1st Day of Preschool - August 31, 2015

Yesterday was Will's first day of preschool. He is going to this awesome place called Kiddie Kollege. I looked at a few different places when I was thinking about signing him up, and this one definitely felt the most right for Will. 

He has seriously been counting down the days until he could finally go to school. Last week we had a little parent orientation and a "meet the teacher" day. Both times, he was bummed when he learned I wasn't dropping him off for school just yet.

He woke up yesterday ready to go. Unfortunately, he is in the afternoon session so he still had a few hours to wait. Every time I told him we needed to do something, he was worried that we would be late for school. It took a lot of convincing, but finally we got a few things done and it was time to get ready.

Blake and I walked him up to the school. All of the kids were outside playing on the playground. Eventually, a teacher came out and rang a little bell. All the kids were told to gather up and get in lines by their teacher. There are 3 different classes. Will's teacher is Miss Mary.

Will lined up with his class and off he went into his classroom. Blake tried to line up right behind him and follow him in. I had to grab her and keep her out. She didn't like that at all. She kept crying that she wanted to go to school. It was quite a wrestle match getting her into her car seat. She cried the whole way home, but then she eventually calmed down. I will have to think of some fun activities I can do with her and really enjoy some one-on-one time before this new little one gets here.

Will's friend picked him up from school and Will arrived home very happy. He told me all about his day and it seemed like he had a really good time. He is such a smart little boy and is so social. I really think he is going to thrive here.

 *He will be in preschool Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 12:30-3:30pm. 

Fun Questions for Will

A friend on mine posted this on Facebook and I thought it would be kind of fun to try with Will.

Without any prompting, ask your child these questions and write down EXACTLY what they say.


1. What is something mom always says to you?  Clean up your room.

2. What makes mom happy? Tickles and when I give her hugs.

3. What makes mom sad? Hitting. And when you don't clean your room.

4. How does your mom make you laugh? Tickles

5. How old is your mom? 14
 
6. How tall is your mom? 1-2-3-4-5

7. What is her favorite thing to do? Play games

8. What does your mom do when you're not around? Cry

9. What is your mom really good at? When I'm so excited to go get on the train, she gets on really nice. And she's really good at taking me on trains.

10. What is your mom not very good at? She locks us out of her room. At fixing my bike.

11. What does your mom do for a job? She takes us to Kim's.

12. What is your mom's favorite food? She loves vegetables and sandwiches.

13. What makes you proud of your mom? When she plays with me.

14. If your mom were a character, who would she be? A dinosaur.

15. What do you and your mom do together? Have some time spending with our family. Play hockey. Build train tracks.

16. How are you and your mom the same? We both like playing outside and eating food and playing games and going to the park and going to friends house.

17. How are you and your mom different? Sometimes the bad guys make us die.

18. How do you know your mom loves you? When Jesus is here then you love me. I know you love me, so I like you.

19. What does your mom like most about your dad? Because he's a funny animal then you love him. And it makes you laugh. Then you knock down daddy and he dies. But Heavenly Father makes you alive again. And you like laying by daddy.

20. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? You like going to a mommy store to get some books.

21. How old was your Mom when you were born? 1
Well there you have it. From the mouth of 4 year old Will.

Will is Four!

It seems as if four years old is the age when suddenly kids aren't so little anymore. They are completely out of the toddler phase, and fully embracing being a little kid.

Will is all boy. He thinks it's funny to burp, fart, play with his food, etc. He loves trains, cars, superheros, and sports.

At the slightest hint of warm weather, Will was begging to play in the sprinklers. I finally gave in one day, even though it wasn't super warm. He still loved it, thought the water was cold. I'm sure we'll be playing in the sprinklers all summer long.

I decided it was time to start teaching Will how to really play sports, so I went and bought him a baseball glove, a plastic bat, and a hockey stick. He really likes to play hockey in the driveway or out in the street. And for having only held a stick a time or two, he is picking it up really fast. He can stop the ball and hit it back to me.
 
 He also really loves to play soccer. He dribbles the ball down the field as fast as he can. The only problem is when he wants to stop the ball. He just slides on his knees and crouches over the ball to grab it. Still working on that one. I'm planning on signing him for for a leagues this fall. Yay!

When Blake got her glasses, he really wanted some too. So we found some cool sunglasses for him.

It rained pretty much the whole month of May. And Will became obsessed with umbrellas.

One of this favorite new movies is The Big Green. He watches it all the times and loves the part where they all play soccer in the rain and mud. He always asks if we can do that next time it rains.

He loves to go to Primary, though he mostly just wants snack time. He also gets mad if he doesn't get to participate and talk into the microphone. He always asks if he can give a talk.

