Never thought I'd see the day...

News flash from State College, PA! Preliminary reports are coming in that my Dad (a.k.a. Grandpa, and affectionately called "Pa" by William) was spotted at the Grange Fair Tractor Pull this past weekend.

If you know him, you know that a tractor pull is not... well, not exactly his usual choice of entertainment or sport.

But here's the catch - his 21 month old grandson loves nothing in the world more than tractors.

And Grandpa loves nothing more than his 21 month old grandson.

Result:

The binoculars kill me! William kept saying "Tractors - in?" and looking at them through the binocs.

We were in State College overnight just Friday to Saturday - I had 2 shoots on Friday and W got to play with Nanna - they even went to her school! He came home, very proud, with a special book he made. He's starting to consistently speak in little "sentences" of 3 or 4 words. It's so neat, (and sometimes so cute/funny!) but is happening so fast! Just this morning at breakfast (several days after we returned from visiting Nanna), Esch was asking him about what he did at her school. W told us "Nanna pour water in" - who knows if she really did pour water - but those types of phrases are becoming common and it amazes me.

Friday when I was leaving my first photo session, I called Mom's cell phone to tell her I was on my way home. She didn't answer the phone (well, I'm assuming she hit "answer" and handed it to William), and the only person I talked to was the little man. It was like he was 5 years old. He said "Hi, Mama," and when I asked what he was doing, he replied, "Eating." Nonchalant. Oh, you know, eating. In the correct form and tense. WHEN did this happen?!

He's very into helping, and being involved in every little thing we do. Luckily the novelty is still there for William, so even a chore can be fun for him. When I'm folding laundry, he will always ask "Help me? Me too?" ("Help me?" cracks us up - he's asking if he can help... he has that one a bit reversed for now, it's funny!) and is contented to carry a shirt or sock around the house for a bit.

Let's see... other examples of his vocabulary explosion...

- There is a dove who lives on the ledge above our front door. She's always been there, which we thought was a little strange, but the previous owners and mentioned it to us, so we never wanted to remove her. We see the bird every day, and when Esch once asked William what her name was, he said, without hesitation, "Water." Really? Water? Ok, buddy! We laughed, but he didn't say it just in passing. He remembers, and always calls her Water (to add to this, he pronounces his "W" sounds like he is German - as a "V." So our lovely pet bird is therefore "Va-tah."

This weekend while we were in State College, Daddy called us to tell us that Vatah had babies! There are now three little bobbing baby bird heads in the nest, and William asks daily to "Me see? See me? Vatah - babies? Yeah?"

This is reminding me to be sure we get the video camera out more often to capture this cute stage of W's speech. He is, as they say, literally growing and changing before our eyes.

A few pictures of playtime on Nanna and Grandpa's porch this weekend...

Good old Tyson. Best doggie in the world.

And the last one for today - taken by Daddy last night, just playing in the backyard:

Happy Monday, everyone.

Less than a week until college football!

Family, new friends, and signs of Fall

Playing with Daddy on a rainy Sunday afternoon

Our little skinny minny enjoying the breeze from the fan. He stood here (longest I've seen him hold still in months!) for a few minutes and giggled.

Mommy's assistant, "helping" to make strawberry salsa!

Yesterday we had Nanna and Grandpa (whom you've been calling "Pa" for a while now) for lunch and some play time.

I didn't think to take any pictures, but W had a great time. It's fun that he understands the concept of things happening in the future now. For a few days, I told him that Nanna and Pa were coming to see him, and he was so excited. He buzzed around the house yesterday morning, anticipating their arrival like it was Christmas, gave hugs when they arrived, proudly showed them his newly finished big boy room, and, of course, all of his toys were emptied from their baskets and cabinets.

We had a fun afternoon, and W napped like a champ after they headed home. When he woke up, the sunny day had turned into a very dark, thundery downpour.

We put on a new CD from Aunt Johanna that William loves (Steve Martin playing the banjo!), and had some good ol' family fun.

We're settling in to a nice schedule with Daddy going to law school. He studies at home in the mornings, and we get to eat breakfast and drink coffee together. Then he heads to the library or to class, and Mommy & "Will-na" (how he's started pronouncing his own name! so exciting!) spend the day together. Playdates with our new group, walks to the park, or just coloring and watching "Abby Elmo Show" (which is, of course, Sesame Street).

Dad usually comes home for lunch between classes, William naps after we all eat together, and while he's asleep, I edit recent sessions, work on my website, or, today - work on setting up the new office.

Things are good in Carlisle. We invited a couple from Esch's class (the husband is in his year) over on Saturday night after W was asleep for a few drinks. They have a 6 month old little guy - I am so happy to be getting to know some families who are in the same boat (or should I say, not just the same boat, but who are embarking on the same very long, possibly very challenging 3 year journey).

Football season is around the corner, too! Such a great time of the year. W and I went to a park around the corner today at an elementary school. I'm guessing that next week, school probably starts. It was fun to watch him run around, climbing up ladders and jungle gyms all by himself. It was totally empty, and a beautiful morning that felt a bit like fall - cool breeze and crisp blue skies. I even saw some light brown leaves lining the streets that had fallen... in August?! Oh, well. It was a busy, but good, Summer. Bring on the Fall! (William is ready - when asked, "Who is Penn State's coach?" he replies "GO-PA!" Hee hee.)

