Da-da da-da da-da da

Will babbles "da-da-da-da-da-da" all the time now. We aren't exactly sure that he is talking about Tony when he says that, so I am doing my best to help him learn that Dada means Tony. In order to help him learn this, whenever he says Dada I insist that Tony address his current need. It is awesome to hear Will yell "DA-DA-DA-DA-DA" at 6:00am and to look over at Tony and say, "He wants you," and then to snuggle back into my pillow for awhile. Ahh, the sacrafices I make for my child's growth and development.

miscellaneous

Sometimes I have a hard time updating our blog when I feel like nothing terribly exciting has been going on. Here is a recap of some of our recent happenings:

--Enjoying the cooler weather (especially Tony, I actually really love summer weather, minus the humidity) and being able to go for walks at all times of the day.


--Tony and I are playing co-ed softball. It's pretty fun. We've played 3 games and I am finally starting to feel confident*. So far we're 2-1. I play 2nd base and Tony is SS. It's fun to have some time where we get to hang out without worrying about Will. Thanks to my dad for watching Will while we play (our games are way past his bedtime).

(*Side note: I had a bad experience a few years ago. Tony and I went to the Trafalga batting cages with Carly & Daniel and Meredith & Steven before we moved to Springfield. We each took a turn in the cage and when my turn came I swung at and missed about 30 pitches. When I finally made contact with the ball--just contact, not an actual hit--everyone cheered. The John's are not ones for pity cheers, so I knew I must have been pretty pitiful site. I did appreciate the attempt to make me feel better though.).


--Tony is loving football season without worrying about school and looking for a job. He is doing his part to indoctrinate Will into the ways of BYU. He sings the fight song to him each game day as well as declaring our apartment Cougartown during the games. Doesn't Will look cute in his jersey?


--Will has discovered his tounge. I will glance over at him at different times during the day and he will just have his tounge hanging out. He's a little loco.


--Will is 9 months old. He has 8 teeth. He likes to read books and turn pages. He likes his mom. A lot. He likes to babble, especially da-da-da-da-da. His favorite food is applesauce. Sometimes he gives kisses. He hates naps.


--I'm keeping busy taking a class and trying to dejunk our apartment. My class is sort of a capstone of all I've the things I've learned thus far in my program. I have surprised myself a few times at how much I remember, but I've also gotten pretty rusty on a few things too. As for dejunking our apartment, we just have too much stuff and Will is proving that to me as he gets into things all the time. It is a work in progress, but it feels good to get rid of things and have (a bit) more order.

Is it really October this weekend? This past year has flown by. Even though I love summer, I always get excited for fall. Maybe because Christmas is just around the corner? It seems like there is a lot happening during the fall, so maybe we can get some more exciting posts up in the coming weeks.

Yay for Grandparents!

Today is Will's first Grandparent's Day.

He's a pretty lucky kid. Not only because he has such awesome grandparents, but also because he has been able to spend so much time with them.



He has also had the opportunity to meet all of his living great-grandparents. I am very jealous because all of my great-grandparents passed away before I was born. We need to make sure we get a picture of Will with Bobpa next time we see him.


Happy Grandparent's Day! We love you!

Do you like spinach?

If you answered yes then you should come visit us.

You should come visit us even if you answered no.

Why, do you ask?

Because Lenexa, (our neighbor to the west) was hailed the "Spinach Capital of the World" circa 1930. And today we celebrated this distinction by attending the 2010 Spinach Festival.

It was a gorgeous day, and for that we were grateful, because we invited our friends the Divines to go with us. Last time we hung out with them we got stuck in a crazy summer storm. Yes, today was gorgeous.




Upon or arrival we immediately headed to the paddle boats. Will was NOT a fan of the life jackets, but once we were aboard he relaxed a bit.





Love that wind in his hair.




The paddle boats wore us out so we had to check out their food offerings.




In addition to the traditional festival fare, they had a variety of spinach dishes, including the world's largest spinach salad.




We didn't actually try it, but heard it was delicious.


There were all sorts of crafts, games, and activies for kids. Will is a bit too young to fully enjoy them, but it was still fun to walk around and check everything out. Popeye and Olive Oyle were there, but we didn't see them when we wanted to get a picture. We had to settle for this cut out.



And in case you were wondering, that sweet necklace Anthony is wearing he won playing washer toss. Will loves it, and now Anthony understands why I rarely wear jewelry.

All in all, a great day.

The kid knows how to get comfortable

Before I go to bed at night I check on Will to make sure everything is fine in his room. This past week I've found him laying like this when I come in.


Apparently once he settles down from the very loud crying that has unfortunately become routine at bedtime, he gets nice and comfortable. Anthony tells me there are some pics of Will's Uncle Matt as a child in a similar position, so it must be a John thing. Whatever it is, I think it is cute and it makes me smile as I head to bed.

