Christmas
It’s the day after Christmas, so it’s time to write down a few memories from Will’s second Christmas before they slip through my fingers…
Will’s two (literally) big presents this year were a trampoline and a tricycle. I wasn’t sure if he’d get really excited when he saw them, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! We woke up Christmas morning (and “jew…jew…jree–wake up jeff”ed everyone else) and went downstairs. Willie ran straight to the trampoline, and was so excited as he bounced a couple of times. Then he spotted the tricycle in the corner by the tree and in his rush to get over to it, he fell flat on his face. He couldn’t wait until he could ride that bike and wear his helmet!
I think he was a tiny bit overwhelmed by all the presents, but he certainly loved them! He and Nic played with the race car track from Koko and I think Erik and Nic were hoping Will would take a nap so they could play without him!
We went to Mass after opening presents and having breakfast (Erik made bread from scratch and I made Nana’s elegant eggs). Will fell asleep on the way to Mass and slept through most of it. When he woke up he snuggled for a while and then right as Mass was ending he said “zoom zoom” and looked to the door–his way of saying “time to go by-by in the car.” Which was lucky, because it was almost time to go home!
We played with our Christmas presents in the afternoon and then had fondue for dinner. After putting Will to sleep, we set about decorating the gingerbread house…and Heather and I had what I’m sure will be a legend-wait for it-dary game of dare. She had to put a giant handful of red hots in her mouth and I had to put the remaining candy in my mouth (to get out of using it to build a fence). Since I ended up gagging, I think it’s safe to say she won. 
We went out for breakfast this morning at The Egg and I–our favorite place for breakfast here. Then Heather and I went out to score some Christmas decorating bargains…and we did. The best part of our shopping was at Pottery Barn kids, where we kept scoring The Last [insert awesome item here], much to the chagrin of other shoppers! Heather grabbed the most gorgeous tree skirt for $30, and we literally had women following us around the store hoping she would put it down! And then after we got home, she found one online she liked even better, so we got to buy it off her! We stuck it under the tree after she and Erik left for skiing tonight…and it looks so pretty I’m scared she’s going to change her mind when they come back for New Year’s Eve! We got a ton of awesome ornaments and I can’t wait for next year!
sprained ankle
I have been gimping my way through the week, and since I still can’t move my foot up toward my calf, I decided that last night might be a good time to go to the doctor. We gave Will a bath, put him in jammies, and then stuck him in the car and headed off to the Academy. Will fell asleep in the car (as expected) and Nic then sat in the car playing his Nintendo with Sleeping Will while I went inside.
That was the way to do it!! The timing was great–I walked in, handed them my ID card, and they sent me to get X-Rays immediately before even seeing a doctor (beauty of digital, I guess–no worries about cost). Then I walked back to the ER, was given a room, had my vitals checked, and the tech said that the doctor would have been in to see me, but while I was getting X-Rays, someone came in with chest pains. Even then, the doctor was in to see me in about five minutes, checked me out, told me nothing was broken and that it was just sprained, gave me Giant Motrin, and sent me on my way. I was back at the car in…thirty minutes!!! It was the fastest ER trip ever!
We drove home, put sleeping Will into his crib, and went to bed. It was the fatest, easiest, least stressful ER trip I’ve ever had. I’m rethinking my policy on military hospitals. Maybe it’s not that they suck…maybe you just have to show up at 8pm on a Thursday!
a new word and an old one
Sometimes I wonder when I will stop recording Will’s words. I thought it would just happen naturally when he had so many that it was no longer interesting…but then sometimes I think I will ALWAYS be interested.
Will said “snow” today for the first time…and for the last week or more he’s been saying “more” instead of signing it. Except it comes out like a southerner would say it: “mo…(re)”
mommy is a princess
The night before last, we were reading Chugga-chugga Choo Choo as usual. Will was pointing out the dog and the horse and the rabbit and the light and the train and then he pointed at the princess and said “Mom-mom.”
I looked at Nic and almost cried. My baby thinks I’m a beautiful princess!
Last night he did the same thing–pointed at the princess and said “Mom-Mom.”
He’s allowed to do pretty much whatever he wants from now on. ;P
(PS–new words this morning: cane and banana)
under the radar
A few words that might have gone under-reported:
“truck”
“books”
“blocks”
“Shrek”
“Mo-mo” (Nemo)
“juice”
“jet”
“owl”
“houch”
One of my favorite Will words is “houch” for ouch. I have cause to say it today.
