A Will Dickinson Original

Will is now officially a walker! He's been practicing and practicing and over the last couple of days, he's been walking all over the house! He tries to walk more often than not and when he falls down, he usually gets back up to walk rather than crawl. He can even walk carrying (small) objects and squat to pick things up without falling down. He's made some quick progress!

This week Will has had a lot of playtime with friends. He really enjoys the Kids Club at the gym and he even had a playdate on Wednesday. At the gym he seems to like playing with the older ladies. The last couple of times I've picked him up he's been playing with a couple of 3-4 year old girls. On Monday the girls were pretending like he was their baby and he was trying to hand them a small plastic hamburger from a play kitchen set. He must have learned his wooing tricks from his Daddy! On Wednesday he was with a couple of other 3-4 year old girls in a large playhouse they have in the Kids Club. I guess he likes older women!

Also on Wednesday we went to a playgroup through the Mom's Club of San Antonio. It was an outdoor "arts" play where they had paint, sidewalk chalk, sand, bubbles and shaving cream for the kids to get messy with. Will liked splashing in the bubble solution and playing in the shaving cream. He didn't know what to do with the sand and wasn't too interested in anything else. Needless to say, he was pretty messy. Later that afternoon, I was working on coloring with Will. The last picture below is his first masterpiece. He was interested in coloring for a while then he kept trying to eat the crayon. I kept him from eating them for a while, then I suddenly noticed that his the tip of a crayon was missing and his mouth and teeth were blue. Good thing they're non-toxic! Will usually gets a balanced diet but I'm ashamed to admit that on Wednesday he'd eaten the tip of a crayon, bubble solution and some shaving cream.

Will is still fascinated with finding things on the floor to hand to me. It's usually things that he has dropped earlier in the day. He gets very excited when he finds little things on the floor. And if he can't find anything, he'll pick up nearby object to hand to me. Today he kept picking up the remote control, his baby monitor and a coaster and would hand each one to me. I would eventually put them back on the table and we'd start all over. Such a good sharer!

Each week Will becomes more communicative. Now, when he is playing and he wants something to drink, he'll go over to his high chair and raise his arms. A couple of times he has gone to his crib and raised his arms when he is tired and wants a nap. Once this week he walked over to his changing table and pulled a diaper out of the bag. I thought he was just playing because I had just changed him. But sure enough...he was stinky and needed a new diaper. He doesn't care for diaper changes though- now that he's a man on the move he usually can't be bothered to get up on the changing table.

Will also enjoys going places. He usually (but not always) gets excited when we get in the car. Sometimes he gets upset when we go outside and don't get in the car. He loves being in public and looking around at everything. And he usually gets a lot of attention in public. He even was given $2 by a man in the Commissary last weekend! Finally he's starting to earn his keep! Sometimes he "talks" to people from afar while we're in stores but he still doesn't like it when strangers approach him or get too close. His favorite thing to do in the grocery store is reach for the plastic bags while I'm checking out. Seems like no matter what I do he always gets to them.

No big plans for this weekend (except maybe a haircut for Will) but next Wednesday the playgroup is at our house. In honor of Will's new snack of choice we're having a crayon-themed playgroup with large sheets of paper to color on and rainbow-colored snacks (like a colorful fruit tray...not Skittles). It will be a lot of kids playing with Will's toys but I think he's up for the challenge. Stay tuned for how it goes!