William Monthly Updates – Peanut Smiles

Covid-19, Kate, Lexi, William Monthly Updates

Covid-19 week 5

April 17, 2020May 17, 2020 peanutsmiles

Kiddies,

I’m a week late in documenting this week, so it is going to be short and sweet. After being off for spring break last week, we moved back into the official distance learning thing again and had to re-learn all of the systems and tools again. By the end of the week, we got into more of a rhythm of the different apps used for different subjects. (Benchmark is for reading activities, classkick is where most of the math activities happen, SeeSaw is the main hub of where you get information and submit most of your assignments)

Although William doesn’t have an official program, he is loving learning and going to school. He is getting really good at identifying his letters and learning those tricky teens.

The Easter Bunny brought him a Nerf gun so we put the teen letters up on the wall and used them as a target shooting practice and it was a BIG hit. He has also gotten very close to having both mom and dad’s phone numbers memorized and loves doing little science experiments.

Kate continues to get into anything and everything she can and has a loud an authoritative personality. You are an observant little monkey and are learning how to role play by watching Lexi and William .

On Saturday, Grammy and Papa came over for an Easter visit and we grilled some brats. They ended up coming inside and eating and hanging out and it felt so good to do something remotely normal, but I kind of felt like we needed to hide what we were doing, like people would judge us for seeing someone or getting together. I hugged Grammy good-bye it just felt good to have that hug in time of so much uncertainty.

Sunday was Easter and that bunny was good to you guys. You each got new helmets, bubbles, chalk and loads of candy. William also got a nerf gun and a Osmo coding game for the iPad. Lexi got an LOL pet and an Osmo pizza game for the iPad. Kate got an LOL pet and a bunny shirt and purple bunny dress. We had a nummy breakfast of monkey bread, fruit, breads and pastries from Grammy. Then, Great Grandma came over for dinner and we had Ham, Rolls, Cheesy hash-browns, and green beans.

Love,

Mommy

William, William Monthly Updates

William 22 Months

December 26, 2016June 19, 2017 peanutsmiles

Merry Christmas William,

You are 22 months old today, which also happens to be Christmas. This holiday season has been so fun with you! Your vocabulary and speech improve everyday making it easier and easier to communicate with you. You’re expressive and show much joy for the season. You love to look at lights on peoples houses and yell ‘Oh Wow!’ or ‘Wook mama Wook’. You’re eyes just about pop out of your head when you saw the Christmas tree. You were pretty amped up about your blue airplane ornament and carried it around the house for a couple of hours while we were decorating. You did also like to take ornaments off the tree, and broke several, which meant the tree was pretty much decorated from the 3 feet and up. Your absolute favorite was the train that goes around the tree. You were running around and stomping your feet as Daddy set it up and kept yelling ‘Choo Choo Train’ or ‘Tracks’. Once it was set up and running, you would get so excited and look at me with a huge grin and eyes as wide as the Mississippi. Eventually, Daddy connected noise to it so you could honk the horn and ring the bell and it was pretty much that was the best thing ever. While going down the stairs in the morning, you would yell ‘Choo Choo Train. William Horn’. You also sat on Santa’s lap. You didn’t enjoy it and wanted off stat, but you did sit there long enough for a picture. After, you would proceed to talk about ‘Santa’s Lap’ so it couldn’t have been that terrible. You also started to get the hang of some Christmas songs and will occasionally chime in with Jingle Bells or Frosty. You were much more into presents this year and would say ‘Wow’ while you were opening them, and followed up by ‘Open’. You just wanted to sit and play with the toys you got verses opening new presents. Your tools are by far the highlight and favorite toy as you’re constantly playing with them and looking for your ‘drivers’.

Other things about the month is your bad habit of biting! It is pretty bad and you have gotten your sister really bad (like top and bottom teeth marks that break the skin). I’m not sure when/where this started, but it happens pretty frequently. Most notably while you’re wrestling, you’re trying to get a hold on someone so you bit their clothes or a blanket, but often go beyond that. You do also do it when you’re angry. We’ve been working on it, but I’m a little lost at what to do to get you to stop. We do timeouts and tell you no that hurts people, but you continue to do it. You are stubborn and determined and opinionated–which is a fierce combination. You will throw tantrums if you don’t have the right cup or you’re not sitting in the right seat or we give you a red M&M instead of a Green one. You don’t like to wear mittens and most of the time hate getting your diaper changed (however the last few days haven’t seemed so bad). Tantrums include furrowing your brows, giving the evil eye, throwing your arm in an attempt to hit and yelling ‘No Mama’ or ‘Go Away Mama’ or ‘No, the oder one’. If I give you something you don’t like, you take it and chuck it and stomp around.

