Onward Summer!

I finished my license program and am now just waiting for the Colorado Department of Education to go through the paperwork and then I'll have my license. I've also left my job at the treatment facility and am busy applying for jobs at the school districts in the area. Cross fingers that I get lucky and land a sweet job!

Dave is busy at the lab during the week, and he's tired but happy when he comes home. Either he or I pick Will up from daycare at the end of the day. When we get home, we usually have some kind of activity, we play in the back yard and Will organizes his toys,

Or pumps up the tires on his trike,

Or fixes mommy or daddy's bike,

Or waters the lawn,

Or takes Rocky for a walk around the block,

Will is very industrious.

We have had several weekends in a row where we've had a chance to do stuff TOGETHER. As a FAMILY. How novel.  Dave bought me a bike for Mother's Day/Graduation and we've been taking family rides out on the Highline Canal or to Wash Park or Platt Park. We have a little buggy that Will sits in like a Pasha and Dave tows him along. No pictures yet, but I'll get some soon!

Will is a bit of a daredevil.

But he also knows when to kick back and enjoy a box of raisins.

And he is obsessed with things with steering wheels. This was a little four-person bike that you could rent to trundle around the lake at Wash Park. He played on it for hours and was reluctant to leave (a bit of whimpering).

We took one trip to Belleview Park which has a TON of kid friendly activities (I've called it Kid Valhalla before) including a stream running through the whole hilly park. We rode the little choo-choo train, visited the petting zoo we went to the stream to cool off. After we played in the stream, we changed Will out of his wet clothes to get him into dry ones.

He immediately took off running and giggling. 

And kept running until he reached the train tracks where he found one perfect rock and ran back to the stream to plunk it in. 

This activity lasted for at least 45 minutes. 

On our weekend outings we sometimes stop and have breakfast at Panera. This is a Will and Daddy routine from when I was working every weekend. 

We have been to the big Barnes and Nobles downtown. It has an excellent play area.

Some weekend mornings Will and I make breakfast together. He likes to stir the eggs. 

In the evenings he helps me cook stuff like meatloaf. 

Whatever we end up doing, there is always an opportunity to play a little ball,

And time for a little bike ride. 

No! I didn't forget! I've just been busy!

I've been in school for a Colorado teaching license and it has been kicking my butt. This semester I have spent every. single. weekend. at the computer reading, writing, analyzing, spewing out information.

Here's a picture of my relationship with Will during the Spring semester.


Dave has been picking up ALL of the slack and has taken Will to:

The Museum of Nature and Science.


The park. A lot.


Orange Julius where he (in three parts): enjoyed his Orange Julius,


accidentally stuck himself in the eye with the straw,


cried,


and was happy about two seconds later.


The Home and Garden Show.


The Lightrail, which is a train that goes downtown.


The Denver Museum of Art.


Where he had a lot of fun playing with an interactive exhibit (bubbles streamed by video across the floor that "pop" as you stomp on them).


Target. A lot.


Will and Daddy are tight.

We celebrated Christmas with Omi. Will got a ton of stuff including his very own laptop (which is nowhere near as fascinating as Mommy's laptop).


And a Trike from Grandma and Papa.


He's very excited about his tricycle and wears his helmet every time he rides.


Will also had a BIRTHDAY! He ate cake.


And cried when he couldn't touch the candle.


We took him to an indoor play place and he went in the bounce house for the first time. The look on his face as he was bouncing around was pure ecstasy, not even joy, just pure, religious ecstasy.


Will as a two year old is an amazing experience. Sometimes exhausting. And often fun and funny. We have a lot of fun, but BOY HOWDY is he opinionated, and he's a bit of a tyrant.

Will has been speaking a lot and he can now put together a couple of words. Such as: Rocky peepee potty outside! And: More airplane! Hi Omi! Hi Papa!

His favorite word is NO. When we ask him if he wants a bath, the answer is no. If he wants to use the potty, the answer is no. If he wants to eat an orange, or go to school or take a nap, it's always no. Although the answer is always yes if we ask him if he wants to watch Yo Gabba Gabba or eat a cookie.