Will says he enjoys church, but the entire time he is asking if it's almost over yet. He likes going to primary, especially if he is able to give a talk, say a prayer or participate in any way. Often throughout the week, I will find him setting up primary in our living room. One time he even asked me to play the piano so they could have singing time, then he got up and gave a little talk, etc.

He loves to learn, and he loves to help.

Will loves riding his bike, though he is growing out of this one. We have a slightly bigger one that we need to fix the tires on. We'll see if he can master riding a 2-wheeler this summer.

He loves playing dress-up and his current favorite is Captain America.

He loves reading and telling stories and I find it's one of the best ways to teach. Most of the time, we aren't necessarily reading word for word, but I like to ask him what is going on in the picture and talk about different things.

Often, he will ask me to sing at the piano so that he can spin. When I play the piano, Will and Blake like to spin. And the louder and faster I play, the faster they spin. His favorite song for me to play is Phantom of the Opera.

He thinks he can read the time, but he ends up saying something like, "It's eighty-fifteen-seventy-twelve o'clock." Not quite sure what that means.

Will has a major problem with leaving lights on and not closing the door. Every time he goes outside, I'll find the front or back door wide open. It seriously drives me nuts. And we work on it daily, and he says he'll never do it again. But I swear I have yet to see him close a door behind him. (Though I will acknowledge that often times Blake is right behind him and I think he leaves it open for her...and she refuses to close it.)

He will start preschool this fall at a place called Kiddie College. I looked at a couple of different options, and I felt this one was best suited for Will. I really think he is going to thrive there. He will go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 3 hours in the afternoon.

For his birthday, he really wanted a crane to attach to his wooden train set. He was super excited when he got one.

Will was also fortunate to experience trick candles on his birthday. He thought it was a hoot.

It took him quite a while, but finally they stayed out for good. I believe he was exhausted.

He is quite the little daredevil and climber. I doubt he is afraid of much.

One of our neighbors built a garage a few months ago. Now Will keeps asking me to go buy a garage. When I tell him it's too expensive or that we can't right now, he tells me that the "fixer man" will do it and that I need to call him. If only it were that easy.

Since we can't build a garage yet, Will just builds houses out of pillows. Great spot for movie watching.

Of course they have their issues, but for the most part Will is a great big brother. He loves to push Blake on the swing. He will help her get her snacks. And they play together really well.

Will is, however, very bossy and likes things to be his way. We have a double slide that comes off of our trampoline. Will only allows Blake to go up her side and he gets to go up his. We have 2 cozy coupe cars and 2 wiggle cars, and Will is very particular about which one Blake uses. He tells her what to play with and how to play with it. Luckily, she seems to go along with whatever he says.

They also play really well together until another kid is around. If we are playing with any friends, you would think Will forgot that Blake even existed. He pretty much ignores her, or torments her with his older friend.Sounds like a brother thing to me.

He is constantly talking about the things he will do when he is older. "When I turn 6, I'm going to fix my own bike." Or "When I turn 10, I'm going to ride my bike and take you to the park, Blake." "When I'm giant like Daddy, I'm going to have my own motorcycle."

Will likes to do anything but smile when I pull a camera out. I have to bribe (or threaten) him in order to get a smile out of him.

Will is very social and makes friends quickly. The other day we were on a walk and passed someone who was working in the yard. Will told me that I was supposed to say "good morning". 

I suppose it has never been easy, but bedtime is especially fun for this dude. But what about bath time? And I need a drink? I'm hungry? What about brushing my teeth? We need stories. And songs. Another story. Oh yeah, I need to go to the bathroom.

When Will dresses himself, he likes wear all one color. He will have blue shorts, a blue shirt, and blue shoes. Or he'll do the same in red. Most of the time, I'm ok with it, though occasionally I make him let me pick what he wears.

He has a great imagination. I'll often find him and Blake playing some sort of pretend game or another. Yesterday, they had our snow sleds out on the grass and they were pretending they were boats. Or they will set up 4 chairs to act like a car and they will go places. Or they also like to pretend that they are going to school. They even make sure to pack pretend food for lunch in their backpacks.

We can't drive far in the car without Will on the lookout for a train. He knows where all the tracks are and if we happen to cross over them, he always hopes for a glance at the train.

 

This boy is incredibly smart and loves to laugh. He has a big idea for everything and can think of a way to solve any problem. He is constantly on the go and wanting to play and learn new things. 

Fall Update - The Kids

Oh these two...

These two little kids are smart.

These two are best friends.

They are out of control.

And they are adorable.

There have been so many fun changes lately, and I simply can't remember all of them. They are developing some huge personalities and each have little quirks and things they do. I'll let pictures do most of the talking, otherwise I could work on this post for weeks.

