I thought everyone may like to share in a typical evening at our house.
WARNING:
If you you are suffering any stress-related medical conditions please don't scroll past the photo below!
If you scrolled this far and aren't faint of heart you can view the video below to enjoy 40 seconds of our evening. If you have nerves of steel, turn your volume on. To enjoy the real-life experience turn the volume all the way up!
Will went to the dentist with Jerry today. First he watched them clean Daddy's teeth then he got his cleaned. I had reservations about the whole appointment to begin with because it was scheduled right in the middle of his nap. I was sure we would have a major meltdown half way through and we would end up leaving. Much to my surprise however he was excellent the whole time! They counted his teeth, flossed them, and then polished them. He wasn't the least bit scared and he cooperated so nicely. He appears to have inherited the spacing of Jerry's teeth so hopefully that will mean he also has his father's strong enamel! I hope his appointments will always go so smoothly so he won't develop the horrible fear of the dentist I have!
Will kicked back in the dentist chair while Dr. Wilson checks out his teeth.
Mom and Grandad came up this weekend to celebrate Will's "half birthday" since we decided to move his celebration because it falls so close to Christmas.
First Will and Grandma baked birthday cupcakes.
Grandma made sure Will got to lick the bowl : )
Will concentrated really hard on getting the sprinkles on just right.
Just the right number of candles: the number "3", plus six little ones (one for each month) : )
Getting some help from Daddy with that last candle!
Jerry and I got him a new bike and Grandma supplied lots of fun accessories.
After lunch we went to shoot the potato gun Jerry made. We were all
quite impressed by the distance those potatoes shot!
We had a huge downpour today so Will went out to play in the rain puddles. He wanted to go out so badly but he wouldn't go in his clothes so we changed into his swim trunks. Then he wouldn't go out because he was cold so we put his shirt back on. Then he wouldn't go out because the rain drops were getting in his hair so I got him an umbrella. He finally decided he was ready to go just as the rain was stopping. (I think he was actually ready to go because the rain was stopping!)
The tadpoles Will has been raising have turned into frogs! Four out of thirteen survived to "froghood." Not great odds, but I'm trying to tell myself that they wouldn't have had a much better chance in the pond! Will was of course anxious to play with the new frogs so I let him hold one this past Friday. The little frog was scared to death so I set him on Will's hand just long enough to snap a picture - and apparently long enough to contaminate Will with Salmonella! He was sick by Sunday afternoon and has just recovered today. The lab results came back showing Salmonella, which undoubtedly came from the frogs since we have all eaten the same foods and Jerry and I aren't sick. Lesson learned: Wash hands!! - Even though every kid in the world plays with frogs mine will be the one to catch Salmonella!!
He is just too cute to be carrying such a horrible bacteria.
Here is my "best mother of the year" photo - me letting Will
play with a bacteria infested frog!
Will and I went to pick strawberries today. I had planned to get some from Belleville, but they were all gone. I looked online and found a field just outside State College. It was nice out today so we decided at the last minute to ride over.
We had so much fun! Will ate so many strawberries that I was glad they didn't take a before and after weight on him - I may have gone broke paying for what he ate! After his belly was full he started helping me pick. He had his own box - a cardboard box that was way too big for him but he wanted one just like mine. He did a surprisingly good job of only picking the ripe ones. He would find one, put it in his box, close the flaps, struggle to pick the box up, and go searching for another one. By the time we were finished he was exhausted and his poor berries looked mostly like mush!
We were invited to Delgrosso's with Lindsay, Natalee, and Brady today as guests with their season passes. It was cool outside so it was the perfect day for rides. After several hours of riding the kids all really wanted to go to the water park, even though it was chilly. The water was like ice, but they didn't seem to mind. Finally Brady admitted he was cold and went to sit in a towel with Lindsay. Soon after that Natalee asked me if I wanted to go sit down too (but she wouldn't say it was because she was cold). Will was shivering but was begging to go back in the water. After warming up Brady was so sleepy that he actually fell asleep in the lounge chair slumped forward with his head in his lap. He never woke even as Lindsay carried him to the car and put him in his car seat! That's definitely evidence of a fun day!