With all that said, you are quite the cuddler and comedian. You love to sit on my lap and snuggle under a blanket and watch Mickey Mouse. At night, we’ll lie in the rocking chair after reading books and you snuggle right into me and go to sleep. You love to randomly come and give me hugs and kisses while you’re playing and tell me ‘i wov you mama’. You love to read books and say ‘sit lap’. In the morning you’ll say ‘Eat’ ‘Mon mommy’ while pulling my finger, in which i’ll respond, ‘Do you want to eat, are you hungry?’ and you’ll respond. ‘Yes…,Yes I do’. While buckling you into your car seat, you’ll smile at me and tell me that it is ‘Chilly’ out. You do a great job of playing by yourself. You’re favorite way to play is laying on your tummy or on your side and you’ll put train tracks together, build tunnels for the trains out of cardboard, push cars around or do puzzles. You love to wrestle and be rough. You and daddy often tackle each other and you giggle and laugh the entire time.

You also got your first haircut this month. You were feeling a little under the weather and sported your ‘grump face’ the entire time. But, you sat very still the whole time and looked so handsome and grown up by the end.

Love,

Mama

Uncategorized, William Monthly Updates

William 20 Months

October 25, 2016November 13, 2016 peanutsmiles

Dear William,

This past month has been so much fun. For October, the weather has been amazing and has allowed us lots of time to play outside, which is your all time fave!

Your language and vocabulary continue to sky-rocket. You’re saying more complicated words like broccoli and medicine and have started to put two word phrases together like nose hurt or poop hurt. Or you see a boat and announce ‘boat’ which is quickly followed by ‘papa’ referring to papa’s boat. You love all things transportation! You stop when you hear an airplane or a helicopter. You announce every bus or boat we pass on the road and will say ‘bye-bye bus’ as they drive away. You love Taxi’s and fire engines and diggers and lawn mowers. They are your favorite toys to play with and you make corresponding noises when you play with them, VRRROOMMM, BEEEEEP, BRAAAHM

You’ve also started to understand and articulate emotions like fun and happy. You’ll be pushing your cozy coupe car down the driveway at lightening speeds, giggling hysterically and say fun! Or we’ll go for a walk and you turn around and say happy. Or I’ll be pushing you in the cart and you say fast, more! So fun to watch that little brain of yours develop these abstract ideas. You witnessed your first fireworks this month as we lit off a couple at Grandma T’s birthday party and you LOVED them. You laughed and shouted with joy and begged for more.

We also went to the cabin with Auntie Sheila and future Uncle Dustin this month and had a lot of fun playing ‘bomb you’ wrestling, playing chase, riding mini-bikes and visiting split rock lighthouse.

You still like to read books, however you prefer to sit on the floor in front of me while I read them. I’m assuming this is because it is how it is done at school. Occasionally, I’ll try and sing to you while you’re falling asleep, however most of the time you tell me no. Most nights we read our books, you help me shut off the light and we recline back in the rocking chair, you nuzzle in and you pass out within 5-10 min. You do a great job of transferring into your crib and rarely make a peep. You typically are sleeping by 8:00 and wake up between 7 and 7:30.

This month, you also had your first bout with strep throat. Lexi got it about a week before you did. On Saturday, you were usually clingy and whiney while we were getting ready to go to the Dustin’s families apple orchard. And as we were about to put your shoes on, you threw up all over me. This was the first time you have thrown up so you were pretty upset about it. We got you all cleaned up and you were running around the house like nothing happened, so we hopped it was a fluke and then headed to the orchard where you had a great time. Then on Monday, Daddy noticed a rash on you and assumed it was an allergic reaction to the cinnamon in apple pie (don’t think I ever wrote about that, one day at Day Care you had some cinnamon on your apples and broke out in hives from it). However the rash didn’t go away and continued to get worse.

On our way into school on Tuesday morning, I called the Dr to check in and they requested to see you right away. So we dropped Lexi off and headed to the Calhoun office. The doctor confirmed it was definitely hives, did a quick strep test give your sister and it came out negative. So we took some Benadryl and went back to school. However the next day, the 24 hour test came back positive to turns out the hives were from strep and not cinnamon (at least this time).

To make this story a little longer, Daddy stayed home with you the next day but forgot to put your refrigerated medicine back into the fridge so I spent 2+ hours calling Drs and Pharmacists back and forth to see if the medicine was bad. Turns out it was and Daddy had to rush to the pharmacy to get a new one before it closed for the night.

I also had conferences with Mrs Essi this month and she talked about how you are such a sweet boy. You are a good listener, you pick up toys, love to play outside, take good naps, participate in group time but are pretty shy. This was a big shocker to me because you do not seem the least bit shy to me, but now that I watch for it, you do get she when people ask you a question or you know you’ve done some wrong. Next month is a fun one with Halloween and Thanksgiving! And before I know it, you’ll be two!

