linings and quilt tops
6 years ago
Jump!
We went to the largest jump facility in Western Washington today with a few friends. Check it out!
Amy and Will sliding together.
Here is the whole gang.
Amy and Will sliding together.
Here is the whole gang.
The Big Pour
You might remember "The Big Dig" where Paul and Will singlehandedly removed 99,000 pounds of dirt from our basement. Wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow, they filled the Handy Andy dumptruck up for several weekends this past year with dirt so heavy and packed it took a crowbar to break it up from under the house.
It seems to me that just as much time has been spent to build the concrete forms and fill with over 22,000 pounds (11 tons!) of concrete to make the foundation walls. Last night was Paul's last time with those foundation walls and while he still needs to pour the floor among other things, surely he is relieved to be finished with the seemingly endless mixing, pouring and vibrating!
It seems to me that just as much time has been spent to build the concrete forms and fill with over 22,000 pounds (11 tons!) of concrete to make the foundation walls. Last night was Paul's last time with those foundation walls and while he still needs to pour the floor among other things, surely he is relieved to be finished with the seemingly endless mixing, pouring and vibrating!
Nalia Visits!
We were so happy to see Erika, Nalia and Matias again. You can't tell by the photo but Erika is in her third trimester and has a HUGE belly!
Firebelly Toads
We are taking care of these guys over the break and it has provided endless enjoyment for the cat. He insists on sleeping on top of the cage or stretched out alongside so that each and every move they make will be under his watchful eye.
Seattle Streetcar is Open!
We tried out the new Seattle Streetcar along South Lake Union today. Fortunately it is free for the entire month of December since Will wanted to ride the entire line twice through!
Tugboat
One of Will's favorite places to visit is the Center for Wooden Boats. Though usually we go there to sail, today was a day for exploring the tugboat Arthur Foss, the oldest tugboat in Seattle!
Poopoo Head
I'm not sure I got the spelling right on that but if you must know, this is the timeless creation of three year old boys. My son is now continuing on in the tradition. Apparently the other day he went to Paul's office with him and our usually angelic little guy said, "Hi, poopoo head." to one of Paul's esteemed colleagues.
I'm relieved that this happened to Paul instead of me! Yes!
A few years back there was a three year old who used to run down to my classroom, open the door and scream, "Poopoo head!" I talked with his teacher about it because it started getting out of control to the point that I could not even walk down the hallway without being acosted by the three year old boy and his "poopoo head" comments. It was stressful. I couldn't sleep at night.
Now this same boy has grown into a lovely five year old. My boy, on the other hand, learned about this magic word on the playground from another student in another class. Since then, the kids in his class have been working on this word, testing it with all who will listen.
Will told me yesterday that his teacher talked with the entire class about "Poopoo head" and that this is not nice to say. Will continues to pull it out of his hat of tricks whenever he wants some attention though. Last night in the grocery store as we waited in line he grew impatient and started calling people, "Poopoo heads".
A challenge, to be sure.
I'm relieved that this happened to Paul instead of me! Yes!
A few years back there was a three year old who used to run down to my classroom, open the door and scream, "Poopoo head!" I talked with his teacher about it because it started getting out of control to the point that I could not even walk down the hallway without being acosted by the three year old boy and his "poopoo head" comments. It was stressful. I couldn't sleep at night.
Now this same boy has grown into a lovely five year old. My boy, on the other hand, learned about this magic word on the playground from another student in another class. Since then, the kids in his class have been working on this word, testing it with all who will listen.
Will told me yesterday that his teacher talked with the entire class about "Poopoo head" and that this is not nice to say. Will continues to pull it out of his hat of tricks whenever he wants some attention though. Last night in the grocery store as we waited in line he grew impatient and started calling people, "Poopoo heads".
A challenge, to be sure.
Adoration of the Frosty
Will would pass over Santa in a heartbeat if given the chance to see Frosty. Part of this is due to the song and book that we read constantly over the holidays but take a look at this and you'll agree, Frosty is king in our household!
Bearing Gifts?
Molly, Joe and Kai flew in from Minnesota to visit Joe's family and happily stayed with us for the weekend. Even though we are in the midst of our house project I was able to find Will's old red wagon and we took Kai for a spin around the neighborhood. He loved it and was giggling more than I've ever seen.
