Will’s Words: On Horticulture & Disney Tunes

Preface:
I have been thinking about starting a segment chonicleing my adventures with my (now age 3 1/2) son Will. Well, here it begins…

The first thing out of Will’s mouth today when he awoke was “I think perhaps the plant in my room needs some water”.

He is right! I reminded him a couple of days ago that his plant, that he lovingly named “Paxgigt” needed to be watered. The dreamworld must have sent him a reminder. Only, its now the evening and Paxgigt, theĀ air-plant, has still not received its bath!

Later in the day, as we were loading in the car after a trip to the grocery store, I sang “Never Smile At A Crocodile”. He asked me if I could pretend to be a crocodile. When I answered “yes”, he began his silly little grin with a menacing twist. – 3 year olds. – Then, after we were all loaded in the car he asked me if he could wear his gloves (he loves to wear those things both for play and for comfort). I told him that I last saw him with them in his room. He began singing his answer back to me about how he had done this and that and where the gloves were located all to the tune of “Never Smile At A Crocodile”.

Cool.

Rocky, then Rolly

My day started out quite rocky. Will and I were both in a mood. But after the storm had passed we happily made our way out the door. When I dropped him off with his preschool clan he ran inside to join circle time already in progress (we were 45 minutes late). I went to Peet’s to work and was uplifted by a quartet of grandmas talking about their grandchildren in loving, joyful tones. You could tell they not only loved their grandchildren, but, each other. Being old is going to be ok after all. I just need to keep my girlfriends close and cherish them like these wise women cherished each other.

Mormor’s Hjartegull (Audio Clip of Will Speaking Swedish)

I caught in his car seat on a drive. My mom says this to Will as a term of endearment when she speaks with him. “Mormor” is Swedish for “mother’s mother” (or “grandma”) and, I think “hjartegull” means something along the line of a pet name like “love” or “dear heart”.

I used the Voice Memos app to capture this audio on my iPhone. I pulled over after I stopped recording and emailed it to my mom. She loved that.


I just realized I need to work on my inner tech to figure out how to post audio here ;}

Will’s pet adoption

Will is wont to adopt stray dogs nowadays. Today he temporarily adopted “Toby” who I am sure was named after a little pup Toby he has at home (we gave his original pup the name Toby which we made short for Toblerone. He came with a chocolate care package Will’s Lola and Lolo* gave us).

Will hugged Toby the 2nd and told him he loved him in a tender voice. It was so sweet that I wanted to buy it for him. But, I heard Billy’s voice of reason and minamalism in my head, then, asked Will to say goodbye to Toby. Will pressed Toby back into the fold of the other plushies and said a very sweet “goodbye Toby”.

I love this kid.

Will and Toby II

*Lola and Lolo are Tagalog for Grandmother and Grandfather

Adjusting to a New Daycare

We have completed day two of daycare at Teacher’s family style daycare. These two days we considered a trial period to see how things went. I can tell that he is adjusting to the new setting. He is observing the other children, trying out new toys, actions, and concepts. Overall, Will seems to be thriving.

When I came to pick him up from day 2 I played with the kids, talked with Teacher about how Will’s day went and what to do moving forward.

Child care shopping — food & diapers

The time has come to look for child care. Will needs the stimulation and I need to work. So, today Will and I toured a local child care center that is run by the city.

A few things that I was surprised by is that they were not open to cloth diapering but more importantly, they get their food from Sysco I am not sure on the specifics of the offerings this company has but I was told that there are no organic foods and that they use processed foods. Why are we serving sub-par foods to our children? Where ever I end up placing Will in day care I am will work to transition them over to serving healthy foods so that the children will be healthy and happy. When I was growing up, I ate pretty well but too much of the American Diet. When I found out that whole foods make me feel energized and happier I was thankful. I can’t believe how much of my life I was eating crap and feeling crappy. It doesn’t have to be like this. There are options. Just look for them. Make it happen. It is not as hard or expensive as you might thing. If you need ideas feel free to ask me but there are a ton of resources out there and an increasing awareness about this issue.

Don’t settle for sub-par food for yourself or for anyone. If you are addicted to them or just used to them, challenge yourself to make the switch to whole grains and fresh foods. I think you will find you will become addicted to feeling great. Your whole life will improve.

Rock on Will!

Will loves music. I suppose all babies do. We don’t play him music specifically for babies. He listens to our music.

I am putting together a collection of tunes that gets Will rocking. “The Will Mix”. Stay tuned. I will share it with you here.

Spoiler: his favorite artist is The Juan MacLean

Will loves to dance! Sometimes his head moves back and forth so fast he becomes a blur. I have tried to mimic him. It hurts my aging and scared neck and makes me dizzy. He also raises his fists and pumps them to the beat or just sways back and forth with his fists framing his face.

As I type, he is playing his toy xylophone / piano thing-a-ma-bob that we have on loan via the mommy toy share I am doing with my mom friends.

Rock on Will!

Will & Billy Duet on the Keyboard

Billy set up his keyboard today so that Will could play with it. Will loves all the levers, dials, knobs and, buttons.

When we went to Portland earlier this month Will was in love with my mom’s piano. Oh my did he play and play and play. Billy would sit him on the bench and watch and sometimes play with Will. Will played with a art that probably only a mother could love. To my ears he was composing. And, this made my mom decide to keep the piano when she was about to sell it.

Well, this was what inspired Billy bring out the keyboard now, when Will is only 13 months old. Rock on Will.

100_7552