Love, Mama

William, William Monthly Updates

William 19 Months

September 25, 2016February 7, 2017 peanutsmiles

My Sweet Little Bood!

This month just flew by! I didn’t take one single note so this may be a shorter post.

This month it felt like we turned a big corner in your relationship with Lexi. I think you are starting to learn to play with each other instead of constantly being at each other’s throats. For the first time ever, Lexi requests to stay home and play with you instead of running errands with me, or she only wants to come with me if you’re coming too. Don’t get me wrong, you two still fight like crazy, but you also really love to play with each other too. You love to play legos, ride on the horse, play squinkies, chase each other, play trains, kick balls, play catch and watch Mickey Mouse together. You refer to her as ‘sis-tar’ and ask for her when you wake up or point to her things and say ‘sistar’. When you are both playing outside at school you find each other on the playground and give hugs and high-fives through the fence.

You’re attempting to say many more words and point to objects or actions in books and tell me what is happening–like if you see a someone lying down you point and say sleep. At school this month, the theme was transportation so you have perfected the word bus and point out every single bus, boat, car and truck we pass on the road. When we pass a boat, you’ll call out boat, and quickly follow with ‘papa’ putting together that papa has a boat.

You are turning out to be quite mischievous. I thought I was going to be bald from pulling my hair from three straight days of messy situations. Day 1, you climbed onto the table and got into the stamps Lexi was playing with and smeared blue and pink all of your hands and tummy and feet (which makes purple of course). Then you proceeded to come find all of us upstairs. However, you still crawl up the stairs on your hands and knees, so there were two full blue, pink and purple handprints on every single stair. Day 2, I mistakenly left a full 24 oz smoothie on my nightstand. You got into it and tipped the entire thing over onto the carpet and then proceeded to jump in it like a puddle (which it was) so it splattered everywhere. Then you ran from our bedroom into Lexi’s so again, we had footprint smoothies across the entire upstairs floor. Day 3, you climbed onto Daddy’s desk chair and then onto his desk and reached behind the computer to find some pen type markers. You then proceeded to color with blue, purple and brown marker all over your hands, feet, legs and stomach. Unfortunately, you didn’t stop there, you also drew all over the carpet on the stairs. You are fantastic at drawing straight lines because there were tons of them. Thankfully, your Daddy found some magic carpet cleaning powder (resolve powder) and we were able to scrub everything out. I failed as a mom during these moments as I only took pictures of one incident.

One of my favorite moments of the month was playing outside with you and the cozy coupe car. You bring it into the garage and then stand behind it and run down the driveway while pushing it. This thing gets smoking fast and I have to stop you about 3/4 of the way down the driveway because I don’t think your legs can move fast enough and you’re going to faceplant. But you love this activity and burst into giggles when I stop you and request ‘more’ or ‘again’.

As it has gotten darker in the morning, you are starting to sleep in later. On average you wake up around 7 to 7:30 and even slept past 8 one morning–heaven! You go to bed around 8 or 8:30 and take about a 2 hour nap each day around 12:30ish.

Favorites:

Playing in the bath and blowing bubbles and splashing

Reading ‘Little Blue Truck’–which you call Beep Beep, Goodnight Moon, the animal book, guess who, my first 100 words and any book with peek-a-boo flaps

Playing outside (slides, running, pushing your cozy coupe, bubbles, chalk, throwing/kicking balls)

Going for walks!!

Playing trains, pushing (or riding) the truck, playing in the cozy coupe inside.

Watching Mickey Mouse clubhouse–which you just call mouse

Jumping on the couch

Playing ‘bomb you’

Riding the horse

Puzzles!!

Fruit snacks (as soon as we get in the car after school, you immediatly begin asking me for ‘snacs’

Love,

Mama

William, William Monthly Updates

William 17 Months

July 25, 2016August 8, 2016 peanutsmiles

Dear William,

Life with you gets better everyday. You have the biggest smile that match your twinkly eyes and I squirm in excitement for how much I love you. This past July has been a fun month filled with lots of activities. We started the month off with Daddy and I on a staycation for 12 whole days, including a trip to Duluth for mama’s cousin, Laura’s wedding! The week was amazing and filled with your favorite things like trips to the beach and lawn mower rides, boating, slides and running around outside. Throughout the rest of the month, we went to new parks, enjoyed our new fenced in yard, saw Choo Choo Bob perform and so much more!