Sadly the last photo of the boys in the bathtub details one of the possible ways that the Norwalk virus was passed onto our family (and several other families who they visited this week). Within 24 hours Will was vomiting violently with Paul following about two hours later. I started up the following morning. Selfishly, I can say that I did not present symptoms as terribly as Paul and Will. What I saw of the two of them that night and the subsequent days was worse than I have EVER seen either one of them and there was a moment that Paul asked me to be prepared to call 911 because he thought he was going to pass out. Paul is rarely, if ever, sick and after living in PNG amidst all kinds of parasites and whatnot he never saw much more than a touch of diarrhea. This hit him hard and even after four days he still doesn't feel 100%.
Gingerbread House
I can't even believe how many things we've accomplished today, one of which was a gingerbread house. I told him that it was not for eating and that it would make him sick which sort of worked since he still doesn't really have much familiarity with candy. Mostly I thought it was a fine time for this tradition and since we have TWO visitors coming this holiday season we can enjoy it all the more.
Holiday Season
The holidays are off and running in our household. We woke up this December 1st and started the advent calendar which Will is still learning the concept of. He keeps announcing that it is time to look in the pocket for number two and I have to remind him that number two is for the following day, not for the following moment!
We went to visit the reindeer and Santa this morning just serendipitously. The plan was to trim a tiny live tree but we were surprised by Santa. Will wasn't too sure about Santa at first and was very confused about why he was laughing so much. This Santa was particularly jolly and kept doing loud, "Ho ho ho"'s which was a little disconcerting to me too.
We couldn't have had a more perfect ending to our day when we pulled up in front of the house and it started to snow. We were able to make snowmen together in the afternoon and then cuddled inside and made some spritz cookies with the cookie press.
Requests
I can't remember when it started exactly but I've been noticing that Will seems to have some "wants". When he is with one of us he'll just casually express, "I wish I had a dog." or "I wish I had a baby." He's asked both of us for these things many many times outside of situations where we see babies or dogs however, when there is a dog or a baby or dog toys or baby paraphernalia in front of him he will up the ante: "I wish I had two dogs."
It is hysterical to us that these "wants" are always things that require time or forethought or yard space or even trees which we don't have at the moment. Today he was just sitting on the couch with his dad and he looked out the window while saying, "I wish I had a treehouse." His dad's response was that it would be very cool to have a tree house but we don't have any trees in our yard. Then he said, "I wish I had a tree. Dad do you think we could fit one in our car or maybe tied to the roof?"
It is hysterical to us that these "wants" are always things that require time or forethought or yard space or even trees which we don't have at the moment. Today he was just sitting on the couch with his dad and he looked out the window while saying, "I wish I had a treehouse." His dad's response was that it would be very cool to have a tree house but we don't have any trees in our yard. Then he said, "I wish I had a tree. Dad do you think we could fit one in our car or maybe tied to the roof?"
More Thanksgiving Photos
We had turkey using the great turkey roaster from my aunt, potatoes dug from the garden!, gluten free mushroom gravy, roasted kabocha squash, homemade cranberry sauce, homemade apple pie, homemade pumpkin pie, homemade ice cream, and sliced oranges.
Stone Soup Celebration
Today was our school's Stone Soup celebration and we were all invited to eat lunch with the children. Will's class gave a Mexican dance performance titled: La Patita, La Muneca, El Raton, and Las Bocales.
Here he is in La Muneca dancing and twirling with Katy.
Wordsmith
Well, not quite... but certainly making some progress. Tonight while I was making dinner Will spelled out "dad" on the fridge and then "jazmn" for his friend Jasmine and "zo" for zoo along with cat and dog and box. This was pretty exciting. It doesn't surprise me at all that "dad" was his first spelled word but if I remember right, usually the first word that kids learn to write and read is their own name which might be a bit tricky for him with that double L. I'm excited to see whether this interest continues or if it goes underground for awhile yet and surfaces later.
Good Morning?
Lately Will wakes up to have his morning pee and then comes into our room and curls up with the cat at the end of the bed. It was one thing to share my limited sleeping space with a huge lump of a cat but this is quite another!!