Nap time = more pictures!

William's been a good napper lately, going down at 1 and sleeping until 3. While he sleeps, I just sat down to upload some photos I took last night and wanted to share them.

We went to THE coolest park last night. It's fun to explore our new area. Every time we go to check out a new park or new store, we tell William, and he is very into it. It's pretty cute. He says "New park? New? New?" the whole way there and is always so excited when we get out of the car.

We were ALL excited to see this splash pad park last night. At first, W was the only kiddo there, which was so fun. He had the whole place to himself and both Esch and I were saying that we can't remember him ever being more excited or happy... ever. He was positively squealing. HUGE smiles, tearing around the place, giggling, stomping in puddles, running through the fountains.

I try not to post too many William pictures on Facebook. I'm sure some of my friends, without kids, especially, could not care less about William's adventures. But I figure if you're checking this blog, you like to see what he's up to, so here are some from our great time last night.

Completely soaked, but loving it.

You can click on these to enlarge them... his expressions are worth seeing!

Extra, extra!

An extra post with some silly little boy shots from this morning.

We went to singing time at the library and W had a wonderful time on the steps on our way home. What a rascal. He was playing "peek" and cracking himself up, saying "Hi!" to passersby and walking "Up, down. Up, down."

My favorite is that last one. It's starting to become harder and harder to get a "real" smile from him. He definitely knows what the camera is now, and either makes silly faces, stares, or flat out runs away. Lucked out and caught him mid-"PEEK!" from behind the column.

Happy weekend!

The Weekly William

We went to Gettysburg this weekend... William fell asleep on the way to lunch. He was a good boy at the museum, and later when we toured the National Park / battlefields, he spent the afternoon walking around town with Gula.

I still need to take pictures of the new decorations in W's big boy room, but here are a few of him giving you little preview tour. He is, as you can tell, VERY proud!

I am making a Fall Resolution to get back into posting on W's blog every Monday. We're officially finished with the work on the house and setting up. We had the McCombies (even Erika!) visit this weekend and had a great time with our first houseguests!

Now we have 2 days of "vacation" until Esch starts law school on Wednesday. Hope everyone has a nice week!

We needed some pictures!

Took these this morning, I'm guessing that both sets of William's grandparents are missing him and would like some updated photos!

Above, playing with his animal magnets in his brand new kitchen, and being a little monkey in the living room.

I didn't catch it on camera, but he's been loving looking out the front bay windows. He pokes his head under the curtains and peeks outside to see what's going on in the world.

Honey Bunny

HONEY BUNNY.

You say those words maybe 100 times a day. And that is not even an exaggeration (just ask your Dad)!

I've called you my little honey bunny for a while now, and something clicked for you in the past few weeks that - Hey! I can say both of those words! - and you now call ME your honey bunny. I can't think of a cuter sound (other than when you called me Mama for the first time). Your little voice is so sweet and still very baby-like.

However, there's also a game you play with Daddy - when he says "Hi William," in a low, low voice, you come back with its opposite, and say in a squeaky, high-pitched half-whisper, "Hi Daddy!" When he changes it up and does the high-pitched version, you immediately do a low one. This is accompanied by a funny little face as you make your baritone voice. It cracks us, and you, up. All babies love to make people laugh, of course, but you are really a little ham lately. When you do something, you always look at us ask, "Funny?" If it was something naughty, and you know it, you look at us and make it more of a statement. "Funny!" As in, "OH, Mom. OH, Dad. Look at me. Aren't I FUNNY?!" Sometimes, Buddy, sometimes.

We moved into our new house this week (which, instead of calling your "home new," as you did for a few weeks when we talked about moving here, you call "back home). You LOVE the house - so do we. It's so nice to see you here, in the first home you'll really have memories of. You're already making some for us - tearing around the downstairs, which is a big, connected circle, and giggling at the ability to just run, run, run as long as you like. You peek around corners, and are finding special little nooks and areas that you like

The biggest news in our lives this week besides the physical moving of our family is that you're sleeping in A BIG BOY BED! Not even a toddler bed - we decided to go right from the crib to a twin. It's a nice sleigh bed that we had in our second guest room in Austin, complete with a brand new pillow-top mattress. Only one person ever slept on it - your Nain, when she visited us in Texas before you were even born. That room quickly became a nursery!

You like to have Mommy lay down in the bed with you until you get drowsy, so we just talk, sing a little, read books, and snuggle until your eyes get heavy. I pull your special "Roar-roar" (bear blanket) over you, stare at the cuteness and marvel at how BIG you are, and sneak out. You have slept through the night your first two nights in your big boy room, and taken good naps both days. I wake up a lot at night now, and we're using a monitor again, which is funny and kind of like having a newborn again, because I'm so worried that you're going to fall out. We have rails up, but you are such a crazy sleeper (today you were perpendicular when you woke up, and you were known in your crib to wake up in every cardinal direction) and I'm nervous. But so far, it's going incredibly well. Can't believe it. My big boy. So proud of his firetruck room. (I'll have to post pictures soon - just waiting for your new curtains to arrive in the mail!)

Right now you're upstairs with your Daddy getting a bath and a book, and I'm counting the minutes until I get to snuggle you to sleep.

Goodnight, Honey Bunny.