William

Our little boy is growing up so much.  He is my big cuddler, with a quick, easy smile that melts my heart.  He brings such joy to our family that I can't even describe it.  For example, today at breakfast he was just giggling away while he ate his muffin.  He would bring the muffin to his mouth, kiss it, then beam at me with his big toothy grin and start to laugh.  I couldn't help but laugh along with him.  He probably understands Spanish just as well as English, and will give you the biggest kiss on the cheek when you say "Besito" (little kiss).  He also says "Afuera!" (outside) all day long while pointing at the window.  He can be quite opinionated at times and will whine loudly if you don't do what he wants (like changing his diaper first thing in the morning instead of feeding him right away).  His whining drives David crazy, but for some reason I have a soft spot in my heart for my little baby boy, so he gets away with a lot.  His favorite activities are playing ball, taking things out and putting things into containers, reading his dinosaur book (thanks Uncle Michael!) and his construction books, and playing in the sandbox.  He crawls quite quickly, but loves to walk holding on to your hand or the furniture.  He has taken a few steps but usually just plops down on the floor and cries if you let go of his hand.  However, even though he can't quite walk, he loves to climb!  He will race up the stairs (which scares me) or the steps at the playground.  He loves to climb on his stroller and one day I found him dangling from the handle bar crying out for help.  How does my nonwalker climb up there?

We recently found out that William has a milk intolerance.  For about a month, William had diarrhea and his eczema was much much worse.  This happen to coincide with when we were starting to switch over to cow's milk.  So the pediatrician recommended cutting out milk from his diet.  Within a week, William's diapers were back to normal and his eczema was nearly gone.  First went whole milk, and now we have had to also cut out cheese.  It is quite hard finding food to prepare for the family since cheese is a staple in Eliana's diet.  Almost all food is better accepted by her if it is covered in a layer of cheese.  I have offered William almond milk, which he is starting to like better.  Hopefully this is something he will grow out of.

Here are some pictures of my little boy from this summer.

Visiting my friend Morgan with her daughter Caroline.  While we were playing outside a little lost kitten wandered over to play.  The kids all loved her!  William was much more interested in her than this picture shows.  Don't worry, Morgan found a home for the lost kitty a couple of days later.

Crawling around the splash pad in Powell.

We got tired of the splash pad and had a little picnic in the grass.  Eliana and her friends rad around the field playing with sticks and leaves.  And William climbed up and down this hill.  See, isn't he crazy?  Why does he do this but not walk??

Eating cream of wheat.  I don't know why I find high chair picture so adorable, but I probably have a million in my phone of William eating an assortment of foods.

So much for eating the food...

Playing on the tractor at my grandparents farm.  Look at those overalls!  The cuteness!

First Day of Preschool

At the beginning of September, Eliana started preschool at her new school "BEARS Preschool."  She is in the three year old "Panda" class and will go to school two days a week.  We switched schools this year because this one is much closer to our house.  Also, she will still be going with her friend Adele, which is great for carpooling.  Her music teacher already said that she can tell the girls are best friends, and they even hold hands in class.  Speaking of music, the music program at BEARS is one of their big areas of focus, which I think Eliana will enjoy.  They have a Christmas concert in December and a Spring Concert in May.  I have been promised that these will be some of the best 20 minutes of my life!

Some statistics about Eliana:

3 year old preschool in the Panda class.  Her teachers are Mrs. Keys and Mrs Rietz.

When she grows up, she wants to be a mommy ballerina.

Her best friend is Adele.  She only likes girls.  Boys are not her friends, except she likes Daddy, William, Uncle Michael, and Sean (Theo's daddy) "a little bit."

She likes playing in the sandbox, dancing, reading, playing with dollies and doll houses, and watching TV shows.

Her favorite things with Daddy are playing soccer people, riding in the jogging stroller, watching running races, and watching music videos on YouTube before bed.

Her favorite TV show is "Daniel Tiger"

Her favorite food is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

First day!

William tagged along too.

The second week, wearing her new princess backpack and bringing her lunch.  One day a week she stays an extra hour for "Pack and Play."  She eats lunch at school and gets to participate in "gross motor activities" aka recess.

While Eliana is at school, William and I get to spend some time together.  Some of our activities have been going to Babytime Storytime at the library, jogging in the stroller and going to the park, going to the grocery store, and taking naps.

Swimming

Over the summer, Eliana took a couple of swimming lessons at an aquatic center near our house.  Amazingly, our little girl who use to cry when she got her hair wet LOVED swim lessons and asked for more.  I was a little nervous because the instructor was a little tough on the kids (she was in the preschool class for goodness sake!) and did not praise them for just trying.  She really pushed Eliana and all of her classmates to really listen and do the kicks/strokes as instructed.  She would have the kids swim after a floating toy, trying to swim with both their arms and legs while wearing a noodle, and she absolutely would not let Eliana hold on to her.  At one point Eliana cried out, "I can't do it without you!" and the instructor replied back "Yes you can!"  And she did!  Eliana looked like a little wet puppy doing the doggie paddle, but she did swim to the toy all by herself.  It was a good lesson for me that Eliana is stronger than I think.  She also doesn't need to be praised for just doing anything.  Sometimes she needs to be pushed to try harder because she is capable of more.  Despite the instructor being tough, Eliana really liked her.  In the end, I was amazed by how much she learned in just a few weeks of lessons. 

William gets a haircut

As part of my job, I have to work every third weekend.  That means every third weekend David gets to watch the kids mostly by himself.  On one of my work weekends in August, David decided to take the kids back to Indy to spend time with his family.  I thought William's hair was getting a little long for a little boy, so I asked if he could have his sister Rhonda cut William's hair.  He definitely needed the haircut because the back hair was so long and lots of curls were poking out from behind his ears.  It looked quite messy.  But at the same time, I hated the thought of him getting his hair cut and chopping off his beautiful curls.  Eliana's hair has always been stick straight, just like David's.  But my beautiful little William has thinner, softer hair than Eliana that was getting some curl to it, especially as it got longer.  There is something so adorable about baby curls, so I could hardly stand the thought of cutting them off.  But cut them off we did.

David took William to Great Clips so Rhonda could give him a haircut while they were in Indy.  I was so anxious for them to come home so I could check it out once I got off work.  David said William cried the whole time.  I'm glad I missed out on that.  He also said he saved a lock of William's curls for me for his baby book, but unfortunately I have not been able to find it upon their return.

So now our little baby looks more like a little boy.  He hair really doesn't curl as much with it shorter in the back.  I think he looks pretty handsome.  Here are a couple of after pictures.  It was difficult to get a shot of the back of his head, so I had to wait until we were at a playground and William had other things to look at besides the camera.

William was a little sweaty from playing, but you can see it is shorter.

Big boy!

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Northbank Park

What a beautiful evening we spent a Northbank Park a while ago.  I took Eliana here when she was little and knew this would be the perfect place for William to crawl around and enjoy some fountains that were just his size.  We met up with our friends Amelia and Leo (right before they moved -- boo!).  Amelia was so sweet with William and even let Eliana play with her barbie doll.  Eliana had a blast running all over the place, while William giggled at the water spraying between his fingers. 

Amelia checking on William

A beautiful view of downtown and the Scioto river.  Eliana is sitting with Leo and Elizabeth.

This was the perfect place for William!

 After playing in the fountains, we had a picnic dinner.  This park is actually very close to the medical center, so David joined us after he got off work.  I'm so glad he could share in this special treat with us. 

William enjoyed the food almost as much as the water.

The kids were so excited when Daddy showed up! This was a great way to spend a summer evening.