William at 2 1/2

This post should more appropriately have been written on December 8th when he actually turned 2 1/2. (What was I doing back in early December to have overlooked all these posts? I said the same thing about my "having a daughter" post.) Anyway, better late than never...

At 2 1/2, Will is many things. He is sweet & loving, smart & fun, ornery & defiant, adorable & irresistable.

Here's Will in mid-December at age 2 1/2:
And a more recent one. He looks like my sister in this picture:

I remember one year ago when he turned 18 months that it seemed a switch had suddenly flipped in his brain and he just exploded with new vocabulary. Now at 2 1/2, he's made another sudden leap in communication. He nearly always speaks in complete (and even grammatically correct!) sentences. Even when a one or two word response would suffice, Will puts it into a full sentence. And an added cute touch: he always says your name at the beginning or end of the sentence when he's speaking to you. He's getting better at saying please, thank you, you're welcome and I'm sorry. (We like "Excuse Me! A little book of manners" by Karen Katz.) Now we just need to work on "no thank you" instead of a scrunched face and "No! I don't like noodles, mommy!" :)

Will is such a little lover boy for the past few months. He constantly tells us he loves us or gives us hugs. I mean constantly! I could just eat him up - it is the best! And he's also very affectionate towards Sophia. Anytime she's in distress, he tells her "It's okay, Sophia - don't cry" and often sings her a song. The other morning when Sophie woke before I was finished getting ready for work, we could hear Will go in her room and tell her "it's okay" and "don't cry" again and again. He also initiated the high-pitch squeals that they do back and forth with each other. And by the time I came down, she was all smiles. Such a good big brother.

Also in the general vicinity of his 2 1/2 year birthday, Will is able to:

1) Pedal a tricycle

2) Jump... and actually leave the ground (LOL)

3) Count to 10 in Spanish as easily as he does in English. (I thought about writing a post titled "Everything my kid knows, he learned from Dora & Diego". LOL But that's a bit of an exaggeration. He once told me a word in English - I forget the word - and then said "In Spanish, we say..._____" - just how Dora explains it. ) And yesterday he pointed out a "chinchilla" and a "maned wolf" in his Dora/Diego coloring book. Whaaaaaa??? My kid knows what a chinchilla is?! That's just funny.

We've unfortunately had a major setback with potty training. He just completely regressed and now he whines/complains every time we suggest it. :( So many people tell me that it's not worth pushing before age three because most kids just aren't ready before then. But I was just so excited about his sudden interest and I don't want to make him afraid of it now. We'll see...

At 2 1/2, here are a few of Will's favorite things:

1) Magazines! For some reason, he is obsessed with magazines and catalogs lately - specifically toy catalogs and anything to do with animals. Real quick, to explain this next pic: whenever Will gets up on week days while we're getting ready for work, he almost always comes upstairs and hangs out in Sophie's bouncer seat (which she never uses anymore). So here he is in his own version of a Lazy Boy, with his catalog. And on this particular morning, Craig jokingly buckled him in. :)

I'm very excited for his first issue of "Your Big Backyard" to arrive - he's going to love it! My mom ordered him a subscription for Christmas. It's a toddler-targeted magazine all about nature and animals. Perfect! On that note...

2) Animals! Any and all kinds... and anything to do with them. Feeding Aunt Kelly's horse:

3) Trains - namely James (from Thomas the Train)... and he tells us that his name is "James Will". James is the red train. Thomas is daddy's favorite because he's blue and Rosie is my favorite because she's purple.

4) Bedtime kisses from mom and dad - specifically with one parent kissing each cheek simultaneously. Will thinks that's hilarious and we love tucking him in for bed.

5) Hide-and-seek and I Spy - it's so fun that he's finally starting to get the concept of these games. I loved playing hide and seek with my parents as a kid! With I Spy, Will is good at being the guesser, but when he spies something, he'll either tell you what it is before you can guess or he'll say "yes!" to whatever your first guess is regardless if that was truly his object.

6) Being mommy's little helper. He likes to follow me around with a dust cloth and dust everything right after I do it. Sometimes he'll help me set the table for meals - mostly silverware and napkins, but I've let him carry plates and glasses (empty) one by one on occasion. Will's favorite thing to help with though is laundry, and pushing the buttons is the best part!

7) Coloring books, puzzles (particularly jigsaw puzzles now), and of course reading books. I love that he appreciates a variety. He only occasionally gets hooked on the same book for days anymore. Mostly he selects a good variety and has many of his books nearly memorized. Sometimes I'll catch him "reading" (reciting) to himself and I love that!

8) Shoe horns - why are these so fascinating? Yes, Craig uses them often and has taught Will how to use them as well. The other day, Will found both of daddy's shoehorns (a plastic one and a metal one) and proudly carried them around - one in each pocket. :)

9) Foods: bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, ALL fruit (except mango), waffles/pancakes, yogurt, cereal, cheese
10) Colors - whenever I ask, Will always says his favorite colors are red and orange. :)

A few extra pics:

Things I'm looking forward to in the next 6 months (well... only 4 months really until his birthday):

1) Getting outside again in the warmer weather - playing and using the bike trailer with BOTH kids in tow!

2) Some fun ideas and activities for the late winter and spring time. Especially looking forward to another Easter egg hunt with Will.

3) Potty training (hopefully) and being able to dress himself (at least partly). I'm not actually looking forward to potty training... but I am looking forward to the extra money we'll save!

4) More Will-isms

5) Watching the bond between Will and Sophie continue to grow.

It's been another great half of a year with Will and he always manages to brighten my day.