All three kids could ride the turtles together so they had a great time
pretending to scream on the "hills."
We found this motorcycle ages ago at the Goodwill and finally charged the battery. We were lucky to have a brief time this evening that our yard wasn't filled with kids so Will could try it out. It needs training wheels and is way too powerful and fast in my opinion but Will loved it. Jerry was worn out after running several laps to keep up with it!
Mom came to visit this weekend! We had a nice relaxing weekend, mostly just hanging around the house.
Mom helped Will ride the neighbor's bike with no training wheels.
He was sooo proud of himself!
Mom bought Will a remote control car that he picked out and
was showing him how to drive it. Napoleon was apparently offended
that Will had the coveted spot on grandma's lap.
It has been so very hot the past two days! This morning I decided to fill up the little pool for Will to play in after lunch. He actually ended up playing in it while I was filling it since it was so hot (even though it was before 10 a.m.). It was so humid that I started sweating just watering my potted plants outside!
Will carefully watered each of my flowers (with mouthfuls of water!)
He thought it was great fun to get his hair soaking wet with the water hose.
I couldn't believe the water running over his face didn't bother him.
Jerry had to travel to Sydney, NY on business so Will and I joined him. We left Monday afternoon and had a delicious dinner at Lampy's in Binghampton on the way up. Jerry had meetings all day Tuesday so while he was working, Will and I visited the Joseph L. Popp, Jr. Butterfly Conservatory in Oneonta, NY. Will was incredibly excited about the trip because it has been his goal recently to catch a butterfly or a bird. He actually spent almost an hour outside Monday before we left chasing butterflies in the yard. He was thrilled with all the animals he got to see while we were there, but was a bit disappointed that he couldn't touch them.
After we left the Conservatory, we stopped by a grocery store and picked up some things for a picnic lunch then we found a park. We ended up at Neawa park in Oneonta, which was very nice.
We had a donut for dessert during our lunch. And Will loves the new water bottle from grandma!
Will shared his donut with the fish and geese
(after he ate all the icing and sprinkles of course!).
I found what we need out back - a tire swing! It incorporates cars and swinging - it doesn't
get any better than that in Will's mind!
For dinner we went to Sabatini's, an Italian restaurant in Oneonta.
It was absolutely the best Italian I have EVER had!
After dinner we stopped at a small ice cream stand for dessert. Will was in such a good mood that he even shared his ice cream with me! As we were leaving, I told him thank you for sharing his ice cream. He gave me a hug and kiss and said "thank you for having a wonderful day." That moment was of course my favorite part of our whole trip!
Afterwards we went back to the hotel and enjoyed the pool before bedtime.
Will wore himself out swimming laps in the inflatable ring.
As I was cleaning the house and packing to leave for Sydney Will cleared all the covers and pillows from his bed, loaded them into the wagon grandad made, and told me he was going to have a yard sale with all that "junk." I told him I would like to buy puppy blanket (his favorite one) and asked him how much it would be. He told me it would cost "five point five." I told him I would buy it, but then he said I didn't have to pay, that I could have it for free.
He took his big blanket, puppy blanket, and cow pillow and arranged them on our bed. He even put the "furry side" (the softest side of his puppy blanket) down for Jerry on his side (since that's how he likes it each night). He worked for at least 15 minutes, telling me he was making sure the blankets were arranged "neatly" on the bed. He was so proud of his work and asked me repeatedly if it was making me happy to have new blankets on my bed.
We had our yard sale today during the community yard sale day and had a really fun time. Will was so well-behaved the whole time, and afterwards I wanted to let him know how proud I was. I called him over to me, picked him up, told him that he had been very good all day and that I was very proud of him. He smiled and said "Ok - so what do I get for that?" I laughed so hard I couldn't stand it, and told him he got a big kiss. That turned into a big game, so I hope what he really "got" was some fun time wrestling and playing with mommy. That must have been good enough since he never asked for anything else. : )
After dinner we rode to the overlook at the lake where Will and Jerry played frisbee, which Will thought was great.
I still can't believe the frisbee never went over the edge!