Ethnic Festival and Severe Weather Adventure

Anthony's work just hired some new people and we got to hang out with one of his new co-workers and his family this week. We decided to hit up the Ethnic Festival. Food from around the world and live entertainment, sounds like a relaxing and enjoyable night, right?


Think again. Kansas City has some pretty crazy weather sometimes and Friday was no exception. When we got to the festival the sky was cloudy, but not menacing. We enjoyed some food from the Philippines (everyone but me) and Mexico (I am not very adventurous) and then headed over to the pavilion to see some dancing. A few minutes into the show it started to rain. We were glad we were under shelter and decided to wait it out. Bad idea. The rain came down and the floods came up. Then it got windy. The men stood with their backs to the rain to protect us, but we still got soaked. I took off my outer layer (thank you Downeast) to protect Will's head from the cold.

We kept thinking that it would get better, but it didn't and eventually we realized we would have to cut our losses and venture out in the storm. We ran 30 yards to the "beer tent" where people were feelin' good and happy to see us. "Look, a baby! In the beer tent!"


Anthony volunteered to run to our car and drive back as close as he could. He was successful and we were able to head home. I ended up driving because I didn't want to strap Will in his car seat all wet. It was like driving with strobe lights every time lightning stuck (which was often) because the wind shield wipers were going as fast as possible. It was quite the adventure and not exactly how we wanted to welcome our new friends to Kansas City.

8

Will is now 8 months old. Eight months doesn't seem like that long, but for some reason when you measure time by the length of your child's life it seems a lot longer.


He is growing into such a fun kid. When he smiles his whole face lights up and it's a good thing he can't talk yet because I'd probably give him whatever he wanted.


He has his four bottom teeth and is working on another on the top left. He is drooling constantly. I can't wait until it comes in because he is not himself when he's teething.


He is rolling and scooting all over the place and I'm sure will be crawling any day now. He tries to copy the things we do, like pound his hands on the computer. He "sings" along to the radio when we drive and at church if he's in a good mood. He loves to watch and interact with other babies and little kids. He still grunts when he eats. He hasn't met a food he doesn't like. He loves to chew on pizza crusts, pretzels, etc.


He throws some pretty effective tantrums, but that's just a phase, right?

We love our slimy, smiley, fuzzy-headed little mister.

(I promise he does wear clothes, sometimes).

Fun in the Sun

It has been quite hot here in the Midwest recently. The only way I have been able to survive the heat is by logging some serious pool time. Luckily, Will likes the pool as much as I do.

He loves to "swim" with my help. He has gotten really comfortable in the water and I love it!

His new thing is sticking up his legs straight in the air when floating on his back.

His aunties like to call this move "The Will." They are so impressed they have copy him.

Hanging out on the side with his dad. Anthony only gets to make it to the pool with us occasionally.
Sisters at the pool. Sometimes I feel like my life is deja vu. I have spent many hours with these two chicas at this same pool for many summers during my youth.


One of the best things about this pool is "the bench." There is a bench about 15 inches deep (Anthony is sitting on it in one of these photos). Will can easily stand on it and hold onto the side. He loves to watch the water go in and out of the drain and will hold himself there for quite a while. (I am behind him, of course.) It is great for me because I can sit by him and by submerged in the water, unlike in the baby pools that are six inches deep.

I have definitely gotten good use out of my pool pass this year.

Anthony and I also went to the Schlitterbahn water park this past weekend. We didn't take any pictures because I was afraid of ruining our camera. Our time there only cemented in my mind that my dream house will one day have a lazy river. And that tattoos are a bad idea, but that is a whole other post.

Thanks to Doug and Tina for the passes and to Melanie, Laura and Mom for watching Will so we could go!

Copy Cat

Will inherited his Dad's big mouth.

As I mentioned in the last post, Will enjoys playing games. This is a game Anthony made up tonight and Will got into it.



As usual, please excuse the adult voices. I never sound cool when I try to record Will.

Backlogged: A Night at the Park

A few weeks ago we got bored with our neighborhood and decided to take our nightly walk "on location." We ended up at the sculpture garden outside the Nelson-Atkins MOA.

It was really, really hot. Will got tired of his stroller so we got him out so he could enjoy the occasional breeze.



But he still needed to get around, so his dad volunteered his shoulders.



Taking a break (and getting tired of my picture-taking).

Lately Will loves being "chased" and playing "I'm Gonna Get You." I held Will as Tony ran past us. TJ's face was awesome and I decided he needed to see what he looked like. Some great photos resulted. No wonder Will shrieks.



Will's other favorite game--being tossed in the air.
Proof I was there too.


It was fun night. We enjoyed doing something a little out of the ordinary and making ourselves more familiar with some of the beautiful things KC has to offer.