More Onions!

Grandma is in town and we took her over to the farm. Will is just in love with the big onions that he finds out there. I don't know if it is the allure of picking his own or just the tastiness but I can hardly get the onions home these days. He likes to eat them raw like apples, greens and all. We usually feed a few greens to the alpacas and then take the rest for ourselves. Personally, I'm not a raw onion fan but Will seems to like them!

Here he is digging for worms and worm eggs.

Annual Camping with OM's

Faith, Sophia, Ian and Will playing in the water.



This year wasn't our favorite campsite but the beach was really fun. The water was very shallow and calm and it was surprising to see so many kids out there boogie boarding and wading. The kids also seemed to choose to have some "naked time" out at the campsite. Chalk it up to imitation when one kid disrobed they all followed suit!

Point Defiance Zoo

I love this zoo in Tacoma. It is small enough that we can do it in a day and the animals are so easy to view when you are just a few feet tall. Will loved the huge walruses and the beautiful belugas. He also had a chance to groom some goats, pet sheep, and see all kinds of sleeping and active animals like porcupines, monkeys and adorable river otters.

Camano Island Weekend

Will went up to his buddy Cole's cabin on Camano Island this weekend and the boys had a blast. They both have birthdays within a couple weeks of each other so there was a little watermelon "cake" for celebration, dancing with kelp, catching crabs for dinner, watching eagles, watching sunsets, playing in a secret tree fort, digging each other into sand, rough housing with Cole's uncles, jumping in a bouncy house, and general fun all around!

Watching the sunset "movie" on the beach. Will and Cole are the two tiny little heads off to the left.

Farmer Will

Will and I finally made it up to the farm today. We picked a giant onion, swiss chard, berries, zucchini and broccoli rabe. Tonight's dinner was amazing with all these vegetables along with grilled pineapple with coconut caramel sauce, warm rice, and broiled chicken. Will also had a chance to ride on a tractor and pet some goats. He discovered two eggs in nests and watched ducks hunt for worms.

All this made up for a great day until he decided to steal some toys from the quilting store. I wondered why his pockets were bulging when we left the store but didn't really think about it until a little later. This led to at least an hour or more of talking again about thieving. There happened to be a police raid in the building we were at and when Will asked what this was about i told him that perhaps they were trying to catch a thief. In the end, after a very very long discussion mainly because he wasn't cooperative about fessing up to what he had done, we went back to the store and he returned the items. On the way home he told me that when he is a daddy and his baby steals something from a store that he will teach him not to do that and he will have to return the items too. He said that kids sometimes don't know that they can't take something without asking or paying for it but he will teach his baby that too.

Here Come the Clowns

It seems an annual tradition to do the Wallingford Kiddie Parade with the Seafair Clowns. Cole was ready this year with his matching rainbow wig and the two boys loved passing out candy and balloons to all the parade-goers.

Soccer Camp

Will was in soccer camp all last week and here are some parting shots. I want to take note this year that he definitely is not grasping the competitive edge. I had quite a few laughs watching him as he moved out of the way when the other kids were shooting goals and that he willingly watched as his teammates blasted by on their way to "steal the treasure" or any of the other games. Not that he didn't participate but he was gracious and courteous which doesn't really work well on the field! The other parents noticed it as well and we had a lot of laughs watching him "wait his turn" and "give space" when he really needed to just fight his way in!

Three Year Old Speak

I feel like we are going to start losing some of his fun pronounciations so I wanted to take note. He's already started to make corrections on a few of these but we've been trying to remember these:

Forehead = floorhead
Suitcase = zootcase
Yellow = lello
Backpack = backack
Three = fwee
Firetruck = fiwatwuck
Girl = goyl
William = Willyoung (people sometimes think that this is his name)
Seven-thirty = seven-forty
Something = somethin'
Jaguar = jagwatoo
Water = watoo
Armadillo = amadiyoo
Hospital = hostable
Squirrel = squail
Friends = fwens
Tree = twee
Garbage truck = gowbage twuck
Thank you = fank you
Play Structure = play stwucture
Train = twain
Supposed = opposed


Negotiating Tactics (When you tell him something that you would prefer to be done differently or that you don't want to be done at all he'll think for a minute and then say things such as):

"Hey, I have an idea.... (then he proceeds to tell you the way he was doing it before)"
"Well, I actually think I know better than you so...."
"No, I don't want to do that."
"How about if I just keep doing this.... (then proceeds to do what you don't want him to do)"
"Alright, I won't do it... (then he proceeds to S L O W L Y do the thing you just asked him not to do)"
"But that person is doing it... (then proceeds to point out someone somewhere who is doing the very thing that we asked him not to do)."

Downright Trickery (When you set a limit with him and he uses it against you later):
We tell him that he needs to brush teeth in the bathroom for fear that toothpaste will get in places we don't want it to. We also will tell him that he needs to eat in the kitchen at the table only. Then later, when he is supposed to be sleeping he'll come out for a "drink of water" and proceed to drink it ever so slowly in the kitchen. When he is asked to go back to bed he'll say, "You are supposed to drink only in the kitchen."

For the longest time whenever you asked him, "Why did you do that?" he would say, "Because I just did." Only recently he started saying to me, "Why do you always say that?"

Sticks and Stones

Yesterday Will and I took our first backpacking trip of the season to Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. It was an amazing trip in very quiet, fragrant, lovely woods along the Stillaguamish River. This time around the weather wasn't as warm and there was snow at many of the sites I had considered. The weather at our elevation was pretty temperate but not hot enough for us to dip into the river. Mostly Will and I just hopped along the stones and I watched while he played with two favorite backwoods toys: sticks and stones.

I couldn't locate his sleeping bag or pad so I just brough along a blanket for him which I should have known wasn't going to fly. Of course, I woke up in the night and realized that I was sharing my mummy bag and Thermarest with him! My main excitement this time around was that I did spring for the extra weight in my pack and decided to bring a sleeping pad. Sure enough my cold arthritic joints ended up on the ground and he was warm and comfortable on the pad-- too funny!

On the walk back to the car Will wished that he could stay a few more nights so we'll see what we can do for the next trip. My favorite thing about the woods is the delicious smell and Will agreed. On the way out he said that the woods smell like marshmallows, mushrooms, and chicken!


After several bowls of brown rice cereal with pecans and dried apricots, he had his first bowel movement in the woods!

Watching his kindred spirit, the slug.

Sitting on our undisturbed bear can.

Eating with his "spork"

Summer Days

Will met up with his friend Keenan today at the gym where they jumped into a pool full of foam cubes among other gymnastic feats. Will was so much less cautious with Keenan around to inspire him. The other pictures are from the park near his swimming lessons. He likes to be the "Cuban restaurant operator" in that window.

Chillin'

Soccer

We signed up for soccer classes this summer which Will seems really excited about. He picked out his soccer "outfit" the night before with his royal blue shirt (which is his favorite color). The class is pretty low key and unstructured with the Coach giving some pointers but the kids mostly just kick the ball around the gym for thirty minutes, get a drink of water as a team, do a cheer, and get a soccer ball stamped on their hands at the end of class. Needless to say, Will loves it!