Within the last couple of days, Will has started calling her Blakey. "Come on, Blakey!" "Let's play, Blakey!"At first I wasn't sure about it, but now I kind of think it's adorable.

I know I say this every time, but Blake's hair gets longer and longer. It's a full time job keeping it out of her face. She plays hard and it is constantly getting messed up. Sometimes she looks pretty homeless.

Will loves wearing different costumes. He has spider man, Darth Vader, a ninja, and we just borrowed this one from Cindy.

They have both always loved story time, but it seems to have really taken off lately. I take the kids to the library and let them pick 5-10 new books for us to read. The kids love it. Especially Blake. All day, she is constantly bringing books to me for us to read. After a week or two of reading the same books, many times a day, they basically have the stories memorized.

When we turn to certain pages, Blake will make the noises I make or do the actions that we read. I've noticed a big change in her development and speech since we have started reading more. It's cool to see her actually remember the stories and it's awesome to see her so excited about reading. Hopefully that never goes away.

 We haven't had as many play dates lately, but Will always loves when friends come over to play.

 While we were up in Logan, we got to go see the Pumpkin Walk.

The kids saw a playground and quickly lost interest in the pumpkins and just wanted to go play.

 

Blake dislikes when things (besides shoes) are on her feet. If she is wearing pants that are too long and she steps on them, she freaks out until you roll them up. She doesn't like wearing tights and socks and will pull at them and try to take them off.

These two have so much fun together and I love to watch their friendship grow. Often times when I pick them up from daycare at the gym, they are playing alone together, even though they are surrounded by other kids.

Every time Blake gets put into her car seat, she immediate takes her shoes off. And often I'll look back and find her with one leg up over the side, just kicked back and relaxed. She thinks it's funny when I ask where her shoes went.

Will is in that phase where everything is a race. And he gets mad when he doesn't win. When we go out to the car, he likes to finish buckling up before I finish strapping Blake in. When we are eating, he has to finish faster. When we are getting out of the car, he has to beat me to the house. I'm trying hard to teach him that it is ok to lose, but he sure doesn't like it.

Cereal is definitely a favorite here at our house. Blake will eat every bite and drink her milk until she is all done.

Look at this girl's closet! And that is only shirts and dresses. She has a dresser full of pants, shorts, skirts, etc. Someone was selling garbage bags of girls clothes for a good price so I got them. She is definitely spoiled. Though don't think it's just her. I bet Will has just as many clothes, if not more.

Once school started, Lagoon was only open on Saturday and Sundays. Since Lance works Saturdays, it made it difficult for us to make it there. We finally made it for one last hoo-rah! Will was sad I wouldn't go on Rattle-Snake Rapids, but it wasn't exactly warm and sunny anymore. We enjoyed our season passes, but I'm not sure if we will get them next year again. Maybe it'll be an every other year type of thing.

Will's memory simply amazes me, as well as his sense of direction. If I say that we are going to our friend Savannah's house, he can tell me all of the things we need to pass in order to get there. I'm pretty sure he could tell someone who had never been to our neighborhood how to get the to gym, and it's a 15-20 minute drive. He always knows exactly where we are. It is seriously impressive and you can't appreciate it until you have driven with him for a while.

Will is so smart, so detail oriented, and able to focus. He can build complex train tracks and know how to stack blocks or legos to form bridges and other little things. And he is very good at playing with the track without always knocking it over and destroying it. I've noticed when other kids his age come to play, they have a hard time moving the trains around the track without their bodies hitting other parts of the track. Will gets frustrated when others try to play with it.

Will has been on a Clifford the Big Red Dog kick. He especially loves the episode when Clifford is a little baby. We then discovered a whole series where Clifford is a puppy..."Puppy Days".

Almost every time we go out into a store, we see someone who has a baby with them. And every time we see a baby, Will points and yells "A baby! Mom! Look at that cute baby! Can we buy that one?" It typically gets smiles from the mother.

Will makes friends every where we go. Whether it's the park, McDonald's playground, or the doctor office, he always finds a friend. He is very social and is definitely not shy.

When you ask Will what his name is, he says "big boy". If you try to correct him and ask if his name is Will, he gets very upset and says, "No! Big boy!" And if you try calling him "big boy Will", then he says, "No! Just big boy". He gets very intense about it.

Will is getting more and more picky about what he wears. I let him pick his clothes the majority of the time because we will likely just be staying home all day. On this particular day, we decided to walk to the park. Jammies, snow boots, and snow jacket...and it was fairly warm.

The kids have also really enjoyed having so many apples all of the time. We typically have a basket with some apples in our kitchen. Blake loves to pick one to eat. More than once, I've gone to the basket to find 5-6 apples with one bite taken out of them. The only bad part is when we are outside and she just grabs one off of the ground. She'll be eating one when I notice it's gross.

