His speech improves so quickly which is definitely bitter sweet. Of course we beam with pride at the fact that he speaks better than some 3 year olds and forms sentences well beyond his age, but we are sad every time his cute baby talk turns into correct pronunciation. When we first got to Texas we had to tell everyone that if he were to say “ree you” that means “carry you” which means he wants YOU to carry HIM. So there was a lot of “cici ree you” or “yaya ree you” or “mommy ree you”. But before we even left Galveston he had corrected himself and was able to say “carry you”. He still doesn’t grasp the concept of pronouns so she doesn’t say “carry me” but his little baby words don’t last long.
At the beach house there was a kid room where William slept and it was painted to look like an underwater scene. VERY neat. There were all sorts of sea animals painted on the walls, then some creatures were glued on the walls so they were more 3D. He loved the octopus and Austin loved hearing him try to say the word. “Otocopus” is how it sounded, and Austin asked for it over and over. I had to remind him that the more he asks, the more repetition William gets so the sooner the cute word will become just the normal word. But he doesn’t care, he’s just soaking it in – it is one of the cutest little words he’s said.
William had a great time on vacation. I won’t spoil our entire vacation in one blog so I’ll just talk about his highlights for now. He was WONDERFUL with all of the car travel, I was very pleased. Granted we did sacrifice ourselves and drove through the night to allow him as little awake time in the car as possible, but I was still impressed. I was mostly surprised that once we got to a destination there was no whining if we said “ok let’s get back in Melvin and go to ___”. We did a lot of driving and he was such a trooper and was just along for the ride. We left after dinner on a Wednesday night and he was awake for about an hour watching Toy Story and wanting to read books, then he slept until about an hour before we got to Uncle Gene’s apartment. He fell asleep happy, woke up happy, and was happy to go to breakfast with his uncle!
After breakfast/brunch we watched Cars for a little bit and then all went to a park. Gene and Austin taught William how to chase ducks which was pretty amusing. There was a little pond so William tried to chase them in the direction of the water and then once they reached the edge of the pond William would point at the water and yell, “get in the water duck!” He had me cracking up.
Once he was worn out we got back in the car and took him to College Station for dinner. He slept the whole way and had a nice time for his first trip to CS!
We officially started our vacation by spending the first weekend in Galveston with Cici and Pop. William was stoked to have a large audience and plenty of people to occupy him. When one person got tired of playing trains he just hopped on over to the next. The weather was pretty chilly the first weekend – I Really hadn’t anticipated needing a JACKET in Galveston, so we didn’t spend much time outside, but we had fun. His favorite part of the first weekend was going to see the Elissa. I was surprised to find out that Herb, Candace and Austin had never been to the Elissa or even knew what it was, so I was excited to take them. I’m sure I will butcher the description, being that I am not a history buff, but you can look it up if you’re interested! It was a wooden maritime ship from the 1800’s that was used for trade across the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the last ships of its kind still in operation and it makes at least one sail per year. Otherwise it is docked in Galveston and can be toured. I went as a kid and thought it was so fun, and William seemed to agree. He loved walking through the cabins, climbing on the beds where (somehow) sailors slept, and looking in the kitchen. He also liked climbing the stairs which seemed to have been built for people with feet the size of William’s not mine! Everyone else enjoyed reading the plaques and historical notes, but William and I mostly just ran up and down the “boat on the water”.
While we were enjoying our time child-free William was enjoying his extra special attention. He had Cici’s attention devoted 100% to him until she passed him off to yaya. Then he had Yaya and Papa all to himself with a brief visit from mommy, dada, Uncle Brandon, Aunt Dana and baby Kelli. He got to go to the children’s museum with both Cici and Yaya, got to go to the livestock show with yaya and papa, and was surely given whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it. I heard he was on his best behavior, but I can’t imagine why a child WOULDN’T be when there is nothing that could possibly upset him! When he got to Galveston that second weekend I heard all about how much fun he had on the train at the rodeo with papa. It wasn’t really a train AT the rodeo, it was the shuttle from the parking lot TO the rodeo…he probably didn’t even need the livestock show at all! Just the train!!!
