Only 4 days late

**i wrote this Thursday...oops!

When I missed blogging yesterday about William, I debated just skipping this week all together because I have other things I could write about today, but I fear that I would NEVER get this week and next week combined into one blog for him. So, maybe I’ll post twice today or maybe I will this weekend or maybe the less important topics will fall by the wayside. Have to keep it prioritized here!

I think it’s safe to say that William loves December. He loves the white snow, he likes when I tell him that we’re walking on slippery ice, and he LOVE LOVE LOVES sledding. Loves. Did I mention that? Brian and I took him sledding on Sunday and either he was too excited to realize he was cold, or 2 shirts, 2 jackets, ski pants, fleece socks, waterproof boots, and mittens really do work. Oh, and a hat of course. What kind of mom would I be? Brian showed William how to lay down on the sled first, so later when we tried to get him to sit on it so that we could sit behind him (on the 2 person sled) he wanted none of that. So, he took up the entire 2 person sled and we just jumped on the back with our knees…dragging our poor legs in the snow!






Brian and I were not so adequately dressed and we were shivering in our blue jeans, so sledding was short lived. Besides, it was somewhere around 15 degrees outside! William was VERY upset when the sledding ended, and I think thanks to his layering he could have gone for hours. It’s amazing how kids just don’t realize things like weather.




William also loves Christmas lights. He is working on trying to build 3 and 4 word phrases, so he’s having fun trying to say “blue Christmas lights” or “see blue Christmas lights”. He concentrates very hard on these bigger phrases, and sometimes gets the words confused, but he eventually gets there. Sometimes it will start out as “blue blue mumble mumble lights…..Christmas blue….blue Christmas blue…blue Christmas lights” Once he finally gets to his final phrase I can see the satisfaction on his face that he GOT it. Watching the development of language has by far been one of my favorite parts of watching him grow. I thought watching him learn to walk would be, but language development is just amazing to me.

And the things he puts together sometimes crack me up! When we drove past the hill this morning where we went sledding, he said “Oh Gosh GOOOOOOOO”. Because Austin taught him to say “go go go” when he sees football on TV, now anything with a Texans logo is referred to as “go go”. I have a go go hat, a go go shirt, a go go purse, and he has a go go jacket. Every morning he tells me if he wants to wear “dada jacket” (which is a black jacket that matches one of Austin’s), his orange jacket, or his go go jacket. He has some brown boots that YaYa bought him that she referred to as his workerman boots. So he calls them his “man boots” and he wears them almost every day. He thinks all large vehicles are buses, so what you and I would call the “trash truck” he refers to as a “rash bus green” (because the trash trucks here are green). There are so many little phrases that he pieces together, and there are a few that I tried to mentally note to remember throughout the week and I’m racking my brain now to remember them. It’s just hilarious and amazing how he puts things together and how his brain processes it all. His memory is also amazing. He saw an airplane yesterday morning and said “airplane…airplane mommy” I said “that’s right; mommy went on an airplane with you”. Then he said “airplane mommy oh gosh”. I said “that’s right, we went on an airplane with oh gosh!” Then I asked him where the airplane took us and he said “airplane mommy kexas”. He apparently remembers our Thanksgiving vacation very well!

Last night we went to Austin’s battalion Christmas party where Santa made an appearance. William was wearing a shirt that says “I ate Santa’s cookies” and the O’s in “cookies” look like chocolate chip cookies. I had read him the shirt a few times, and a friend of ours asked him what was on the shirt and William replied “cookies”. Then when we walked over and met Santa, I said “William this is santa” and he said “ate santa cookies” as he pointed to his shirt.

Did I mention he’s brilliant? Because he is. We were pointing at the model airplanes on the ceiling and counting them. As I said a number he repeated it. Then later when I pointed to one he said “one”. Then I pointed to another and he said “two”. Without my help, he got up to number 4 and WITH my help he got up to number 13. He also recognizes and verbalizes the letters W, A and M, and he knows the number 1. He thinks the letter T and the number 7 are also number 1, but I think that’s still pretty great recognition. You know, with my mommy bias and my lack of early childhood education knowledge. So, take my opinion as you wish – but I still think he’s brilliant.

Last night was the first time he saw our tree with the lights on and he was just mesmerized. We have little chili pepper covers on our lights and he kept touching them and saying “oooo”. Then he found this ornament that is a miniature wreath of rustic looking bells. He ran around the house shaking the ornament until it accidentally dropped on layla. He immediately said “uh oh layla” and gave her a big hug and kiss. She’s a wonderfully patient dog and is so great with him, but I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the love William pours out onto her. William just adores her!

He also seems to adore Baby Kelli and has been talking to her every day for a week now. The past 4 nights he’s cried for her to save him from the horrific fate of bedtime, and lots of times I hear him jabbering in his own language and all I can make out is “baby lelli”. He loves to look at her pictures, and a couple of times when he sees her he also says “Nana” (dana) and “meman” (Brandon). So he is making the association between Kelli and her parents. I always wondered how long it normally takes kids to learn about their families, and if it would take him longer since we don’t see them often but I guess the 6 trips/year to Texas are paying off. Not financially, but in ways more valuable.

So, December is shaping up to be one of our best months yet. We’re pumped about Christmas lights, we’re pumped about “mismis rees” and the ornament he made last night, we’re learning at light speed and sharpening our memory, and we are beyond excited about the fact that Dada is coming home SOON. I’ve told him enough times that now when he sees dada doll he sometimes excitedly announces “dada home OOOOOOON”. He’s pumped, and you’d be a fool to think I’m not right along with him.


- manda