Blake is getting quite the little attitude. She knows exactly what she wants and she will throw a fit if she doesn't have her way. Her new favorite word is nuh-uh, with a shake of her head. And when she tells you no, she means it. Good luck getting her to do something once she has decided not to.

She used to eat anything I put on her plate. Then suddenly, overnight, she has become a super picky eater. Often times, she wont even try it. She instantly gives me the nuh-uh and her mouth is sealed shut. I've tried forcing food, and she'll just spit it out.

When she gets upset, or you tell her something she doesn't like, she walk away to where you can't see her then throw herself on the floor and have a little tantrum.

Recently, she was having a particularly rough night and throwing a major fit. Instead of getting frustrated, I decided to pull out the video camera and laugh about it. But boy did she not think it was funny. She ran into her room and shut the door. When I came in, she threw herself on the floor. When I tried getting closer, she would arch her back and scoot across the floor. Then when I really tried to pick her up, she crawled under her crib, all the while continuing screaming. I tried grabbing her leg and pulling her out, but she would grab the underside of her bed and hang on for dear life. She barricaded herself under her bed for quite some time. *(Unfortunately the video is too long and I am unable to upload it.)

She is already such a girl and so full of drama. Sometimes when she is mad, she will go into a room and close the door and scream like she wants you to go in and get her. But if you go into the room, she will glare at you and shut the door so she can resume screaming.

The last time we were on our way home from Logan, it was late and Blake had fallen asleep in the car. When we were almost home, I noticed that Blake had waken up. But for some reason when I would look back at her, she would close her eyes and pretend to be asleep. After a few seconds, she would peek her eyes to see if I was still looking. If I was, she would instantly hide her head and pretend to be asleep again. It was hilarious.

Whenever Will gets into trouble for not listening, he always says "I want to listen!" usually followed by doing exactly what we told him not to.

I never know what I'll get when I take these two on errands. I'd say for the most part, they behave and we don't have any issues. Those bad trips, however, are bad enough that I swear I'm never taking them anywhere ever again. Then I get desperate enough to get out of the house, I just forget all about the bad experience.

We go to they gym in the mornings and the kids have fun playing at the day care. I love going in there to pick them up. The moment I call for Blake, she gets super excited and starts frantically cleaning up all of the toys before she will come to me.  I'm not sure where she learned that, but I'm not complaining. Then once I pick her up, she starts yelling for Will.

Will is already pretty protective of Blake. One time I had a wellness check-up and they had to poke Blake's heel to draw a little blood. I was explaining it to Will, and he started crying and telling me not to hurt Blake. Blake wasn't even phased by it, but Will was freaking out.

If I do or say something that makes Blake cry, Will gets upset. He asks me what I did, then tells me that wasn't very nice.

I taught Will how to play Mario-Kart. The first few times were pretty rough. I remember one time in particular, he was doing like 18 minute laps. He quickly got the hang of it, and by about his third time playing, he was down to 2 minute laps. I'm sure he'll give me a run for my money one day.

They love to laugh and meal times are often times of laughter at our house. This is one of my favorite pictures. Simply put, they love life.

Both kids love being outside and ask several times a day if they can go play. They enjoy tv and movies, but if given a choice, they would choose playing outside any time. I hope it stays that way forever.

Will's obsession with trains grows stronger and stronger. When we go to the gym, he likes us to take the way that passes over the railroad tracks so we can look down the tracks to see if there is a train. Every time he sees a train track, he has to point it out and ask where the train is. And when we happen to see a train, he gets so excited.

Every so often, we like to let him go for a short ride on the FrontRunner. I'll drop Lance and the kids off at one station, then they will ride to the next one where I'll pick them up.

Within the last week, Will got a haircut from our neighbor. He is surrounded by girls all day and is convinced that he wants his hair long like mommy's and Blake's.

As you can see, he wasn't very happy about getting it cut. But i think he looks super handsome.

 A few days ago, I asked Will to go open Blake's door since she seemed to be awake from nap time. He went in and never came back out. When I went to investigate, he had his arm around Blake and was rocking her in the rocking chair. 

 I was trying to get him to smile, so I said, "Show me your teeth..."

Will loves going to church and gets really excited for nursery. For the last few weeks the incoming sunbeams have joined the Jr. Primary for singing time. He likes that, and I think he will transition into primary very well. (I hope!)

 While Blake is a copycat and loves to do and say whatever Will does, she is developing her own personality. She is funny, spunky, full of attitude, and just lots of fun to have around.

I wish people could see what I get to see every day. These two kids are so smart and fun, and most of the time, I am the only one who gets to enjoy it. How lucky am I?!