William Wednesday

Yesterday’s post was supposed to be about our family vacation, but really it was pretty much all about William. However, I still have PLENTY to write about for William Wednesday. Imagine that? The king of mommy’s world for sure.

He seems to be at his prime speech-developing age. I’m sure bigger words and longer phrases still have a ways to go, but it seems like he picks up 1-2 new words every day. He loves to mimick practically anything Austin says or any sound he makes, so Austin has had a lot of fun with that over the past 2 weeks. He makes multiple laugh noises: hahaha, hohoho, hehehe, huhuhu and William repeats every one. He also likes to make random noises just to see what William can piece together.
William likes to repeat any word he hears us say if its something he feels he can say too. So we may say a complete sentence and he’ll just repeat a random word.
For instance:
William, that blue truck over there has bright lights huh?
Truck (careful…the TR sound can be misunderstood for an F sound at times)

He has picked up the following words in the last few weeks:
Mommy which is most commonly pronounced momMEEEEEEE
Truck
Hot dog
Water
Beach
Car
Cici
Yaya (these 2 have been used sparingly, but he’s got them I think)
Pop
Sock
Hat
Keys
Wow

I’m sure there are more that I’m missing, but these are words that have been repeated enough for me to remember. Most of them came up in the last week, he just soaks up everything he hears I think. We are being very careful with what we say around him (which became difficult as the California drivers held up to their stereotype)

He has also perfected the various parts of a face. He can point to eyes, nose, mouth, ear, hair, and head. Head is the funniest because he just smacks his hand on his forehead. I didn’t list those words above, but he has also learned those.
He’s learning the proper use and meaning for “hello” and “bye” too. He picks up his toy telephone and says hello, and whenever a song ends on the radio he claps and either says “all done” or “bye”. Yesterday he and daDAAAA met me for lunch and as they were leaving he stopped walking, looked in my direction and with the sweetest voice the world has ever heard he said “bye”. And he’s getting better with knowing if foods are truly “hot” or not.
While I want his speech to continue to develop, I’m really enjoying his version of words too. I love how he says water, elmo, hat and hot. Wawee is my favorite.

I can't remember if I wrote last week or only posted pictures, but when we watched the Texans at uncle brian's house Austin taught William to say 'go texans go' with fist punches in the air. Now anytime he sees football on tv he does it, and anytime he hears the word Texas or texans he does it. It sounds more like 'go mumble go' but that's ok we know what he means :)

In San diego he learned 'poo poo' thanks to me telling daddy what was on his diaper, and I think he grasps the meaning. Yesterday while I was at work he told Austin 'poo poo' on two different occasions and had dirty diapers both times. Next up: teaching him to change his own :)

Another first while I was at work: his first time out. He hit and bit daddy twice so he was put in time out. I was so proud of Austin for making that his discipline choice rather than spanking. We've never discussed spanking but I just think it sends a confusing message to a toddler: you can't hit, so to teach you I'll hit you. I can see where he may not get that. I'm sure the time out was hard on daddy though!!!

He and daddy developed lots of fun games. Daddy used William as weight for his biceps, he lifted Him up and bonked his head on the ceiling, and taught him to jump off the couch. That last one combined with the 3 pair of shorts on william's floor this morning tell me I'll have to work hard to undo some of daddy's influence though :) gotta keep my laundry boy in check!!!

I thought I noticed an increase in his overall confidence since Austin got back but I wasn't sure if I was imagining things. Then our friend Scott made a comment about how much of a difference he noticed. He sees William pretty often so he would notice. I know there are very specific and important roles that moms an dads separately play on a child's life, so while mommy is there for comfort and security maybe daddy brings confidence and self assurance. Lucky for William he has an amazing daddy who will be back in 3 more months.


- manda