Recess
Will's recess is usually going on just outside my window around noon or so and on my way out with my students I can catch a glimpse of the kids outside. He tells me that he plays lions sometimes with his "best friends". I can only assume that this means they walk around and roar at each other since there has been a lot of roaring in our house lately. I finally had to tell him that he can only roar outside.
They also seem to do quite a lot of cooking. Will says that his friend Jack likes to play a game where they cook in puddles and scream out, "Hot chicken!" Another day I picked him up from afterschool and he was cooking in the flowerpots with Cole.
It is fun to see him actually playing outside of the parallel play that I grew accustomed to in the toddler years.
They also seem to do quite a lot of cooking. Will says that his friend Jack likes to play a game where they cook in puddles and scream out, "Hot chicken!" Another day I picked him up from afterschool and he was cooking in the flowerpots with Cole.
It is fun to see him actually playing outside of the parallel play that I grew accustomed to in the toddler years.
My He Has Grown
There have been so many things the past three years that I've wanted to remember about Will. I feel like we are on the edge of a precipice and soon he is going to plunge into the body and mind of a kid and I'll forget all the fun things he used to do in the first half of the first plane of development. Just a few....
1. He is still challenged by "r"s. For a long time we enjoyed the "fiwatwucks" (firetrucks) and "weckfast" (breakfast). Today he asked if someone could get him some "chopstick" for his lips because they were chapped.
2. His eating habits are fickle. Tonight he exclaimed that salad was his most favorite food in the whole world after he ate his third bowl. Last week he wanted nothing to do with it. I've come to the conclusion that he only likes fresh foods. This means that those whole grain carrot muffins I made for him last week were delicious right out of the oven but after freezing and defrosting the following week he didn't think they were so great. Basically anything that is freshly sliced or freshly steamed, baked or cooked whether it is raw onions or warm blueberry pancakes, he will eat voraciously. When we go to a restaurant he will eat an adult portion of whatever he orders and then half or more of whatever we ordered for ourselves! Should we bring home something and have it as leftovers the next day, he barely eats.
3. He is completely in love with his dad and likes to dress like him, do things with him, and sticks to him like flypaper whenever he is around. Paul has started waking up early so that he can try to quickly get ready before Will gets up otherwise his morning routine takes twice as long with Will's "help" (rinsing off his razor, timing his toothbrushing and instructing his technique, making his breakfast for him, etc.)
4. He is quite friendly. He invites kids to play with him whether they are 1 or 9 years old, he likes to dance and sing LOUDLY, has virtually no fear about talking with people in stores or venues. The other day at the library he just marched right up to the librarian when I wasn't looking and asked if she could help him find a book.
5. He is completely transparent and shares his inner thoughts under his breath.
6. He is a chameleon and will duplicate behaviors that he sees. Our mantra for well over a year now has been, "Just because someone else does something doesn't make it right." In some ways this can be a good thing because he'll imitate whatever we model for him but should there be another boy on the scene doing something he shouldn't, Will just joins right in! I worry a little about this because this follower mentality could get him into trouble but it also translates into him wanting to please other people. I have already seen glimmers of him doing things for other people that he doesn't want to do and then his eyes well up with tears because he doesn't think he can say, "No."
7. I know that Paul is quite proud of all the things that he has introduced to Will in their evening and weekend adventures. Will knows many of the bus routes around his house and can identify the 5 and 44 bus. He also reminds us to turn off the engine at stoplights if we idle longer than 30 seconds to "save the biodiesel". They take out the compost and recycling each week together, have taken several dump truck loads of dirt and/or building materials around town and have spent an incredible amount of time in the basement digging, pouring concrete, and building our new closet and bathroom. They have matching father and son PFD's for their sailing trips and matching father and son guitars.
8. As much as I've tried to introduce dolls and accessories into his life, he will toss them aside for a transportation vehicle. He loves planes, trains and automobiles.
9. I guess I'd have to say that he's always been more fine motor skill and language oriented than gross motor oriented. I actually took him to the pediatrician because I worried that he couldn't run! He still is the absolute slowest walker on the planet next to the sloth. He can open anything in the house, slice, peel, chop, etc. He threads needles and ties the knot at the end, cuts well with scissors, and accomplishes innumerable tasks all on his own. We are working on tying bows and snapping right now but I still don't see him running and whatnot with the same interest or ability. He isn't what I would call fearless and fast-- he is a more calculated risk taker and slow mover.
