Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Cat Calls
Ikea has become one of our new favorite places in the past year. After our shopping excursion there this past Sunday, I left John and Will outside on a bench while I ran back in to take care of some business. When I came out, John was sitting there with is head in his hands and an embarrassed look on his face. Apparently an attractive and scantily clad girl and her boyfriend had walked by at the exact time Will decided to make one of his favorite noises--a quiet and high pitched "WowWowWowWowWow." The girl and her boyfriend both looked over at John and gave him dirty looks. By then, Will was just sitting there innocently and once again quiet.
Every Good Trip Starts Out Bad
Since John doesn't get 2 days off in a row very often, it seems that we hardly ever get out of town anymore. I was lucky to get to attend a Photoshop seminar in Cincinnati on Monday, so John requested 2 days off so we could make it a mini-vacation. We finally got to visit the Vineyard in Cincinnati. The last time we had tried to go the whole town had a power outage. Then we visited our usual haunts--Ikea, Jungle Jim's, Trader Joe's, Noodles and Company, Cheesecake Factory. (Do you see a trend?)
But, as I mentioned in the title, every good trip has to start out with something bad. At least in our family. I was running around doing the typical last minute stuff to get ready, so I asked John to get Will's breakfast. John does get to eat breakfast with us sometimes, so I figured he knew the routine. He asked to be reminded, so after a little teasing from me, I figured he could handle it. Part of Will's routine since we got back from China is that he gets his vitamins and any medicine he might need in his Danimals drinkable yogurt. Even at the breakfast buffets in China, Will had drinkable yogurt every morning.
A little aside, I've gotten very into couponing. I figure if I'm not earning us much money, at least I can save us some. This week I had a great coupon for Activia yogurt, which was also on sale. I like yogurt, so that's a deal I couldn't pass up. For those of you who don't know about Activia, it's not called Activia for nothing. Let's just say that it is designed to keep your bowels active. Now back to the story...
Imagine my surprise when I came downstairs to find Will sitting at the table with a straw in an Activia yogurt! Activia is a traditional, spoon kind of yogurt, not drinkable. I did a double take in the fridge to make sure we had perfectly good, drinkable Danimals. There they were, right on the top shelf. Remember, Will's medicine was in the yogurt, so it was important to have it all. So, as any good parents would do, after a lot of laughter, we tried to make sure he ate all of his yogurt. Needless to say, there have been a few extra diapers these last couple of days.
But, as I mentioned in the title, every good trip has to start out with something bad. At least in our family. I was running around doing the typical last minute stuff to get ready, so I asked John to get Will's breakfast. John does get to eat breakfast with us sometimes, so I figured he knew the routine. He asked to be reminded, so after a little teasing from me, I figured he could handle it. Part of Will's routine since we got back from China is that he gets his vitamins and any medicine he might need in his Danimals drinkable yogurt. Even at the breakfast buffets in China, Will had drinkable yogurt every morning.
A little aside, I've gotten very into couponing. I figure if I'm not earning us much money, at least I can save us some. This week I had a great coupon for Activia yogurt, which was also on sale. I like yogurt, so that's a deal I couldn't pass up. For those of you who don't know about Activia, it's not called Activia for nothing. Let's just say that it is designed to keep your bowels active. Now back to the story...
Imagine my surprise when I came downstairs to find Will sitting at the table with a straw in an Activia yogurt! Activia is a traditional, spoon kind of yogurt, not drinkable. I did a double take in the fridge to make sure we had perfectly good, drinkable Danimals. There they were, right on the top shelf. Remember, Will's medicine was in the yogurt, so it was important to have it all. So, as any good parents would do, after a lot of laughter, we tried to make sure he ate all of his yogurt. Needless to say, there have been a few extra diapers these last couple of days.
Friday, September 19, 2008
The Sweetest Sound You'll Ever Hear
Will loves to repeat us often. It's interesting to hear which words he likes to repeat. Last night when John was reading our nightly Bible stories, will was silently sipping away at his milk, then took the cup out of his mouth and said, "Jesus!" It came out more like, "Jesu," but of course we didn't care. We clapped and kissed him. It was the sweetest sound to hear our baby say Jesus' name.