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Favorites:

You love to clean! You love to push the broom or the swifter around and are obsessed with the vacuum. You are a great helper in wiping things up. I’ll catch you getting toilet paper and then wiping the floor or around the toilet like I do when I’m cleaning. You also got ahold of a clorox wipe and started cleaning off your airplane and wiping down the kitchen chairs. I’m glad your observant to all of the cleaning I do and hope your enthusiasm for it doesn’t fad so I can have a good helper when you get older 🙂
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You LOVE to go for walks and insist on it if you ever get a glimpse of the stroller.
Trains, Trains Trains! You are your father’s son. You like to watch Thomas, Choo Choo Bob and Daddy’s real life train videos. You love to play with them and push them around on the tracks (although you break the tracks pretty quickly).
Lawn mowers. You insist that you ride with Daddy while he mows and if you hear someone else mowing their lawn, you run to the door and yell, Dadda, and look to find whomever is mowing. You also love to climb up on the mower in the garage and just sit there, bonus if you have the ear muffs on
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Raspberries! You love to put them on your fingers and wiggle them around.
You love daddy’s tools. Your own tool kit/work bench may be wrapped under the Christmas tree this year!
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Books: Animal book, Vehicle book, Guess Who, The spotted lady bug, Goodnight Thomas
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Songs: Wheels on the Bus
Toys: Trains, your Dusty Crophopper plan (which you just learned how to move forward on it and we can barely get you off it) Cars, Little People Barn, Blue Soccer Ball, Bubbles
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You love to wear hats
You love to make people laugh
You love to snuggle your raccoon and a blanket

Dislikes

You absolutely despise getting your diaper changed and coming inside from playing outside
Getting up from naps have been a bear! You are completely inconsolable. I’m not sure if you’re just waking up before your ready to, but you don’t want to eat, or drink or play or snuggle or read a book or watch a show or be put down on the ground, or be in my arms. You just sit and whine and squirm around for a good 20 minutes, but it happens almost everyday. No fun, Mr. Crank Pants!
Cutting teeth. You’re in the process of cutting some of your eye teeth and these things are no joke. Holy smokes do they make you angry!
When anyone tells you no or Lexi does something you don’t like–you have definitely figured out that by crying and whining that you’ll get your ways. I’m working on not being such a push-over for you, your so darn sweet and cute, it is hard not to be though
Words

Every week, we hear new words come out of your little mouth. Most of them aren’t easily understood by most people, but I can tell what you’re trying to say, particularly with the inflection and syllable break.

Clear words include: Boat, mine, No, Mama, Dadda, Choo Choo, yes, please, Done, papa, nigh-nigh, bye, hi, Beep, Vroom, uh-oh
Attempted words: Wi-um= Willium, Da-Dee=Lexi, ch=chair, Doon= Raccoon, Sheeeew=airplane, mil=milk, wa= water and walk, Duk= stuck, wack wack= quack quack= duck, Dew= Shoe, Sa= sock

Favorite Moments:

Before you get into your Crazy Coupe Car, you’ll run over and give me a hug and a kiss and say Bye-bye before driving off in your car
When you go down slides you yell out Wheeee!
At the beginning of the month, you learned the word ‘mine’ and you would say it over and over and over again. You sounded just like the seagulls in Finding Nemo when they yell ‘mine, mine, mine, mine, mine’
We’ll be going up to bed and you put your finger over my mouth and say ‘Shuush’
I can’t hear you say your name enough–and when you saw Meow for cat, it just comes out as mauw and it is the sweetest thing
Occasionally, when we’re going to bed, we’ll sing a song-specifically Twinkle Twinkle and you make noises along with me at the same pitch/tune
I love watching you push your bus around the house and say beep beep
When you and Lexi make each other laugh–usually while we are eating, you both have the most contagious laughs and it is awesome
When you scrunch up your eyes and nose and laugh at me

Daycare Transition

At the beginning of the month you transitioned from the Older Infants classroom into the Toddler classroom. In your new class, you only take 1 nap, get to go outside, have group time and more structure to your day. You also start drinking from a regular cup and using utencils. I thought it was going to be a difficult transition, but you were a rock star and only cried the first day I dropped you off and have been awesome since. I love when I go and pick you up, you run over to me with your arms up in the air and give me a HUGE hug and then run to your locker to get your raccoon.

We love you so much buddy and can’t wait to see what 18 months brings us!

Love,

Mama

Uncategorized, William, William Monthly Updates

William 16 Months (1 year 4 months)

June 26, 2016 peanutsmiles

My sweet little William,

This past month has been so fun. We are officially into summer and from what we can tell, you love everything about it. You insist on being outside at all times and just stand at the door begging to go out. You giggle when you dump sand through your fingers in the sandbox and stop to analyze the soft grass blades between your toes when running around barefoot. You love chasing balls, being chased, playing with sprinklers and going down slides. In fact, the only way you prefer to go down is head first. For the most part, you do pretty good at catching yourself but have had a couple spills here and there.