10. His toddler class had twelve students in it and strangely, even in this age of parallel play I saw friendships emerge for him. His first year he seemed to prefer Finley who upon first impression seems rather outgoing and motherly bordering on bossy. The following year a new friendship emerged with Cole (who is very similar to Will's personality), Andy (who is outgoing and very funny), and Jasmine (also outgoing, strong willed and full of attitude). This year in his new class of 24 he seems to prefer his friend Jack, who is a little sprite, always smiling, very outgoing and funny. I find it fascinating to see how these friendships emerge so quickly and they do not seem to be a fleeting fancy. These friends have found each other and prefer to be with each other whenever possible. So interesting...
11. He has had a stutter since the early days of language acquisition. It used to settle mostly on the beginning of his sentences and is readily apparent that the more excited he gets to say something and the more he has to say, the more he stutters. "I" sometimes goes on and on for awhile before he finally gets out the rest of the words.
12. He wears backwards shirts, pants and shoes along with inside out socks. On occasion he goes without underwear or wears several pairs on top of each other or comes home wearing someone else's underwear. This is where three years old has been so interesting because all of this is his choice in a sense because he either has seen another child who has this "style" or he decides that it just isn't that important to him to wear underwear that day. That conscious mind is so interesting!
13. His very first word was "boom" from what we can tell which was a generalization for many different things, one of which was flatulence. He persists to this day to call flatulence "boom boom". I always vowed to never use pet words for body parts or functions but the everlasting "boom boom" prevails.
14. I think this is true of many children so I can't say that he has full blown perfectionist tendencies but he does seem to feel embarrassment or surprise or whatnot when he takes a calculated risk and fails. When he was very small he might fall into pterodactyl screams or maybe a tantrum with breath holding after something didn't happen as expected but now as a three year old I notice that a mistake or a missed expectation will elicit some serious tears. It isn't that he can't get himself dirty or meet a challenge but more typical things like a stuck zipper or slipping on some water or ice will be very upsetting for him. He is cool as a cucumber though when we are setting a limit or boundary with him. I can only hope that this sheds light on our parenting and that he knows we mean what we say but he doesn't cry or whine in protest.
15. And speaking of falling down the stairs.... I can't forget the time that he took off all his clothes, packed up his tools into his bike basket and rode his bike down the basement stairs! I found a naked boy screaming at the bottom of the stairs surrounded by all his tools! I also cannot forget the time that he and Chloe were playing on the little footbridge over the slough and I turned around to find him neck deep in sludge just calmly calling for me as he sunk deeper and deeper into the thickest blackest mud you could imagine! It took two of us to pull him out!
16. I think he is a bedwetter or at least, I suspect that we will be dealing with this for awhile. From early on he was dry during naptime and while we never had longer than a week of dry nights those first two years, now at three years old, we hardly ever have a dry night. Nothing we've tried seems to work so as a family we just embrace the wet underwear that we find in the bathroom each morning. Typically he will wake up in the wee hours of the morning to change himself and then get back to bed.
17. Just around his third birthday we started to notice that he seemed afraid to go into a dark room by himself. It isn't extreme and our response tends to be pretty neutral about it but for the first time I think he is starting to understand and feel fear and has actually started to use the word, "scary".
1. He is still challenged by "r"s. For a long time we enjoyed the "fiwatwucks" (firetrucks) and "weckfast" (breakfast). Today he asked if someone could get him some "chopstick" for his lips because they were chapped.
2. His eating habits are fickle. Tonight he exclaimed that salad was his most favorite food in the whole world after he ate his third bowl. Last week he wanted nothing to do with it. I've come to the conclusion that he only likes fresh foods. This means that those whole grain carrot muffins I made for him last week were delicious right out of the oven but after freezing and defrosting the following week he didn't think they were so great. Basically anything that is freshly sliced or freshly steamed, baked or cooked whether it is raw onions or warm blueberry pancakes, he will eat voraciously. When we go to a restaurant he will eat an adult portion of whatever he orders and then half or more of whatever we ordered for ourselves! Should we bring home something and have it as leftovers the next day, he barely eats.