This morning I was completely determined to get the first batch of Christmas cards in the mail. Heather and Erik are leaving for Germany on Friday, and if it doesn’t arrive by then (and even mailing it today makes a Friday arrival a long-shot) they won’t see it until 2008. I figured I had until 11am to get the letters to the mailbox. But the mailman arrived at 8:30–just as Will and I were getting out of the shower. I didn’t have time to put on clothes, because I had to get a diaper on Will so he didn’t poop on the floor when I stepped out the door (can’t trust Will in the morning before his ritual poop). So I threw on a robe, slapped a diaper on that baby butt, and rushed out the door to give my letters to the mailman.
“Caught you a bit early this morning, huh?” he said, chuckling at me in my bathrobe (gotta remember that it was actually 16 degrees out [seriously–that’s the real temp] with two inches of snow covering everything). I explained that I had a letter that had to go out today, and then turned around to rush back inside.
Except I sort of forgot that the two inches of snow might just be covering a decent sheet of ice. So I fell. Hard.
I should add that, because Will pulls the belts out of my robes and hides them like a ferret, I had been holding my robe shut. When I fell, I let go.
I was a naked girl laying in the snow.
This all would have been very embarrassing had I not been in a substancial amount of agony. For a minute I thought I might not actually be able to stand up. And then I would have to ask the mailman to come pick me up. Since he didn’t seem to be saying anything, I assumed he hadn’t seen…so, fighting the urge to cry out in pain, I pulled myself up and limped like a pirate back to the house.
Unfortunately, as the day has gone on, the pain hasn’t gotten any better. And just maybe it has gotten a little bit worse. I am desperately trying to avoid a trip to the doctor. We’d have to go to the ER at the Academy, which sucks because (a) it’s across town and we have snow and ice on the roads and (b) I don’t feel like waiting forever in the waiting room and they won’t tell you how many other idiots are there for naked snow injuries. But I’m starting to think a doctor’s visit might be inevitable because “HOUCH!!!!!!!” my ankle really hurts!
babyproofing the old fashioned way
Our furnace is broken. Which is a problem when you have high temps in the low 30s and lows in the single digits and teens.
As I was talking about our newly discovered problem with Nana last night, she mentioned our fireplace. Smart lady.
I flicked the switch and it burned brightly all night.
When we came down this morning (and looked out the window at the pretty snow) I told Will not to touch the fireplace–that it was hot and dangerous. I figured this would be enough–it usually is.
But then I heard the zap of a melting finger (or maybe it was just static discharge)–Will had reached out with one finger to test just how hot it really was.
I felt horribly about Will’s burned little finger, especially since he only let me run it under cold water for a minute and refused to let me ice it. He was on to bigger and better things.
Nic pointed out that it’s not such a bad thing…now we can use the fire while Will is awake, because it been baby proofed, the old fashioned way. He touched it, got burned, and now says “ouch” every time he looks at the fire.
will is awesome
This morning Nic called me a sissy, so I taught Will how to stick dried cereal down Nic’s shorts.
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
I’m bummed out. It’s snowing/icy/foggy in Colorado Springs, and I’m not a good snow driver, so I think I am not going to assist Laura at our last wedding tonight. 
I called her to see about getting a replacement for me, because the roads up north are fine, it’s just the Colorado Springs to Castle Rock area that has ice…and it’s snowing right now and not supposed to get any warmer. If I was the lead, I’d force myself to go (or Nic to drive me) but since I have the option, and since it’s an hour away and would be icy the whole time, I think it’s best for me to take a pass on this one. Last night driving home from Denver the freeways were fine, but the side streets to our house all had icy patches and I was so nervous. I can’t imagine doing that the whole way there!!
big word week
As you can tell, it’s been a big word week for Will. He also has learned to say “bye!” (probably because every time we flush, we say “bye bye pee pee!”)
growing up
Instead of signing “all done” at the end of his bath, he shouted it.
thoughts as day four comes to a close
I would run away from home, but all of my pants have been peed or spilled on.
reading
Nic reported last night that on the previous night, Will told him “read book.”