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We’ve set up the pool a couple of times; at first you weren’t a fan of the chilly water, but when the sun had warmed it up a bit, you had yourself a grand time splashing, going down the slide into the pool, drinking the water and lowering yourself to waste hight and them jumping up and giggling with delight. Each time, you’ll look to me for a reaction and I’ll give you some kind of surprised look and you burst into laughter, sometimes so much you fall down.

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We also went to the beach which was a big hit. You loved sitting in the sand and splashing and kicking your legs. You loved picking up the wet muddy sand and having it side out. Thankfully, you there were only a few occasions where it ended up in your mouth. Mama is also grateful you have an obsession with hats to protect your sweet skin from the harsh sun–your big sister is very opinionated about when she will and will not wear a hat.

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As much as you love everything outside, I would say your two favorite things are lawn mowers and trains. You insist on sitting on daddy’s lap while you mow the lawn. You help steer and will chat away while you two mow. It really melts my heart to see my two Williams out there together in matching earmuffs just motoring along. Even when you aren’t mowing you love to climb on it and wiggle the steering wheel and even have the ear muffs on. It is the first place you run to when you get in the garage. You also really really like trains. I randomly brought up the train bin from the basement and it has been a big hit. You’ll pull pieces out and run the trains on them, or on the floor or furniture or my legs, really anything that the wheels will move on. You refer to them as ChooChoos and make the noises as your pushing them along. You also really love to carry them around the house wherever you are going–which is awesome to be constantly picking up trains throughout the house at all times.

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Words

Clearly understood words: Baby, Hi, Bye, No, Bubbles, Ball, Mama, Dada, Mine, Uh-Oh, pease (please), ChooChoo
Things only mama understands: Mi= Milk; Ba= Bottle (even though it is a sippy cup), Do=Show, shoe; Da=done, down; Woof=dog; moow=cat; H=hug and hop (meaning bunny), Dat=Hat and hot; Pa=papa; Boo=moo for cow

Favorites:

Books: 100 first words, Vehicles, Little Blue Truck
Playing in the bathtub
Drinking Milk
Food: Marshmallows, popsicles, ice cream, eggs, raspberries, blackberries, crackers, cereal, crasins, watermelon, avocado
Mama
Thomas the train, Choo Choo Bob
Horses
Climbing
Making people laugh

One Saturday, Dada was gone and you just refused to take a nap. So we sat down and played cars and trucks and read books and played with your farm. We played peek-a-boo behind a plate and oh my goodness did we have so much fun and do you make me laugh. It was so good to have some solid one-on-one time with you where I wasn’t distracted to do laundry, clean the house or start making dinner. It was just good solid play time with you and I. You soaked up that time and love to make me (or anyone) laugh. It will be interesting to see if you continue this comedic personality (like your dada) as you get older.

Dislikes

Swinging
Looking at my phone; if you want me to be playing with you and I look at my phone you shake your head and try and take it out of my hands and throw it–clearly we’re too attached to these things and I’ve been working on not looking at it while you are awake
Lexi taking stuff from you; this is understandable to get upset about this, but you will start crying if she comes near you. You know Mama will come rescue you and are using it to your advantage you smart little boy! You’re a little bit of a whiner and cry-baby and we need to work on toughing you up a little bit 🙂

William, every ounce of you oozes with sweetness from your curly baby hair to your pure blue eyes and dimple in your left check to your cuddly-teady-bear hugs, love for trains, tools and machinery. You so much more of everything I had prayed my little boy would be. Your mama, dada and sister love you more than words could ever describe.

Love,

Mama

PS. I think this happened about a month ago, but I don’t think I ever wrote about it. You have really taken an affection to your raccoon stuffed animal and your navy blue blanket. You take them out of the crib with you and when you see it laying in the floor your run to them and nuzzle your face into them.

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William, William Monthly Updates

William 15 months (1 year 3 months)

May 25, 2016June 5, 2016 peanutsmiles

Dear Bood,

This month flew by and I didn’t even take any notes to document so I’m going to have to go by memory.

Eating and sleeping is a pretty consistent story. You wake up between 6:15 and 7:00 each day and go to bed around 8 and have two 1 hour naps around 10 and 2.You guzzle an oz or two of whole milk before naps and want to eat when you wake up. At bedtime, we usually read a book or two in the rocking chair, give you your racoon and blanket and sippy and we snuggle in the rocking chair. Rarely do you actually fall asleep as you’re busy moving around trying to get comfortable and snuggle. This is usually one of my favorite parts of the day. I love how content you are to be in my arms and never try to get down, are just moving to get comfy. You love to curl up in a ball and put your checks on my chest or shoulder. Ahhh, it is so peaceful and relaxing and something I never experienced with Lexi. After about 5-10 minutes, we lay you in your crib put your blanket over you and you conk right out.

