Good News

We've had lots of good news this week. First, as many of you know, Will is going to have a baby brother! The little guy was curled up and comfy and refused to budge so we did not get very good pictures. After some prodding, though, he spread 'em and we could all see very clearly that it's a boy. He had his hands up and covering his face most of the time and he would not unfurl so that they could get good pictures of his spine. I'll probably have to go back so we they can get additional pictures. He had the hiccups so we could see him jump a little. We're excited to have another boy and we think Will will appreciate a little brother too (eventually).

Another piece of good news this week is that Will's skin is about 95% healed! His pediatrician prescribed betamethasone, which is a steroid cream that is a little stronger than hydrocortisone. We started it earlier this week and it worked wonders in just a couple of days! Will's skin is nearly completely clear and he scratches a lot less. Hallelujah!! I'm trying to be fairly conservative with it and it still seems to be very effective. We supplement it with his usual moistruizing routine and he is almost back to normal. I got out the camera this evening to show everyone how good his skin looked. I didn't notice that he had ketchup on his face until I uploaded the pictures! Ignore the ketchup and marvel at how great his skin looks compared to just a week ago! We couldn't be happier that we seem to have found something that works. Hopefully we can keep him clear and comfortable.

I also think it helps that we've been out in the sun a lot this week. The weather has been very nice- sunny and 70s most days. So we've been to the park almost every day. Friday Will and I even went to the base and walked around to look at all of the airplanes on display. He can say "airplane" and was interested in them for a while, then he became distracted by other things. We walked around for about an hour and I finally had to carry him back to the car. Around the neighborhood, Will loves to point out things that he knows the name of. As we walk to the park, he'll point and say "house," "tree," "dog," "car," etc. The park is only about a two minute walk from our house but it usually takes us about 10 minutes to get there. Will can be fast when he gets going but more often he stops to inspect every bug, leaf and rock on the way. He used to just observe ants and other bugs we'd see but lately he's started to stomp on them when he's done checking them out. That's probably a normal kid thing but I can't help but be a little worried about my little serial ant killer. I doubt he understands that he stepping on a living thing.

Today at the park, Will was much more interested in the people playing basketball on the court next to the park than he was in playing on the playground. He even went over to the fence and tried to pick up a basketball through the fence. He just wanted to play ball. We will probably get him a real basketball soon so he can go to the basketball court and play around. Not quite ready for a pickup game yet though.

Earlier this week, the Disney Channel was showing a bunch of the Pixar movies so Will got to see Toy Story and Finding Nemo for the first time. He's much too active to sit and watch a movie but he'd watch in 5-10 minute increments between playtime. He has several Toy Story toys even though he hadn't seen the movie. He started watching and his eyes lit up and he yelled, "Buzz!" when he saw Buzz Lightyear. I've heard him try to say "Woody" but that's a hard one for him. He definitely knows "Buzz" though. He tried to say "Nemo" which came out "mo." More often he'd point and say "fish." Other new words include "horse," "towel," "stroller" and "medicine," which he says when we give him his Zyrtec before bedtime.

During our adventure on the base yesterday we walked past a construction area and we saw a dump truck picking up, moving and dumping dirt. Will was fascinated. I kept saying "cool" and Will would repeat "cool." We passed the same truck a little while later and, without me saying anything, Will started saying "cool." It was pretty funny.

Finally, Will has always loved anything with wheels. He often tries to roll our luggage around but our suitcases are just too big for him to handle- even when they are empty. Yesterday I got him a little Elmo backpack that has wheels and a handle so he can roll it like luggage. He has some cars in there and he has been rolling it all over the house. We're going to let him take his own Elmo luggage when we travel to DC. We'll probably fill it with toys and a Hershey Kiss or two to get us through the flight!

21 months

As of the 5th of this month, Will is 21 months old! Closing in on that big 2nd birthday! We've been very busy the past few weeks but things are starting to slow down now.