Our second weekend in Galveston with-child was fun too. Uncle Brandon, Aunt Dana and Baby Kelli came down for the weekend and William LOVED baby Kelli. He loved to watch her as she sat in her bouncy chair, he loved to bring things to her, and when she was sad or fussy he really wanted to make her better. He would say “baby Kelli sad, rub back” then he would rub her back and sometimes kiss her head. When he was sitting in the living room watching Cars he would look over every couple of minutes to check up on her. I thought he’d be jealous of another baby but he just adored her. Before Kelli arrived we went to the Rainforest Café for dinner. We couldn’t decide if William would love it or hate it – we thought maybe it would be a little scary, but worth a shot. He LOVED it. I’ve heard about the gorillas ever since. Did you know that the gorillas are loud when its raining? William knows. He tells me a lot. The service was not great and it took too long to get seated, get drinks, get food and get dessert so William was getting antsy towards the end. Papa thought he had a solution though. He asked the waitress if she could just make it rain for William! She told us it rains every half hour but Papa wanted them to make a special exception for William. Grandparents will do ANYTHING won’t they??? We ended up seeing it rain 3 times which was sufficient, and when we just had to go BACK to the one in Houston we got to see it rain 3 times more. What a lucky kid!
Saturday the Scarpatis came down for dinner which turned out to be quite the feast. We didn’t realize that the generous corvette owner had left us so many steaks, ground meat, chicken AND 4 lobster tails so we had plenty of food. William was the star of the show at first, then when he retreated to train-mode Marty, Jon and Brandon started a guitar sing along. It was nice! William had fun with all of the people and got to open birthday presents so he was in toddler heaven.
The next week we spent bouncing from place to place – mom’s house, friend’s house, cici’s house, San Antonio, Dallas – and William was such a good traveler. I kept waiting for that breaking point – the moment where we realize we pushed the envelope – but it never came! He just went right along with whatever we were doing. In San Antonio we got to go on another boat in the water (a riverwalk tour) which fascinated him. 30 minutes was just slightly too long, but he loved it. We hoped to take him to the Alamo but he was asleep before we left the parking garage…that boat on the water wore him out!
He got to play with the kids of one of my college friends in San Antonio and he looked like a SHRIMP! He’s always been above average in height but next to these two boys he looked like a itty bitty boy – and one of the boys is 4 months younger than him! But he thought their house was his own heaven…motorized cars, remote control cars, swing set, outdoor playsets, cars galore…he loved it. And I thought the three did pretty well socializing too! Then in Dallas he was introduced to barbies and doll strollers and the pink world of girls. Naturally Austin was concerned with his gender identity, but I calmly reminded him that William is 2 and that if he wants to crash a stroller into another stroller we don’t need to be alarmed.
When we got home I decided it was time we curb his interest in removing his shoes in the car. IT was funny while it lasted (no, really it wasn’t) and I know that it was just God laughing because of my previous obsession with babies and shoes, but enough is enough. So, I decided that I’d reward him with m&m’s if he can keep his shoes on for a car ride. Behavior analysts would suggest smaller time frames to start though, so we started with 2 minutes. I set the timer on my phone and at the end of 2 minutes the alarm went off and sounded like a motorcycle. Then he got 2 m&m’s. The first car ride he did take the shoes off during his first 2 minute stretch, but since then he hasn’t removed the shoes once! We are up to 5 minute intervals now and so far it is still successful! He didn’t seem to notice the interval increases until we got to 5, and he does get antsy and start patting on his shoes saying “keep shoes on keep socks on” so I think we will sit at 5 for awhile. I realize that rewarding my child with candy may not be the best thing – but I’ll take the 8 m&m’s per car ride over fighting over shoes all of the time. And eventually the idea is that there will be no more m&ms and no more struggle! I’ll keep you posted.
Overall he’s had a very exciting three weeks. The phrases he has picked up:
Holy Moley
Oh my goodness
Goodness gracious
Oh Yaya
Hear motorcycle get m&m’s keep those shoes on!
Go back to the beach house with black car (I know baby, I want the black car too)
Dada tummy hurt blue medicine all better (Austin is sick…so far not all better but William thinks he will be if he drinks the blue medicine)
I’m sure there are more phrases that I’m missing, but you get the idea. He’s learning sarcasm for sure and he’s picking up on any little thing we say. Good thing we’re not heavy cuss-ers!!! Can’t believe my itty bitty baby is such a big boy…amazes me every day…but I think I have more fun every day than the day before so for now I’m just enjoying the ride.
- manda
No comments:
Post a Comment