3. He is completely in love with his dad and likes to dress like him, do things with him, and sticks to him like flypaper whenever he is around. Paul has started waking up early so that he can try to quickly get ready before Will gets up otherwise his morning routine takes twice as long with Will's "help" (rinsing off his razor, timing his toothbrushing and instructing his technique, making his breakfast for him, etc.)
4. He is quite friendly. He invites kids to play with him whether they are 1 or 9 years old, he likes to dance and sing LOUDLY, has virtually no fear about talking with people in stores or venues. The other day at the library he just marched right up to the librarian when I wasn't looking and asked if she could help him find a book.
5. He is completely transparent and shares his inner thoughts under his breath.
6. He is a chameleon and will duplicate behaviors that he sees. Our mantra for well over a year now has been, "Just because someone else does something doesn't make it right." In some ways this can be a good thing because he'll imitate whatever we model for him but should there be another boy on the scene doing something he shouldn't, Will just joins right in! I worry a little about this because this follower mentality could get him into trouble but it also translates into him wanting to please other people. I have already seen glimmers of him doing things for other people that he doesn't want to do and then his eyes well up with tears because he doesn't think he can say, "No."
7. I know that Paul is quite proud of all the things that he has introduced to Will in their evening and weekend adventures. Will knows many of the bus routes around his house and can identify the 5 and 44 bus. He also reminds us to turn off the engine at stoplights if we idle longer than 30 seconds to "save the biodiesel". They take out the compost and recycling each week together, have taken several dump truck loads of dirt and/or building materials around town and have spent an incredible amount of time in the basement digging, pouring concrete, and building our new closet and bathroom. They have matching father and son PFD's for their sailing trips and matching father and son guitars.
8. As much as I've tried to introduce dolls and accessories into his life, he will toss them aside for a transportation vehicle. He loves planes, trains and automobiles.
9. I guess I'd have to say that he's always been more fine motor skill and language oriented than gross motor oriented. I actually took him to the pediatrician because I worried that he couldn't run! He still is the absolute slowest walker on the planet next to the sloth. He can open anything in the house, slice, peel, chop, etc. He threads needles and ties the knot at the end, cuts well with scissors, and accomplishes innumerable tasks all on his own. We are working on tying bows and snapping right now but I still don't see him running and whatnot with the same interest or ability. He isn't what I would call fearless and fast-- he is a more calculated risk taker and slow mover.
10. His toddler class had twelve students in it and strangely, even in this age of parallel play I saw friendships emerge for him. His first year he seemed to prefer Finley who upon first impression seems rather outgoing and motherly bordering on bossy. The following year a new friendship emerged with Cole (who is very similar to Will's personality), Andy (who is outgoing and very funny), and Jasmine (also outgoing, strong willed and full of attitude). This year in his new class of 24 he seems to prefer his friend Jack, who is a little sprite, always smiling, very outgoing and funny. I find it fascinating to see how these friendships emerge so quickly and they do not seem to be a fleeting fancy. These friends have found each other and prefer to be with each other whenever possible. So interesting...
11. He has had a stutter since the early days of language acquisition. It used to settle mostly on the beginning of his sentences and is readily apparent that the more excited he gets to say something and the more he has to say, the more he stutters. "I" sometimes goes on and on for awhile before he finally gets out the rest of the words.
12. He wears backwards shirts, pants and shoes along with inside out socks. On occasion he goes without underwear or wears several pairs on top of each other or comes home wearing someone else's underwear. This is where three years old has been so interesting because all of this is his choice in a sense because he either has seen another child who has this "style" or he decides that it just isn't that important to him to wear underwear that day. That conscious mind is so interesting!
13. His very first word was "boom" from what we can tell which was a generalization for many different things, one of which was flatulence. He persists to this day to call flatulence "boom boom". I always vowed to never use pet words for body parts or functions but the everlasting "boom boom" prevails.