We've been mostly healthy and feeling well. Will is still having severe eczema problems, especially on his face and hands. We've had two appointments with the pediatrician during the past month and we seem to be slowly making progress. The pediatrician we've been seeing for his skin is a lot more aggressive at treating eczema than any of the doctors we've seen before. I had always been told not to use 1% hydrocortizone on Will's face. Last month this doctor gave us the go ahead to do that because he thought the benefits would outweigh the risk of side effects. As the doctor put it, "he's too handsome to suffer." No arguments here! We started using it twice a week, as instructed. Unfortunately, it just wasn't clearing him up. His face improved but it never completely healed. I then started three times per week. Again, it improved but never completely healed. So we went back to the doctor yesterday and we're going to go to the next level of treatment. Crossing our fingers it helps him more. The poor guy often scratches himself until he bleeds so we're really anxious to get him more help. We are also going to see a dermatologist soon. Most of the time Will is very happy but sometimes he is just so itchy he is miserable. Poor little guy.

We do our part to keep his creams on his skin. He often tries to help. In some of the pictures below, you can see that he decided to use his pudding as lotion and began to rub it all over himself. That was a dinner-straight-to-bath night.

Will has been very playful and happy over the last few weeks. He still loves his cars- still sleeping with at least one car. We get outside when we can but the weather doesn't always cooperate. In fact, San Antonio got snow last Friday! It was very icy in the morning and everything got cancelled, including David's work. We only got a dusting of snow and the ice had melted by noon. It was the un-snowiest snow day I've ever seen but we were happy that David got a surprise day off. My parents we in town too so Will got to spend a lot of time with Grandma and Grandpa Crockett. We went to the Riverwalk downtown and Will actually got to walk around, which he's never done before. We ate at Joe's Crab Shack and Will was very entertained by dancing waiters and the disco lights. Will and I got to watch the Super Bowl with the grandparents but David had to leave for Alabama Sunday morning. My parents left on Monday morning so poor Will went from a houseful of playmates back to just Mommy for a week.

Will is still picking up several new words a day. Some of his new words include jammies, flowers, toys, swing and several others. Will has also started using verbs now, which is very exciting! He often says "play" (as in "play toys) and "brush" (as in "brush teeth"). He has used the word "brush" before but it was always in reference to a hair brush. A couple days ago he used it as a verb when he said "brush teeth." Today at the park he was saying "swing" which I at first though was a verb but I think he was using it as a noun- asking to get on the swing. He never used to enjoy the swings very much. He's always been more of a slide man. But lately he's shown more interest in the swings. But- he refuses to use the toddler swings with the safety seat. He wants to use the regular swings. He thinks he's such a big boy! I put him on the regular swing but I have to stand to the side and hold onto him while I swing him a few feet back and forth. He seems to really enjoy it and he holds on really well. The problem is that when he decides he's done he yells "down" and hurls himself off the swing. I have to stay on my toes to catch him.

One of Will's favorite things to do is watch Sesame Street. We usually watch before lunch. Will has always loved Elmo. There is a segment on Sesame Street called "Elmo's World" which Will enjoys. Each show has a theme, usually showing how to do something. For example, last week Elmo was talking about how to walk your dog. In the middle of it, Will went to his toy box and found his pull-toy puppy and started walking his dog around the living room. Then a few days ago, Elmo was teaching how to get dressed in the morning. Will found one of his sweatshirts and tried to pull it over his head. It's very exciting to see him trying to apply what he's learning. We've also been working on counting to three. He can say each of the numbers but he hasn't put them together yet. Most often he'll point at the objects we're counting and say "two, two, two." He's still a man of few words but there is no question that he understands most of what we say. Despite not talking much he is pretty good at communicating. Lately he has started taking our hands to direct us when he wants us to go. Usually it's to his room to play cars or pulling us down on the floor so he can climb on us. In the kitchen, he usually wants water, milk or berries (he's still on his strawberry and blueberry kick). He's much better at saying "more" when he wants more of something and he's definitely not shy about telling us when he wants "down."

This past week we found out that we will be moving to DC in August instead of July, which was certainly welcome news. It gives us more breathing room after we have the baby before we have to move. Moving in August, we will be able to do all of our pediatrician appointments and my 6-week post partum appointment in Texas before we move, instead of having to worry about making the appointments the second we got to DC. Speaking of the new baby- we find out on Tuesday if it's a boy or a girl. We're very excited to know! I'm about 20 1/2 weeks now so we're over half-way there. I'm still feeling pretty well. Other than some fatigue, heartburn and some occasionally intense round ligament pain, it's been pretty uneventful so far. I am, however, occasionally reminded of how uncomfortable things are about to become as we get closer!