I can’t think of anything you regularly refuse to eat. You have days where you prefer some things over others, but for the most part you eat everything. You LOVE all fruit, cooked veggies, bread/crackers and milk. You insist on eating whatever I’m eating or if you’re chewing on something and see something that appears better, you just spit out your food and ask for what I’m eating. We officially cut off bottles this month. As always, I anticipate the transition being more difficult than it was. And I love the snuggle time we have now way more then I enjoyed giving you bottles!

Talking is still few and far between. I feel like this is the first month where you have consistently used ‘Mama’ and ‘Dada’ when you want us (verses just grunting). You make the sound ‘da’ which means done, down, duck, door and hot; ‘do’ is shoe; ‘peas’ is please; bal ‘is ball’; i swear i’ve heard ‘bu-bey’ meaning blueberry; choo is train and ‘tu-tu’ is tootles (from Micky Mouse) Sign language is getting better; you sign: dog, cat, hat, gorilla, wave hi and bye, please and all done.

All four of your molars came in this month, which caused quite a bit of pain for you. New teeth have always been a bit of a bear and all four at one time made you much more whiney and crabby than general. All four are in now and you are back to the happy, smiley little munchkin you always are.

Favorites

You are are little comedian and love to make people laugh and laugh too. You love being tickled, going upside down, going for walks in the stroller, playing peek-a-boo, being chased, chasing Lexi, going down the slide (specifically head first), bubbles, being next to daddy as he is working on projects, tools, mowing the lawn, reading books, watching Micky Mouse, being outside, giving hugs, shoes, playing trains, cars, raccoon and blanket.

Dislikes

Lexi being mean to you (i.e. pushing/kicking you, taking toys away from you, poking you in the eye), coming inside, diaper changes, getting buckled into your car seat, swinging/spinning

My sweet little William, you are growing up so quickly and into the sweetest, snuggly, hilarious little boy and I can’t get enough of you. You have mama just smitten with you and there isn’t anything I can do about it.

Love,
Mama

William, William Monthly Updates

William 14 months (1 year 2 months)

April 25, 2016June 5, 2016 peanutsmiles

Dear William,

Although you are completely unaware, this month has been an emotional one for our family. On Tuesday, April 5th your great grandpa Sampson passed away. Although he had been having a handful of health problems over the past year, he passed pretty quickly, which was great that he wasn’t in a lot of pain suffering but still hard to believe he is actually gone. I’m sure you won’t ever remember him, but he loved you so much. He was so proud to have you carry on the family name, not only from a William standpoint but from a Sampson standpoint. None of great-grandpa’s nephews had any children so the only men to carry on the ‘Sampson’ name is Grandpa Sampson, Daddy and now you. He really was a great man who loved Jesus, his family, flying airplanes, fixing things, staying up to date on technology, growing veggies (he basically was a mini farmer) and sharing his veggies with anyone that would take them. Your Daddy was very close with him and learned so many amazing things from him like how to play tennis, how to take things apart and put them back together, using tools and building things and so much more. So far, it looks like you share similar interests as you are fascinated by tools and Daddy will be able to teach you the many things he learned from Great Grandpa.

On a little more upbeat note, April was pretty raining and a little colder than normal, but on the handful of days that the sun shone, you loved being outside. You were a little unsure of it at first, but when you could run around and play and explore things like dirt and rocks and grass and hear the birds and airplanes, you’ve decided there is no place you would rather be. You cry when we come inside and will go bring your shoes to use on a regular basis and stand by the door and beg to be outside. You love going for walks and will climb up in the stroller and just wait to be pushed. You love bubbles and chalk and the crazy coup. We haven’t made it into the bike trailer yet for a ride, but I have a feeling you’re going to love that too.

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Sleep is pretty status quo. You sleep for about an hour at each nap at day care and drink about an oz of whole milk in a sippy for the first nap and 3-4oz for the second. For bedtime, you have a bottle around 7:30ish and then go to bed around 8. You may cry on the way up to bed, but usually stop within 1-2 min of us walking out the door. In the morning, you’ll usually wake around 6:30 (the 5:30 mornings are dreadful!). About halfway through the month, you stopped taking a bottle in the morning so are really just down to one bottle before bedtime. Giving you a bottle is one of my favorite times of the day as you just snuggle in and sit contently with mom or dad for 20 minutes. However, I am counting down the days until I can put all the bottle parts away. So much extra clutter on the counter.

You love to eat still and insist on feeding yourself. You’ve started to hold forks and spoons while you eat and attempt to use them, but are almost never successful. You love love love Cinnamon Toast Crunch (without milk) all berries, ice cream, avacado, and bread/crackers.

