I'm back and a 15 month update...

Wow has time flown by. We have had a very busy few weeks as we get settled into our new routine of daycare and work. All in all we are all adjusting well, but there have been a few bumps in the road. Will came down with the croup on my second day at my new job. Thankfully, Tom could work from home and take him to the doctor's office while I went to work. He turned around quickly after getting a few doses of the oral steroids in him, but was up most nights coughing when the cough/cold turned from the croupy-barking cough to a wet, yucky cough. Needless to say, that left Tom and I up most of the nights comforting him and getting him back to sleep. Maybe from all the sleepless nights followed by long days at my new job coupled with the new onslaught of germs we are testing out from daycare, I ended up with strep throat-just in time for week two at my job. Thankfully, I had enough antibiotic doses over the weekend to get me to work on Monday morning and not have to call in sick. Will also decided to try out falling face first with a binky in his mouth on to the bathroom floor. It did not end well. He was left with a big fat lip, a mouth that bled profusely for a few minutes and what seemed like a loose front tooth. He split his frenulum-the little piece of muscle that connects to the gums between the top two front teeth (An injury I first encountered with Jack at about the same age. So one that, despite the profuse amounts of blood, did not alarm me.). My bigger concern was that it appeared that one of his top front teeth was loose. All I thought was....is this child going to be toothless for 8 years! By the next day the tooth was firmly back in place and he was all healed up. 

Sporting his new shorter hair cut! 

At the Children's Museum this morning. Please note the large bruise on his forehead, but he does care about oral hygiene! 

Will just turned 15 months! We had the 15 month check up last week and he weighed in at 25 lbs and is 31 inches tall. He is about a pound heavier and an inch taller than Jack at that age. He is such a sweet but mischievous boy. Just before I went back to work, we started to notice his speech picking up and his ability to repeat more and more of what we said. I worried that his binky use all day at daycare would cause him to stop talking but I was taking it as a trade off for him feeling more secure in his new surroundings. The binky has not stopped him! He signs, please, thank you and more every time with and without encouragement. He says "more" when he does the sign and his list of words seems to grow everyday. Most recently he started saying "Croc" when he picks up his shoes and I swear I got him to say "Red Sox" the other day (but I was the only one to hear it)! He is a climbing machine and takes every opportunity to climb up onto something he shouldn't. He loves climbing up onto the kitchen chairs to "sit like a big boy" at the table. I found him standing on my kitchen stool in the middle of the kitchen the other day and he has figured out how to get up onto the couch and will run from one end to the other. Boy are we in trouble!! His appetite is still amazing and we have found that he likes to "dip" whether it is grilled cheese into applesauce or pancakes into yogurt. if there is something that can be dipped into, he is dipping (even if it is his whole hand). He is loves his teacher Miss Judy and she loves him too. He has really turned a corner at daycare. Even though he cries when I leave him in the morning, he plays with friends, loves music class, takes a great nap and is eating their food. He has even started to show off his sweet little smile more.


On the morning of his 15 month doctor's visit, we ventured out to get his first haircut. I decided to try a new place recommended to me by a new coworker, that charges just a PENNY for the first cut. Jack needed a haircut too. The place is called JellyBeans. Will did great. He sat up in a little race car and although he looked a little skeptical, he did not shed a tear and held very still. He was so good, in fact, that I was able to walk away from him and the hairdresser to wrestle Jack onto the horse where he had his haircut. It was a fun morning. Will looks like such a little boy now that his baby hair is gone. The cut proved to me how long his hair actually was and how overdue we were for this outing. His certificate with hair clippings are securely placed in his memory box. All in all, JellyBeans was ok. They did a very poor job with Jack's haircut and even though Will's was only a penny, the total cost was a little pricey for the quality. We might go back to our other "haircut store" next time. 


A quick update on Jack too....He too is adjusting to daycare. He was crying in the mornings when I dropped him off, but was quickly comforted by a teacher or occupied with a toy or activity and would be all smiles by the time he got picked up. He has informed us that he has two friends, Mia and Danielle. It took 2 weeks for him to actually tell us their names instead of saying, "I have a friend at school, but I can't tell you their name, it's a secret." He loves his teacher Miss Cassie and she loves him too. This past week I was finally able to drop him off and leave without him crying and reaching out for me. Progress. Jack informed me at breakfast the other day that "Michael Phelps was the fastest swimmer in the world." Point taken-I guess all the Olympic coverage we have been watching has sunk in with him. He is getting so big I still can not believe that his 4th birthday is coming up so quick! We recently discovered water beads. We found ours at Wal-Mart in the flower/vase department. They are meant to be used in vases with live flowers because they hold 100times their size in water (or something like that). We have just been playing with them. They are tiny tiny and you add them to a bucket of water and in a few hours they absorb the water and grow to the size of marbles. They are slippery and squishy and a lot of fun. If Will would not instantly put them in HIS mouth, he would be allowed to play too. I have set Jack up with a big tupperware bin with them at the sink and given him washed out plastic containers. He fills and dumps and squishes for up to an hour before getting bored. They are great! I have stored them in the container and will bring them out when we need a new activity. They come in all sorts of colors. Ours were red, orange and yellow. but we put them all together when we added them to the water so they all turned a dark orange. I have been told that they come in crazy shapes too, but I haven't seen those yet. The best part-the bag was only $1.50! Here are some pictures of him playing! 

I will also mention that we are truly in the dead heat of the summer here in SC. I have never in my life wanted summer to come to an end, but this weather I have had enough of. It has been so hot, high 90's with 75% humidity, that you don't even want to do anything, never mind leave the house. The pool at our complex had to be 95 degrees the other day. HOT and WET. It was gross. Most days turn dark and stormy so we couldn't go to the pool if we wanted to. I miss our long days outside. I am jealous of all the people posting pictures of the beach in RI. These are the best summer days up there. I have to remember that our "summer" started in March and that the fall is right around the corner and this heat will go away. I know the kids are missing being outside so much too. We still try to get out, but we only end up staying for maybe an hour before the cheeks are all red and their heads are all sweaty. Even playing in the hose isn't that much fun. The water that comes out is hot! Enough complaining! 

I know that I am very behind on my blog posts. I guess that is what happens when life swoops in. I can honestly say I have been trying to write A POST, ANY POST for about 3 weeks, but I have been too tired at the end of the day, or the laundry is getting out of control, or the cheerios and goldfish on the floor in the kitchen seem to be reproducing overnight and I give in to less fun tasks. Meanwhile, my camera lies on the counter blanketed in a layer of dust. I can't even remember the last time I turned it on.  As we are all getting more used to this new schedule I hope to be better about scheduling some blogging and photography time in.