Similarly, at dinner earlier in the evening, without prompting, Will folded his hands to pray before eating. We have never really made him do this because he won't sit still, but he's seen us do it. Then he said, "God," which also came out without the final sound. I usually start my dinner prayers with "God."
It's nice to know that with all the mistakes we will make over the years, Will is going to be picking up some good habits too. And these are the best kind.
Similarly, at dinner earlier in the evening, without prompting, Will folded his hands to pray before eating. We have never really made him do this because he won't sit still, but he's seen us do it. Then he said, "God," which also came out without the final sound. I usually start my dinner prayers with "God."
It's nice to know that with all the mistakes we will make over the years, Will is going to be picking up some good habits too. And these are the best kind.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
TV Anyone???
We're lucky that TV's still a possibility at our house. I was gone to book club the other night and John called to ask if I knew where the remote was. I usually try to put it up where Will can't reach it, but sometimes he grabs it while it's down and I forget to put it back. We try not to let him watch much TV, but we were told that he likes it when we adopted him. So Will tries to turn on the TV when he can. Luckily, he hasn't figured out how to un-pause it yet.
Back to the story--I didn't know where the remote was when John called, so he just kept looking. He called me back a few minutes later to let me know that he had found it--in the dishwasher with the freshly washed dishes! Will LOVES the dishwasher. I try to keep him away from it, but he usually slips in. It makes a great place to park his cars. So I guess he also decided that it would be a good place to park the remote. Needless to say that when John picked the remote up out of the dishwasher, a bunch of water ran out of it. All it would do was turn the volume up. Luckily it dried out after a night on our air filter and we are now watching TV again--when Will's in bed.
Back to the story--I didn't know where the remote was when John called, so he just kept looking. He called me back a few minutes later to let me know that he had found it--in the dishwasher with the freshly washed dishes! Will LOVES the dishwasher. I try to keep him away from it, but he usually slips in. It makes a great place to park his cars. So I guess he also decided that it would be a good place to park the remote. Needless to say that when John picked the remote up out of the dishwasher, a bunch of water ran out of it. All it would do was turn the volume up. Luckily it dried out after a night on our air filter and we are now watching TV again--when Will's in bed.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Willisms--Things That Make Will Will
Since nothing out of the ordinary has happened lately (everything seems ordinary after traveling halfway around the globe to bring home your son), I thought I'd tell you some of the things we've discovered about Will that make him who he is--our precious little boy!
1. The Louder the Better--Will loves to be loud everywhere we go--restaurants, stores, you name it and it's a place to scream, actually shrill. Nothing you can say or do will quiet him. I guess that's getting me back for all the times I wondered, "Why don't they do something with that child?"
2. Anything with Wheels--Anything with wheels is absolutely awesome. Trucks, cars, trains, etc. etc. We recently learned that the word he is often screaming out when in public is the Chinese word for "car." One of his very first words.
3. Outside is Better than Inside--That makes it a shame that we hate the bugs. Lucky for us they are about to die. We hope to fit in a camping trip before fall is over. Managing Will at a campsite--now that should make for some interesting blog material!
4. Reading is Great!--At first Will wasn't too fond of reading. Books were just something to shut when Mom and Dad were reading them. But thanks to books that make noises and other novelties, we have come to love reading, which makes us very happy. The smartest people are readers! At least thats what we teachers say. We also say that you need to read for at least 15 minutes each day, which we are aiming for. I had the bright idea of logging it and keeping it in a journal. I also wanted to double that to make up for lost time with him, but that hasn't quite happened yet either. Maybe someday...
5. Yo! Yo! Yo!--That's what Will says when answering the imaginary phone. You may have read that Will called the front desk in China and loved the hotel phones. Nothing has changed. Since we only use our cell phones and it's easy to redial, Will has called John at work 3 times. Amazingly John answered every time!