You’re still not talking a whole lot but are starting to make more sounds. Your ‘B’s are very defined for ball and bottle. You’ve also gotten good with your ‘Ds’ for down(stairs), all done, dadda, and Due (for shoe). You’ll also say, mmamama which means you’re hungry. However, your comprehension is pretty good. You follow directions like ‘it’s time to go bye-bye, can you go get me your shoes’ or ‘let’s wash hands’ or ‘go get a book’. Baby sign language has also improved. You consistently sign ‘All done’ ‘dog’ ‘cate’ ‘bird’ ‘duck’ and are getting better about signing ‘please’. You love to roar like a lion and woof like a dog.

You and your sister have a love hate relationship, already. You love to play chase and hide and seek and make each other laugh. However, we need to do a lot of work on sharing with both of you. If you’re playing with a toy and she gets near you, you’ll start crying and whining and you push her. She also likes to randomly hit you and steal things out of your hands and push you too. For me, this constant tension and arguing is the most challenging thing about parenting right now, it runs my patience pretty thin.

With that said, I can never be mad at you. Your little smile just lights my whole world up and think you are the cutest thing ever. You melt my heart with your sweet and random snuggles and kisses. Mrs. Heidy and Mrs. Alba are smitten with you and said you love to give all the teachers snuggles and hugs throughout the day.

We love you little Bood!

Love,
Mama

We love you to pieces William, Love, Mama

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William, William Monthly Updates

William 13 months (1 Year 1 month)

March 25, 2016April 16, 2016 peanutsmiles

Dear little Bood,

You’ve gathered quite the collections of nicknames in your year of life. Your most recent one is Bood, given by your big sister. We’re not sure where it came from but it is all she calls you and its uniqueness has rubbed off on your daddy and I (and even your grandparents and aunts and uncles) as we often find ourselves referring to you as Bood. Other names you respond to: Bud, Budski, Budski Mudski, William, Will and ‘the grump’.

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This past month has been a long one full of sickness for the whole family. You, Lexi and Mama came down with a terrible cold in the beginning of the month. Your cold turned into an eye and ear infection. I don’t think the ear infection you had in February ever went a way so this was more a continuation of it. Then, when we went to get it re-checked at the end of the month, we learned that it still hadn’t gone away and the Dr. threw out the ‘tubes’ word. Daddy had lots of problems with his ears growing up so it may be something we have to look into if your infections continue.

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As far as talking goes, the words and even really noises are few and far between (with the exception of laughter and whining there are lots and lots of those). You have learned how to say ‘uh-oh’ and say it whenever something falls or throw something off the table. You’ve also started to initiate the word ‘done’. I’m the only one that can tell you’re saying this because it really just comes out as the ‘D’ sound, but it is accompanied with you doing the baby sign for ‘all done’. You also make the sounds ‘Mmmamma’ when you’re hungry to mimic ‘Num-num’. This is particularly confusing because it sounds like you’re saying mama, but it is really not about me and it is more about the food.

Speaking of food, you love it. If someone is eating something, you absolutely insist on eating it too. You’ll come over tug and my legs and just whine. If you don’t get it, you dramatically fall to the floor and start crying. If something comes along that you believe is better than what you currently are eating, you just spit it out and reach for the new food. You absolutely refuse to eat anything unless you can put it into your mouth yourself. The one exception to this is ice cream. We’ve started to give you a fork and a spoon while you’re eating; and while you do hold it, you have yet to use it.

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One afternoon, Lexi left most of the apple she started to eat on the table. You were able to reach it and started waddling around the house and eating it. You would take a bit of it, eat the inside part and then spit out the peel. I found little pieces of peel all over the house.

This month, we took away your bottles before nap time, and just give you a sippy of milk to drink before if you want. The first couple naps there were lots of tears and it took you longer than normal to go down, but you adjusted pretty quickly. You still love your bottle in the morning when you wake and the one prior to bed time.

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As far as napping goes, you take two naps a day, usually for about an hour each around 9:30 and then again around 2:00. At home, I will tell you it is nap time and you usually start crying as we walk up the stairs and when I lay you down, but as soon as I put your blanket over you and give you a stuffed animal to snuggle, you calm down and roll over onto your tummy. Then for bedtime, we’ve been giving you your bottle earlier and allowing you to play a little after to help break the association that you need a bottle before bedtime. You usually go down around 8:00 and with very few tears if any at all. We go into your room, give you a kiss, turn your sound machine on, turn the lights off and walk out. Occasionally you’ll cry but for maybe only a minute or two. (However, there were several times this month where you did cry for over an hour!) So hard little guy and I think this is a little foreshadowing into your stubborn and determination.

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This month you also turned a corner in liking books. You frequently go to your shelf and pick out a book and bring it to me and plop yourself down into my lap. Your favorites are the Animal book, Little Blue Truck, the little color board books,

Another amazing accomplishment for you this month was learning how to go down the inside slide all by yourself. You climb up the stairs and have figured out how to get your legs out in front of you and slide down. Throughout the entire process, you have a smile as wide as the Mississippi plastered across your face. You just love it and then get up and go again.