14. I think this is true of many children so I can't say that he has full blown perfectionist tendencies but he does seem to feel embarrassment or surprise or whatnot when he takes a calculated risk and fails. When he was very small he might fall into pterodactyl screams or maybe a tantrum with breath holding after something didn't happen as expected but now as a three year old I notice that a mistake or a missed expectation will elicit some serious tears. It isn't that he can't get himself dirty or meet a challenge but more typical things like a stuck zipper or slipping on some water or ice will be very upsetting for him. He is cool as a cucumber though when we are setting a limit or boundary with him. I can only hope that this sheds light on our parenting and that he knows we mean what we say but he doesn't cry or whine in protest.
15. And speaking of falling down the stairs.... I can't forget the time that he took off all his clothes, packed up his tools into his bike basket and rode his bike down the basement stairs! I found a naked boy screaming at the bottom of the stairs surrounded by all his tools! I also cannot forget the time that he and Chloe were playing on the little footbridge over the slough and I turned around to find him neck deep in sludge just calmly calling for me as he sunk deeper and deeper into the thickest blackest mud you could imagine! It took two of us to pull him out!
16. I think he is a bedwetter or at least, I suspect that we will be dealing with this for awhile. From early on he was dry during naptime and while we never had longer than a week of dry nights those first two years, now at three years old, we hardly ever have a dry night. Nothing we've tried seems to work so as a family we just embrace the wet underwear that we find in the bathroom each morning. Typically he will wake up in the wee hours of the morning to change himself and then get back to bed.
17. Just around his third birthday we started to notice that he seemed afraid to go into a dark room by himself. It isn't extreme and our response tends to be pretty neutral about it but for the first time I think he is starting to understand and feel fear and has actually started to use the word, "scary".
Salmon Coming Home!
This photo is not the greatest but a good eye might spot the salmon after she just jumped up and over the ladder.
Will has been fascinated by the salmon spawn happening at a nearby creek. We've visited several days in a row now to watch life and death right before our eyes as the salmon make their arduous swim home. Some of the huge dead males were laying across a few of the fish ladders and you could see fish crowding together in tiny pools as they rest before continuing on.
Will's new game at home is to pretend that he and his dad are salmon. Sometimes they are dead and they lie on the couch not moving and sometimes they are swimming upstream to lay their eggs. It is so fun to see that even without exposure to fantasy and television characters he still has an active imagination and is capable of pretend play. He plays with his animal or vehicle replicas creating all kinds of situations for them that he knows about in real life. I also remember last spring how many times we played chickadee family over and over as Will wanted to re-enact the hatching and rearing of the chickadees outside our window. I suspect we'll be playing "salmon" over and over in the next few weeks!
Will's new game at home is to pretend that he and his dad are salmon. Sometimes they are dead and they lie on the couch not moving and sometimes they are swimming upstream to lay their eggs. It is so fun to see that even without exposure to fantasy and television characters he still has an active imagination and is capable of pretend play. He plays with his animal or vehicle replicas creating all kinds of situations for them that he knows about in real life. I also remember last spring how many times we played chickadee family over and over as Will wanted to re-enact the hatching and rearing of the chickadees outside our window. I suspect we'll be playing "salmon" over and over in the next few weeks!
Funny
Today as I surveyed his lunch contents I noticed that he did not eat any of his cucumber slices. I asked him why and he said, "My mouth was too small." Upon further discussion I found out that he thought that the round slices were too large for his small mouth to eat in one bite and he prefers them to be quartered like they usually are!
Trick or Treat
Tonight Will had his first neighborhood trick or treat. He definitely got the idea although the message degenerated pretty quickly from, "Trick or Treat" to "I want some candy." We also had to talk about staying on the doorstep. Since we went around our neighborhood, some of our neighbors just invited Will inside which led him to believe that he should just waltz right into everyone's house!
We talked with him beforehand about how we can trade in his treats for something and he offered up the idea of a ride on the Snoqualmie Railroad. His trick or treating friend Lane decided to trade in her treats for ballet tickets. Then towards the end of the evening at the very last house I heard Will say under his breath, "I think I'm going to eat some of this candy." as he put a lollipop into his mouth wrapper and all. He sucked on it for awhile and then we reminded him about trading for a train ride. Thankfully, sucking on the lollipop wrapper was not nearly so delicious as the train ride!
The thing that is so hysterical about Will-- and likely this is the age-- is that he is so transparent. He says things under his breath which are his true inner thoughts and he voices his observations in such raw truth that it just cracks me up.