This morning at breakfast, Nic was reading a pamphlet and I was going through my business credit card statement, making little notes. Always the imitator, Will grabbed the latest issue of The Economist that happened to be sitting near his booster seat, pushed his waffles to the side, and plopped it down on his tray. He began “reading” it, just like mommy and daddy were doing.
a new word for will
Joining “treat” and “book” this week is “track” (as in train track)
notes from the potty training trenches
Day One
I have been waiting for Will’s cold to go away completely, but after he took off his diaper and peed on the floor, I decided it was as good a time to start as any. I’d been pumping fluids into him to fight off that cold, so he was well hydrated. I made him some chocolate milk and “funny juice” (7-up…it makes him laugh because of the fizz), blocked off the kitchen, gathered up his toys, and then grabbed Paul, the potty training doll. We watched Paul use the little potty, and then Paul had an accident on the floor. I said “no, Paul–pee goes in the potty.” And took Paul over to the potty chair to practice sitting.
Then it was Will’s turn. He climbed onto the potty chair and concentrated, strained, and grunted a little. He was trying so hard that he let out a fart. He smiled, jumped off the potty chair, clapped for himself, and then grabbed the liner bowl to take it to the toilet (as we do for Paul’s pee). He hasn’t quite realized yet that farts and poops are different, so I ran with it. I gave him a treat, we dumped the fart into the toilet, washed our hands, and reassembled the potty chair. I was thrilled–if he squeezed out a fart, he clearly got the idea! That two hour practice we’d done with Joan had worked, even though he only used the potty chair once. I went to the computer to write about this adorable little tale, and when I turned to check on Will, he was sitting on the potty chair peeing!
We cheered, and dumped the pee into the toilet, washed our hands, reassembled it…and Will sat back down to trickle out a few more drops.
This went on five more times! Then finally he did his REAL pee, we dumped it, and went back to playing. He used the potty several more times that morning and I was proud as can be! He even pooped in it, though that freaked him out a little. He thought he’d done something wrong, so I really had to amp up the excitement, and even then he looked at me as though I just wasn’t seeing what had happened–there was POOP in that little bowl. Then it was nap and errand time, so we slapped a diaper back on him and carried on with the day.
Wil’s favorite part (besides the “treat”–learned a new word along with potty training) was carrying the bowl to the toilet and dumping it in. This was all well and good when it was just a couple of drops or just “Baby Paul’s Pee” (water), but for the real pees, *I* needed to be a big help in carrying it to make sure there weren’t splashes of urine from the kitchen to the bathroom. On his last “go” before naptime, I reached for the bowl and he fought me for it. As a result, it splashed up all over his face and shirt. So we had a bath before naptime, and after that, he wasn’t so keen on carrying the bowl by himself!
Day Two
I got Will’s cold, but decided to force myself to carrying on with the training. I’m so glad I did. We transitioned to the Big Potty and it worked great! He’s now using the big potty 80% of the time, and the little potty when it’s convenient. He told me a couple of times before he had to go, and so we stopped what we were doing and raced to the potty. He also had a couple of accidents…but each time he caught himself half-way, told me about it, and then we raced to the potty where he finished peeing. I hope that’s a good sign!
Day Three
I am feeling like crap today and thought it would be wise to put a pause on potty training until I feel better, but Willie has other plans. After two days of running around pantless, he doesn’t want to put them back on…and I lack the strength to fight him. So far no accidents–just trips to the potty. Hurray!
I’d wanted to put his training underwear on him today and start appreciating dry underwear versus wet…but Will only appreciates naked. So I’ll work on that when I’m feeling better
Thoughts so far
Potty training is going so well! It’s not hard or a power struggle at all. I was prepared for the worst, but Will just really gets it. He tries every time I take him to the potty, and doesn’t mind going. It’s made for really fun days. Because I need to be watching him for accidents, we played all day together the first day, and most of the time together the second. Not getting anything done but playing trains and reading stories is pretty fun! I also feel so proud of the progress we’ve made and feel like we’re a team going through that, and that’s a nice feeling! I also feel like I know Will more–I can tell when he has to go by the way he tenses up a little and stops what he’s doing. I say “let’s go to the potty” then, and off we go! I feel like we’re 50% of the way there–he gets that it’s good to go to the potty, now he just has to get that it’s not good to go anywhere else and initiate the potty trips himself (which he does occassionally already).
With any luck, we’ll be diaper free by Christmas!