Happy 13 Months William! We are infatuated with everything about you and just love how you are this happy little smilely guy that has made his perfect way into our family. We don’t know what we would do without you.

Love,

Mama

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William, William Monthly Updates

William 12 Months

February 25, 2016April 16, 2016 peanutsmiles

My dear sweet William,

Happy 1-years old! You make me giddy with excitement. I really don’t know how else to explain it, but every time i see you, I just about burst out of my skin because you are so stinking cute. No joke, even if I just walk around the corner. The way you light up when we make eye contact could turn me into puddle. I just can’t get enough of you. You are a true mama’s boy and I 100% completely underestimated how awesome that really is. Please don’t change.

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Yearly stats:

Weight: 22 lbs (76%)
Height: 30.63″ (61%)
Head: 18.5 cm (74%)

Favorite moments:

You achieved the big milestone of walking this month! You had been so close for several weeks and at the beginning of the month you transitioned to the older infants classroom at daycare and within a week started taking tiny baby steps 2-3 at a time. The following week (on Valentine’s Day) you took off and actually walked the same distance and in the same location that Lexi did for the first time. You were so darn proud of yourself when you did this, you just didn’t want to stop and for the most part haven’t. Occasionally, you will crawl but for the most part, you walk everywhere. I know I’m your mom, but it is the sweetest little walk. You have a wide stance and arms extended in front or to your sides and waddle around. You absolutely refuse to hold anyones hands, I’m not sure if it is for balance or independence yet.

Earlier in the month the four of us were all upstairs getting ready for bed. Daddy was in the rocking chair with Lexi reading books and you were playing. I walked into your doorway and you raced over to me, pulled yourself up on my legs and begged, ‘Mamamama’ with your arms held up. I picked you up and you pointed to the chair and signed milk. So sweet and exciting to see your little brain making connections like that!

At the beginning of the month, we got a pretty decent sized snowstorm. Daddy and Lexi were outside clearing the driveway and playing and you climbed up onto the step stool and stood at the front window and banged on the window and watched in jealousy the entire time. You just can’t wait to be big enough to be out there with them. Next year bud!

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Your favorites:

Wrestling and rough-housing. You love to pile into tickle feasts or just wrestle with mommy and daddy.
Balls
The little people horses (and really all of the animals)
Cars, you love to push them around and make ‘Vrroomm’ sounds. You also love to play with your race track
Eating anything in sight–specifically stuff that is on my plate. Even if you have the same thing, you want to eat it from my plate.
Smiling and laughing. Whenever you have a sub at daycare, we get the comment, he is so cute and so smiley. He just never stops smiling.
Playing chase with Lexi. You love to laugh at her and she gets your going pretty good!
Opening cupboards and drawers and taking everything out of them. You also really like to climb and sit in chairs.
Crawl up and down stairs. You’ve been going up stairs for awhile now, but have recently learned to climb down them on your belly.

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Other interesting things about the month:

You got another tooth (bottom right) for a total of 8. With that came a little cold which led to an ear infection.
Talking is few and far between. You can say ‘Mamamamama’ and ‘Dadada’ but don’t do it consistently or on command. You also say ‘Ba’ which means Ball
At the beginning of the month, you transitioned to the Older Infants classroom at school. Overall you did great! You took your first nap on a cot and eat at the table with the other kids. The only real hangup has been bottles. You refuse to take a bottle or a sippy cup from anyone in that room, even Mrs. Margaret whom you used to take bottles for all of the time in your old classroom. For the first couple of weeks, I came down and sat with you in the classroom and gave you your bottle. Even then it was sort of debatable on if you would take it. Outside of the bottle/sippy situation, you’re loving your new classroom and playing with the kids, singing songs, reading books and going for lots of walks!
As a result of your new classroom, you’ve started to show more interest in books. You bring them to me and plop yourself down in my lap and will sit there for maybe a page or two before you insist on starting to flip the pages yourself. You’re favorite book is the animal book. You love to look at all of the different pictures and hear the sounds they make.
As you have developed your walking skills, you’ve started to walk in the bathtub. You’ve been pulling yourself up to standing in the bath for many months now, but you’ve now become a little more adventurous but not quite stable. You probably fall 3 times every time you take a bath, even when I’m sitting right there. You’ll be a tough cookie with all the times you’ve banged your head and even gone under water. Ironically, it hasn’t scared you at all. You lie right down on your back with now hesitation and love the water coming up around your face.

Oh sweet buddy boo! There is something so magical about you that I’m not sure how to explain but everyone who meets you feels it and trys to articulate it but just can’t. We love everything about you and can’t get enough of you. Happy 1st Birthday! We can’t wait to experience all the fun the next year will bring!

Love,

Mama

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