Alphabet Soup

Will had yet another fun week! This past week Will's Grandma and Grandpa Dickinson were in town so Will was again spoiled with a bunch of attention. On Saturday we went to the San Antonio Zoo. Will loves animals and seemed to enjoy seeing them in real life. I think he was especially fond of the bears, the elephants and the aquarium area. He insisted on walking almost the entire time- he was only in his stroller for about 10-15 minutes of the zoo trip! He's a good little walker. We made him wear his puppy backpack/harness (yes...we put a leash on our kid). He loves being independent and walking around but it was very crowded and he can be very fast when he decides to make a getaway.

While we were at the zoo, we visited their tiny tot play area. They had giant building blocks with letters on the sides. We were stunned when Will started pointing to the letters and correctly identifying some of them. He had been showing more and more interest in letters and numbers but we hadn't really been working much with him on them. But since the zoo we bought him a letter and number puzzle that we play with. He also has a Hawaii alphabet quilt that he got from David's Aunt Judie in Hawaii. He's taken a new interest in the letters on the quilt and we've made it a game for him to identify each letter. On a good day, he can correctly identify 10-12 letters. There are about 7-8 that he does consistently. We haven't started learning the sounds of each letter but he does made the short "a" sound when he sees the letter "A" because his Aunt Erica taught him a sound and a sign for the letter "A."

As far as numbers go, I have heard Will count from 4 to 9. He can do 6 to 9 pretty consistently. In fact, this morning, I woke up to Will on the monitor saying "one, three, six, seven, eight, nine." It's very cute. He's not as good at identifying pictures of numbers- probably because he's been pretty focused on his letters. Over the last few weeks, he seems much more interested in learning and he's been soaking new things up like a sponge!

One of my favorite things he does is say "please" and "thank you." It's so cute! He is not consistent at it by any means. But when he asks for help he will occasionally say "help please." I'm trying to get him to say please when he asks for more milk but we're still working on that one. And occasionally when you hand him something he will say "thank you." Usually I have to remind him though. But it's adorable!

Will has been asking to color a lot but he shows little interest in actually coloring. Instead, he likes to break his crayons in half and peel the paper off. Once the paper is off he may color with the crayon for a few seconds but usually he moves on to peeling the next crayon. He's destroying his crayons but I figure he's building some good fine motor skills peeling off that paper so I let him do it.

And, of course, Will is still a bubble-holic. He would stay outside all day blowing bubbles if he could. We got lazy and bought a gun that shoots bubbles so we could have a break from traditional bubble blowing- with the solution dripping everywhere and getting only a few bubbles at a time. We also bought him a Fisher Price bubble mower that he can push around the lawn. It's supposed to blow bubbles out as he pushes but it seems to be malfunctioning- we haven't seen any bubbles yet. He still likes "mowing" though- even without the bubbles. Last night he pushed his mower around the neighborhood sidewalks for about 20 minutes then made us carry it all the way back home.

We've had some trouble getting Will to eat much lately. He seems to be in a phase where he doesn't want to eat. I feel like I'm constantly trying to throw food at him. I'm trying to be confident in what "they" say- that kids will eat when they're hungry. But it's hard. Last night, for instance, Will had half an ear of corn on the cob (with butter because I'm trying to get him calories) and his milk and claimed he was done with dinner. He didn't touch anything else. But then this morning he was hungry and he wolfed down a large (for him) portion of his waffles and had two sippy cups of milk. So maybe it all evens out.

Will's health has been pretty good. He still has a cough left over from his pneumonia and he sometimes awakens with coughing fits. We've been giving him his inhaler a lot and it seems to help temporarily. His skin has been great! In fact, he's wearing shorts in the warm weather for the first time in about a year! He doesn't scratch nearly as much and his skin is pretty clear most of the time. We're so thankful that we've seem to have found a way to control his eczema!

As far as baby #2 goes, I'm about 26 1/2 weeks along and closing in on the third trimester. Still feeling pretty good other than normal aches and pains and my ever-present heartburn. Next week I have to do the routine (and unpleasant) screening for gestational diabetes. We're planning on squeezing some fun outings into the month of April while I'm still feeling good and mobile. We're planning a three-day trip to the Corpus Christi area to go to the beach. They also have a large aquarium there that we think Will will love. We're also planning a visit to Sea World one Saturday in April. They have a new Sesame Street attraction where kids can play with the characters, see Sesame Street live shows and do other Sesame Street-themed activities. We think Will will love it!