He scolds the dogs (and any other dogs in the neighborhood who are barking), and is fixated on Cicero.

He now enjoys "cooking," which means that he can stir something or add something to a bowl. He's very good at stirring eggs. We're still working on knife skills.


Will and Dave have been to the Museum of Nature and Science innumerable times. There is a particular video of the formation of the earth that Will is absolutely fascinated with. He runs to the video screens and yells "BALL!" with an intensity that is both infectious and somewhat unnerving.


In February we went to visit Will's Papa, as he was having a birthday. The trip down to Phoenix was a new experience. We left late, past Will's bed time and Will was a little overstimulated. We let him play on the people-mover parked near our gate.


When we got to the hotel Will's little mind was so blown, the only thing he wanted to do was jump on the bed. We turned out the lights at 11, but none of us got much sleep that night.

The next day, Will, Dave, Papa and I went on a hike at Mount Morty where Papa and I discussed the various local flora and fauna.


And Will picked up rocks.


We were able to visit with Grandma and Papa and Uncle Sam and Aunt Alicia and Aunt Noelle and cousins Audrey and Danny.


Audrey is adorable!



Uncle Sam's cool rubbed off on William a bit.


Will and Danny got along famously. They shared goldfish crackers.


They played on Danny's Elmo bed.


School will start for me again next week. But the grind will be over in June. In the mean time, we'll try to keep everyone up to date.

William, Self-Reflector

I have a bunch of pictures from a trip to a pumpkin patch, a visit to Ikea and his first Halloween. But we are all swamped. Will has these giant projects due at his daycare (and his promotions to the Toddler III room are completely dependent on the quality and efficacy of these projects) and Dave and I have minimal projects that have to do with certification and endorsements, so, we are ridiculously, bad-work-life-balance busy.

In the meantime I made a movie of one of Will's favorite pastimes. Will is a 21st Century Guy. He loves to press as many different buttons on the computer as possible. And he loves this little app called iPhoto. We've used it all this summer and I compressed all of his self reflections into a short movie. It appears below.

Beautiful Days

For the last couple of weekends Will, Dave and I have been able to spend at least one whole day together. We've put away the stress and anxiety of the week and have been able to spend the days as a family. And it has been a BLAST.

Three weekends ago, Dave took Will to the Denver Mineral Show where they panned for gold.


And two weekends ago we all went to the Denver Zoo. I love living in a metropolitan city again, there is something to do every single weekend. Dave and I are total nerds and we love to look for all the animals in their habitats and read all the information on the signs. Will, however, is still in that phase of "everything is fascinating."


So while Dave and I were oohing and ahhing over the length of time it takes for a giraffe to pee,


or that Mongolian Wild Horses are the living ancestors of the modern horse, or Madagascan Ring Tailed Lemurs,


or that a Celebes Crested Macaque came over to the window to check *us* out, or the Pink Flamingos...


Will is wandering around becoming enchanted with bridges (different sound when he stomps his feet) or throwing his ball hither and yon, and fascinated with the activities of other children, and any exhibit that features a ball...



I think Dave and I might spring for a babysitter at some point and just check out the exhibits ourselves one day.


This most recent weekend we all went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Dave and I traded off toddler-chasing while the other one looked at minerals or North American mammal exhibits.

It was really fun, but there's a part of me that longs for the time when Will can read and talk and can spend a little time being fascinated with the deliberate exhibits, not just the general physics of life.


Will had a ton of fun playing with all the buttons and flaps of the interactive exhibits.




And when we went to the Discovery Zone (children's room) part of the museum we had Way Too Much Fun playing with the magnets and the flying scarves.

The Nature and Science Museum has a really decent cafe. We had tacos. Which means Will pitched a fit over being able to consume my entire bottle of grapefruit juice and mostly ignored the tacos we ordered.



Until we started eating it all. *Then* he was interested.

It's been great. Barring the ear infection that Will cultivated last week, and the ensuing baboon butt resulting from necessary antibiotics, we've all been having a really great time. Oh, and the weather's been fantastic too.

Next week, who knows? We may be on to a local harvest festival and corn maze, or just hanging out at home. Having a Will-toddler is so much fun.