Will the Swimmer

It is officially summer time in Texas! It has been very hot this week (over 90 degrees and humid) and it will only get hotter. We've made a couple of trips to the pool to beat the heat. Will seems to really enjoy swimming. He crawls all around the baby pool and plays in the little fountains they have. Unfortunately, he is not too afraid of the water and will crawl right into the "deep" end of the baby pool if we let him. He also likes to dip his face in and drink the water. We took him to the big pool as well. I'm sure we have a lot more trips to the pool in the near future with our little fishy!

Will is now pretty good at standing on his own. He practices often. In true Will fashion, though, he's usually practicing at dangerous times, like while in the tub or on top of furniture. He is also practicing feeding himself a lot more. He likes trying to use his spoon, though he's very messy. He sometimes gets frustrated when we sit down to feed him- he'd rather do it himself. We usually let him practice after he eats enough. He now will drink 100% whole milk so we're not having to mix it with formula anymore. We still heat it up in a bottle though. Our next goal is to get him to drink cold milk on his own out of a sippy cup. He doesn't seem to like anything other than juice or water in his sippy cup.

Other skills that are emerging include trying to use objects for their intended purpose. Before, any object we would hand to him would go directly to his mouth. He still does that, but now he'll actually try to use things as they should be used. For example, he tries to "talk" on his toy phones, tries to put socks on his feet, tries to put hats on his head and he's figured out how to play with cars. He absolutely loves pushing cars, or anything with wheels, around the floor.

Will still enjoys acting like a puppy. This morning we went for a walk with Zoe. It was pretty hot but Will had a shade, a clip-on fan on him and a sippy cup of cold water. He seemed comfortable but Zoe got a little too hot. She spent about five to ten minutes after we got back panting with her tongue out. Will thought that was hilarious and started crawling around panting with his tongue hanging out. He thought he was a little doggie. So funny!

Most days, it's just too hot for us to do our walks outside. We recently joined a gym so that I can still workout. Will gets to go to the Kid's Club at the gym and play with other kids. We think it's a great way to get him "play dates" while I get some "me" time and some exercise. So far, we're really enjoying it. Will is hit or miss whether he enjoys the Kid's Club. He still has some separation anxiety but we're working on that. One of our other issues is Will not sharing well with other kids. At home he is very good at sharing with us- he often gives us toys, tries to put his pacifier in our mouths, and even tries to feed us his snacks. Once he gets around other kids, though, he is not a sharer. A couple of times I've picked him up from the gym Kid's Club and the ladies have told me that he keeps taking other kids' toys, bottles and pacifiers away from them. We'll have to work on that!

On the homefront, David and I have recently started making an effort to go "screen-free" while Will is awake. That means no TV and no computers on unless he is napping or in bed for the night. We didn't watch too much TV around Will to begin with but we both had our laptops on pretty often. We're making more of an effort to keep them off when Will is around. I figure it can only be a good thing for all of us. So far, so good!

That's about all that is happening at the Dickinson house. We are enjoying a four-day weekend with David. Happy Memorial Day!

The pictures below of Will eating in his blue jammies are of him trying some tortellini with tomato sauce. The pictures of him in the red striped outfit are of him trying to feed himself yogurt. The very last picture is a sad face when I took the yogurt cup away.