more summer fun

Mom has been trying to bring the camera along each day to play with the different settings and capture the various activities. We headed up to San Elijo Hills today for Stroller Strides. Nita took us on quite a run (about 3 miles), so afterwards, we met up with some friends and cooled off in the sprayground. Will, of course, loves the sprayground, and Mom loved the picture opportunities.

We got home just in time...there was a traffic jam on the coffee table that needed some fixing.

wednesday

busy day

Will had a busy day again today. We just love summer. We spent the morning at the beach, but Mom didn't bring her camera since we don't have a camera case yet, and, well, there's sand at the beach. The water was really warm, probably the warmest ocean water we've ever felt. A strange concept to New Englanders. Warm ocean water. Weird. After nap time, we were reminded that children and moms were gathering at the Johansen's for a playgroup, so we headed over there for some wading pool and sandbox time. Will was so tired that he asked to go to bed at 6:38 tonight. Not that anyone was looking at the clock. Certainly not Mom. So, it was bath, books, and bed. He took Daddy's picture with him. All this seriousness in these pictures will disappear when Daddy returns, I think. It's a serious job to be man of the house.

loud and clear

Will is picking up words at a rapid rate these days. Recently he has started saying, "no no no no way", "cook", "pump", "off", "key", "tree", "toot", "poop", "cool" and "chair". Funny thing about these words. Sometimes he uses them to really convey what he wants. When Mom was on the phone with Gram today, he pointed to the phone and said, "Mommy. OFF! Bye!" Apparently, that conversation had reached it's max. He likes to ask for the fan to be turned off, and his bib to be taken off. He points at dog poop at the park now and announces, "woof. poop. uh oh. dirty." He likes to announce when he has tooted by shouting, "TOOT!" after such an event. In public. Sometimes in the pool. Sometimes he says, "Will! TOOT!"

Yes, congratulations. It's a boy.

new camera

With Daddy's go-ahead, we began the research for a new camera. Well, Mom began the research. Will "assisted". (cough cough) He's not much of an assistant with that kind of stuff. Cousin Nate provided feedback on cameras, and away we went. We have a new camera. Mom has a new love. Mom has never really had a "toy" to fiddle with, but this thing is amazing. Plenty of photos were taken. Of a very uncooperative, whiny, cranky boy. We tried all the settings, so many of the pictures were total duds/experiments. Here are a few that a) had no tears in them and b) came out OK. Thank-you, Daddy, for agreeing to get a new camera!

Here Little Fishy

We've mentioned that Will is a total water rat in the summer. Perhaps you were thinking, "sure, he likes to splash, maybe dip his toes in...he's only almost two, after all". Wrong-o. Will is a F-I-S-H. Big time. He's always been good at blowing bubbles and holding his breath and has perfected his kicking ability this summer. He's practiced using his arms to paddle and taken 6 swimming lessons. He has never been afraid of the water. At. all. Today, though, he broke a huge milestone and actually swam on his own. Mom was almost as excited as the first time he clapped, the first time he crawled, the first time he walked, well, ok, there have been lots of firsts in these almost two years. But this? This is pretty amazing stuff. Move over Michael Phelps. Here comes Will.

Many thanks to our nice neighbor who answered her door and agreed to come to the pool and perform videographer duty.

Happy Day-day

Will has been practicing singing to himself lately. He will walk around the house or get into his birthday decorations and sing, "Happy day-day, happy day-day Willll....." Over and over again. Only one more month left, bud! We spent the day at the beach with friends today, but we didn't take many pictures and when we got home, Will took a killer nap (yay!). This evening, after dinner, Mom managed to get some pictures of our newly turned 23 month old. Someone has been watering him, though, since his head now grazes the top of the kitchen counter overhang. Must be all that swimming.

Slugger

Remember when Will was six months old? He was already playing catch with Daddy...and he couldn't even crawl yet! It looks like we will be spending a lot of time on the athletic fields in the coming years as Will has quite the set of skills. Despite never using a baseball bat before, Will showed quite a talent on the 4th of July at the Johansen's BBQ. Mom relayed the info to Dad, and, yesterday, during a morning Target trip, Dad took Will out of the carriage (gasp!) and away they walked. Soon, a little tap, tap, tap was heard coming back up the aisle, and Will was carrying his new baseball bat and "tee!" He drew quite a crowd in the driveway last night as neighbors cheered him on, and woke up this morning asking to play with his "tee!" and "ball".

We might be biased, but we're pretty sure he's got an all-star future here.

Choo-Choo

Will spent almost an hour saying, "choo-choo" today. He enthusiastically shouted it in the morning when we told him we were going to ride a train, and he muttered it under his breath the entire train ride. Thanks to Will's friend, Ben, we heard about the Poway-Midland Railroad. We planned to go this weekend because the steam engine was scheduled to run, but they were doing construction on the track, so the trolley ran instead. Luckily, Will didn't seem to care, as long as he got to ride the choo-choo and explore the area. It's a really cool old style downtown area with a great park, playground, and, of course, the trains! Daddy bought the tickets and Will marched right up to get his ride. Tickets are only $2.50 for adults and $.50 for kids so we will definitely be visiting the train again when it gets a little cooler and the steam train is back up.

we bought bananas

Will and Mom stopped at the store on the way home today to pick up a few things. The grocery store with Will is always a daring adventure...but today we had good luck.


The bananas came with instructions.

We've been working on following directions, so we tried it out.

Blue Skies

Daddy had the day off today after his two week training exercise, so we headed to the beach. The weather has been summer-ific lately, so it was a perfect beach day. We all enjoyed our time, and Daddy was sure amazed at Will's courage facing the waves.

new shoes

The rest of the world may call them "Crocs", but Will prefers to call them "Ah-dooos". Seriously, what's the difference? For the record, he also likes catching glimpses of the "ah-do hunter" on TV. That's Steve Irwin...aka the crocodile hunter. We're working on learning the difference.

Thanks Grandpa and Grammie!

Moving on....

Daddy has been very busy with pre-deployment stuff, leaving Mom and Will to find non-Dad oriented entertainment. Luckily, we have neighbors who are willing to share their cats, puppies, bubbles, beach chairs, cups of water, and wood chips. Fun times for post-dinner entertainment.

and this is why he takes a bath every. single. night. and why Mom does too.

4th

We had a great 4th of July. In the morning, Mom and Will met up with Maria, Sophia and Serafin to go shopping at the outlets. Will got some new jammies, including an alligator set. We ate lunch at a diner that had trains and airplanes on the ceiling. Will had trouble concentrating on his lunch because he kept waiting for the trains to come back around while shouting, "choo-choo!" and pointing at the ceiling track. After naptime back at home, we headed over to Heather, Lance, Christian and Casey's for an afternoon of BB-Qing and backyard fun. The kids were all dressed in red shirts with patriotic themes, so we tried our best to take a group photo. Not easy with a 1.5 year old, two 4 year olds and two almost 2 year olds. We used the empty wading pool to semi-contain them. Soon, the pool was full of water and the splashing began. Thanks to the Johansen's for a fun afternoon/evening.

Happy 4th of July, Independence Day, 233rd birthday to America.

Love,

The Plateniks