Will the Brute

As you can see from the pictures- Will got his first haircut! I had put it off for a long time because he is so squirmy that it made me nervous to think about scissors that close to his face. But finally, it was time. It was definitely a two-person job. David distracted him while I trimmed his bangs and the sides near his ears. I took a little off the top but not much. He now has a military regulation haircut!

We've had a pretty good week here. Last Sunday we checked out a church about 15 min away. They had a pretty nice nursery area and Will did well his first time in a nursery. But, the style of service just wasn't for us. We'll keep trying others until we find one we like.

On Monday Will and I went to our first Military MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting. Will again did well in the nursery area. I met a lot of new people- a lot of Navy and Marine wives were there even though it was on the Air Force Base. There were a couple of breaks when I checked on Will and he seemed to be doing fine. When I went to the nursery to pick him up at the end of the meeting, he was laying on his back kicking his legs, like he loves to do. He's got some strong legs for a baby. The problem was there was another little baby sitting near Will and Will had turned and was kicking this poor little boy in the back. The nursery worker saw it about the same time I did. Thankfully that boy's mom wasn't in there yet. I don't think Will was doing it intentionally- I think he just likes to kick and the other boy was in the way. But I still felt bad to see Will hurting another little boy! I've been calling him Will the Brute.

Will has had some new food this week. He's now had zucchini and avocado, which he didn't like too much, and I made him a few new meat purees. I made chicken with celery cooked in chicken stock (low sodium), which I freeze and then mix with other vegetables before giving it to him. I made a puree with ground turkey, carrots and brown rice. He hasn't warmed up to that one yet but I keep trying. His favorite is a puree I made with two boinless pork loins cooked in unsweetened apple juice and that I pureed with cooked apples and prunes. I think he likes it because it's sweeter than the other meat purees. Yesterday I made butternut squash and pears roasted in a little bit of olive oil and seasoned with rosemary. He had it for the first time at lunch today and loved it. We're taking a short break from introducing him to new foods and we're going to have him eat what we already have frozen for a while. Each puree I make I freeze into about a dozen or more plastic cubes with lids, then I transfer the frozen puree cubes to a freezer bag. So it will take us a while to make it through the stockpile we have. I also want to give him time to adjust to what we have. I do have some frozen pureed (cooked) blueberries (which he hasn't had yet) that I will mix into his oatmeal at breakfast a few times this week. I've also made more of his favorites- pears with cinnamon and sweet potatoes.

I give him plenty of food during the day but he's still eating twice a night. Some things I've read say that some babies wake up out of habit or just to hang out, but he usally seems legitimately hungry and he finishes his bottle each time. I think he's just a hungry boy.

He's still working hard on trying to crawl but he hasn't yet. He now raises his arms when he wants you to pick him up. He seems to be trying to communicate at times. I think he understands the word "no." I've started doing a few signs with him. Babies can usually understand language before they have the physical capacity to talk and simple signs are easier to learn for them at this age than speaking new words. So far I've been trying to teach him the signs for "eat," "hungry," "more," "all done" and "hot." It may take quite a while for them to catch on- he's at the very young end of when babies can start learning signs. I'll start to work in "bath" and "sleep" too. Once he figures these out, we'll add some more. He's been babbling a lot more but no words. His new sound is a soft "g" sound. He repeats it over and over. I keep trying to get him to say "da-da" but he hasn't done any two-syllable sounds yet.

He has been having fun playing with all of his Christmas presents. David has been trying to teach him to put his little basketballs through the little hoop we got him. Still working on that one. He loves playing with books. He's been trying to eat them less frequently than he used to. Now if you hand him a book, he knows to try to turn the pages and he seems to look at the pictures. He'll still have a taste every now and then though.

We've both been missing our walks since the weather has been too cold. It did warm up this week but as soon as it got warmer it started raining nearly constantly. Yesterday we did have a small window when it was warm enough and wasn't raining much. Our jogging stroller has a rain shield on it that you can pull down over the canopy, so he was completely covered. We're hoping the weather gets nicer soon.

David has Monday off for the holiday so we have a three day weekend with Daddy. Our babysitter, Renee, is coming tomorrow night to watch Will while we go to a party that David's boss, Lt. Colonel Stanley, is having. Then on Sunday we have the big Cowboys game. Monday David and I are going out to brunch and then an early movie while Renee is here with Will during her regular time (I'm skipping work on Mon!). An action-packed weekend!

Next post I'll have pictures of our trip to Indiana and Will's baptism. Cross your fingers he behaves- his baptism will be during his usual naptime!