My other favorite phone adventure was when Will raised his leg straight up (he's very flexible!) and put his foot to his ear saying, "Yo! Yo! Yo!" Before I could get done laughing, he had his other foot to his other ear. He was on both lines.
6. Into EVERYTHING!!!--I couldn't leave that out. I've heard that boys are harder as toddlers. I think it's true. After babysitting a friend's little girl for a few hours, I decided it would take about 10 little girls to equal 1 of Will. At least as far as how much I have to chase him around and say, "No!" goes. But I don't like dull moments, so that's good for me. It does make us think that if we are going to have any more boys, we might should have them first while we are a little younger and have alittle more energy!
There are lots of things that make Will wonderful, not to mention that we sit around and talk about how cute he is all of the time, but we are headed out for a nice fall walk before Will and I are off to Bible study. (Actually, we just go for dinner and then jet. There is no studying with Will around!) We are super excited about FALL!!!
We put part of his Halloween costume on for a minute today to try to get him use to it. He didn't care for it, but he couldn't get it off. I'll have to keep you in suspense for now. But you can bet there will be LOTS of pictures. We've also got 3 Halloween shirts ready to wear! 2 trips to different pumpkin patches are in the works, 1 children's Halloween party, and trick-or-treating. The decorations will be up soon. I'm just hoping he doesn't tear down our Halloween tree!
Bye for now,
Tara
1. The Louder the Better--Will loves to be loud everywhere we go--restaurants, stores, you name it and it's a place to scream, actually shrill. Nothing you can say or do will quiet him. I guess that's getting me back for all the times I wondered, "Why don't they do something with that child?"
2. Anything with Wheels--Anything with wheels is absolutely awesome. Trucks, cars, trains, etc. etc. We recently learned that the word he is often screaming out when in public is the Chinese word for "car." One of his very first words.
3. Outside is Better than Inside--That makes it a shame that we hate the bugs. Lucky for us they are about to die. We hope to fit in a camping trip before fall is over. Managing Will at a campsite--now that should make for some interesting blog material!
4. Reading is Great!--At first Will wasn't too fond of reading. Books were just something to shut when Mom and Dad were reading them. But thanks to books that make noises and other novelties, we have come to love reading, which makes us very happy. The smartest people are readers! At least thats what we teachers say. We also say that you need to read for at least 15 minutes each day, which we are aiming for. I had the bright idea of logging it and keeping it in a journal. I also wanted to double that to make up for lost time with him, but that hasn't quite happened yet either. Maybe someday...
5. Yo! Yo! Yo!--That's what Will says when answering the imaginary phone. You may have read that Will called the front desk in China and loved the hotel phones. Nothing has changed. Since we only use our cell phones and it's easy to redial, Will has called John at work 3 times. Amazingly John answered every time!
My other favorite phone adventure was when Will raised his leg straight up (he's very flexible!) and put his foot to his ear saying, "Yo! Yo! Yo!" Before I could get done laughing, he had his other foot to his other ear. He was on both lines.
6. Into EVERYTHING!!!--I couldn't leave that out. I've heard that boys are harder as toddlers. I think it's true. After babysitting a friend's little girl for a few hours, I decided it would take about 10 little girls to equal 1 of Will. At least as far as how much I have to chase him around and say, "No!" goes. But I don't like dull moments, so that's good for me. It does make us think that if we are going to have any more boys, we might should have them first while we are a little younger and have alittle more energy!
There are lots of things that make Will wonderful, not to mention that we sit around and talk about how cute he is all of the time, but we are headed out for a nice fall walk before Will and I are off to Bible study. (Actually, we just go for dinner and then jet. There is no studying with Will around!) We are super excited about FALL!!!
We put part of his Halloween costume on for a minute today to try to get him use to it. He didn't care for it, but he couldn't get it off. I'll have to keep you in suspense for now. But you can bet there will be LOTS of pictures. We've also got 3 Halloween shirts ready to wear! 2 trips to different pumpkin patches are in the works, 1 children's Halloween party, and trick-or-treating. The decorations will be up soon. I'm just hoping he doesn't tear down our Halloween tree!
Bye for now,
Tara
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