Random Cuteness

Birthday Bike compliments of Grandma Apple (named for always giving Will apples),
Construction Bike Helmet and pads--too cute for words!

I always hoped that when I had children, they would be full of spunk and personality. That's exactly what we got. I just didn't expect it to start at such a young age.

Will loves his music. His newest trick is to yell, "Song!" when we are in the car and a commercial comes on. If he doesn't like the song that is playing, such as Taylor Swift, he will also yell, "Song!" He even knows when a song is getting ready to go off and will start yelling, "Song!" in anticipation. If I'm watching something on the DVR and skipping through the commercials, he'll hear the jingle and start yelling, "Song!" so we have to go back and watch the commercials. He yells "Song!" with all the strength his little body can muster and, when the song is finally over, the end is often met with tears. His love for music and dancing has even earned him a standing invitation when Big Boss Man, is favorite blues band, plays at Cielito Lindo, the local Mexican restaurant.

Will and Daddy have written a number one hit (in our household) which is actually being sung to me now and played on the ukulele. We call it The Family Song. It is basically a list of the names of everyone in our family, but no other song compares. Any time we ask Will what song he wants to hear, he breaks into The Family Song. We hear Will singing it to himself throughout the day.

Will also has to go hear the worship at church and screams, "Song!" as we carry him screaming past the sanctuary so that he can go to his class first. Luckily we go to a church where it is okay that Will dance on the chairs as he worships. It was confirmed this weekend that Will is either going to be a head banger, or he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Another thing that has amazed me lately is Will's uncanny sense of direction. Whenever we are in the general vicinity of Guitar Center, Will starts yelling for Daddy or Daddy's Car (another of his fascinations). We were driving by Joseph Beth the other day, coming from the opposite direction we usually approach from, and he started screaming, "Choo choo! Choo choo!" because that is where he goes to play with the trains.

When Will first came to us, we tried to comfort him by speaking a little Chinese. I am pretty sure that what we said didn't sound too Chinese. (I am reminded of trying to speak Spanish to a little Mexican girl in my class. She started repeating the Spanish back to me, just like she did when I taught her English. She was totally unaware that I was trying to speak Spanish to her!) As time has gone by with Will, we have slacked off on the Chinese. Recently I have made a more concentrated effort to tell Will, "Good night. Mommy loves you!" in Chinese before he goes to bed. According to our adoption guides, this sounds a lot like, "Wo o. Mommy eye knee." As I was saying this to Will the other night, he began laughing uncontrollably. I was not sure what was so funny until he started screaming, "Night night, knee!" over and over. Now it is a nightly ritual that we must tell not only our knees, but all of our body parts, especially our elbows, good night. I heard him telling his stuffed animals, "Wan an!" (good night) this morning.

Will has lots of Mommy time, so Daddy time is very special to him. If John is around and I try to push the cart Will is in, change his diaper, or give him a bath, I get Will's version of "talk to the hand." That would be the hand extended up in the stop position, with Will screaming, "NO!" at the top of his lungs while rapidly shaking his head. Who knew "talk to the hand" was an innate expression? I must admit that I like it when he tells me Daddy must change his diaper.

We went out to eat a few weeks ago and someone came up to our table to tell us hello. John immediately thought it was someone I had taught with over the years. I immediately thought it was someone had gone to church with. Will immediately said, "Doctor!" and he was right. I guess when you spend enough time screaming at someone, their memory gets seared into your brain.

Yesterday Will got his kicks by trying to pick my nose. Never a dull moment.

I hope I don't bore you with my little Will stories, but he continues to amaze us. I always knew I'd enjoy being a mother, but I never knew it would be this much fun. As John said earlier tonight, we are going to have to stop talking about how cute he is in front of him all the time because he is going to catch on pretty soon. Or do you think he already has???

So for here's my Mothers' Day verse, which is also my excuse for scrapbooking verse (National Scrapbooking Day--May 2, 2009):
Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

Happy Mothers Day to all, but especially to those first time moms and those still waiting! And Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

Family Update

I'm sorry that it's been several days since I've posted, but we've had a lot going on! The first thing that happened-- John got a new job! John was offered a position as a manager of a new pet store that will soon be opening. Many of you know that we aren't really pet people, but a good job is a good job. This couldn't have come at a better time as we have had the itch to add to our family again, so we finally decided to bite the bullet and actually get a dog. We took Will to the Humane Society and he fell in love with an adorable little Pit Bull, Great Dane mix that we brought home and named Nacho Libre. Will loves to ride on his back like he's a horse. He's only snapped at Will a couple times and got in fights with the neighbor dogs twice.

I have also decided to go back to work. I know somebody who knows somebody and was offered a job at the University of Kentucky teaching a new class about the pitfalls of teaching. It's part of their new awareness program to help students make sure that their major is a good fit. I have been busy writing down all my favorite teaching stories.

Since I will be working again, we have been looking for a daycare for Will. We found an amazing little preschool that allows you to pick a major and minor for your child. It is designed to groom them into who you want them to be. Will will be majoring in science (and doing baby science projects most of the day--some with minor explosions!) and minoring in dance (with emphasis on break dancing and ballet).

Will has also finally started talking in complete sentences. He spoke his first sentences when we were getting ready to put him to bed the other night. He said, "No way! I'm coming with you!"

John and I have also been accepted as contestants on a new weight loss show. Since the biggest losers seem to be the heaviest people, as part of our strategy, we committed to eating at buffets most evenings until the show starts taping in the late summer. If you are hankering for a buffet, give us a call.

Since my Face Book quiz said I was most like the TV mom Carol Brady, we decided that we should also get a maid. After hours of crazy interviews, we finally found one. She is going to be a live-in maid, like Alice, since we are such messes. She can follow us around and pick up after us all day, then cook us 5 course meals at night when we are tired of the buffet!

Last, but not least, we thought it would take a while to add to our family again, but the adoption rules have once again changed. As long as you can come get them by the end of the year, regardless of income, you can now adopt as many children as you want at one time from Val Verde, a South American country. By Christmas we should have four new little angels home with us. Actually, they aren't all so little. The boys are 7 and 9. The girls are 4 and 12. Look for them on the next Christmas card.

That's how it stands for the Wohlford family, this first day of April, 2009.

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.

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.