He Can Build It, Yes He Can!

Happy Halloween to all those friends and family, near and far! The pumpkins are carved, candy is bought (maybe a little too much candy), and Will is ready for his first real "trick or treat" experience.

The costume gets its debut today at the elementary school Halloween parade with Will's daycare class. Then we paint the town tonight with his pal Gavin (who will either be an Oreo or train conductor).

In case you don't know (are you living under a rock??), Will is Bob the Builder. He knows ALL the words to the theme song by heart. Enjoy! Can we fix it? Yes we can!

Fall is Here & News

Another few months have gone by and we're still very behind posting pictures and updates. It's been a busy fall so far for us. Christian is just starting a new job, and I've been trying to stay focused at work while contemplating Will's upcoming 2nd birthday (gasp!) and our next new project -- another child.

Yes, I'm pregnant again and due March 31, 2009. We thought it was about time for Will to have a sibling, and I was starting to forget about those baby days... The funny thing is that it hasn't really hit either of us that this means ANOTHER baby in the house. I just feel like I'm getting fat, that's all! I'm 15 weeks today, and so far all seems to be going well. Wish us luck! We're going to need it... ;-)

We have sooo many new pictures to post, it seems almost pathetic to try to describe in words what we've been up to. Needless to say, not much blogging (obviously).

But, the leaves are changing color up here, the air is crisp, the apples are in, and the grape harvest should start soon. We're still on track to start building something on our land next summer, and might be able to start legally making/selling wine the year after. How many "new babies" can we handle??? We'll see!

Dog Days of Summer

Yet again, another two months flies by and I have yet to post anything or get more pictures online. Summer has been busy, but I won't use that as an excuse. We're just horrible at keeping up! So, this is going to be the quick and dirty round-up.

First, to our first baby -- Will. He's 21 months and has really lengthened out lately. Getting a little taller, and -- much to my chagrin -- losing all his baby fat! His little round milk-belly is all gone, mostly due to the insane amount of running around he does all day. And the fact that he's on the toddler eating schedule (read: eats nothing but goldfish, grapes and milk). He can FLY when he gets going, and we've been practicing for the 2028 Summer Olympics track and field events -- he screams " Set! Go!!!" and then tears off around the house...

Will is talking more every day, now putting together words and making short sentences ("Daddy mow lawn.") He is a little parrot, copying EVERYTHING we say. He still has trouble with the hard "c" sound, so he says "tar"and "titty tat" for car and kitty cat. But, I'm sure that will straighten itself out.

As for hobbies, Will is obsessed right now with everything car -- he has a zillion matchbox cars already, and we've collected other versions too. He's also liking Thomas the Train books, and has gotten into Jay Jay the Jet Plane on TV - probably the most annoying children's' show ever...!

Finally, Will loves to give hugs and kisses, and is still very fond of his stuffed friend Lamby Lamb, who he sleeps with. He's such a little boy now! It sort of makes me sad sometimes that time has gone by so quickly. Here are a few shots of our trip to UVa for reunions (in June) with the Gretos and Capone-Barretts -- with buddy Joseph and soon-to-be buddy Rhys!

4 Months in Review

Wow -- its amazing how time flies, and how many pictures you can accumulate on your digital camera before you have time to upload them. Although this blog has been pretty quiet since March (arggh!), we have been taking pics of Will in his various surroundings, and making mental notes about developmental milestones that have happened.

For the full monty, check out all our recent pictures (March-June 2008) posted in our Picasa gallery: http://picasaweb.google.com/tburgthompsons

As for milestones, here are a few: Will is still holding steady at around 24 pounds, and just made the lowest percentile on the height curve for his age. The doc doesnt seem worried, since his weight is still a higher % than his height. The walking is pretty much all running these days, and Will loves ANY kind of ball -- basketballs, baseballs, and tennis balls being faves.

The talking is amazing -- Will now says (what we call) full sentences! Things like "Daddy mow," "my milk," "Mommy's shoe," and "big rock." It seems like he's saying a new word every day these days... The sleeping and eating are back on track. No more 5:30 AM wake up calls, and he actually ate like two dinners tonight. Very funny.

The highlights of the past few months were getting together with The Gretos and Capone-Barrett's for UVa reunions (10 years - we are OLD) -- even though it was god awful hot that weekend and Jenny was 35+ weeks pregnant! Will had a grand old time showing off, and we think he gave Joseph some added incentive to start walking. Two Theta Delts in the making... Then we had some fun times at the lake with Nina and Pop Pop (the Thompsons), playing outside with MacBeth, putting in our veggie garden (by hand) with a little help from Will. Grandma Kate also came to visit in March (for a week), and a quick visit on Mem Day weekend. We almost missed the TBurg parade (you'd think we'd know which street it's on after 3 years).

All in all, time is flying and we can't believe mid-summer is already upon us! Stay tuned for more info on the winery, since things are finally progressing.

A word a day keeps the doctor away.

Another update on Will, since he's just hit the 18 month mark. He visited the doctor last week and was deemed "okay" for his age, but the doctor was a little concerned about his height progress. Apparently, not continuing along the normal growth curve several visits in a row is some cause for concern... Looks like Will has landed at the very bottom (3%) of the height curve for his age, but is still at the 20-25th percentile for weight (so he's not malnourished...duh). I'm not too worried, since accurate height measurements right now are virtually impossible (the kid squirms and screams like he's on death row when he's at the doctor). And, worse case scenario, he could always aspire to being a famous jockey!

Onto words. It seems like Will comes out with something new every day. Here are some of the most recent: baby, apple, pear, banana (said "anana"), teeth (said "teefs"), big ball (I think, or maybe basketball?). If he's really coerced, he may say "milk" or "more." We're trying to get him to start asking for things he wants with words, but most of the time he resorts to the tried and true -- screaming for it.

The funniest thing is how he now tells us he's ready to go to bed during his nighttime routine. We'll be reading a story, waiting for the "sign" (rubbing eyes, yawning), and then Will gets up, walks over to his crib, and starts telling us "bye bye!" Guess that's a hint... So, we're on our way to communicating.

Oh S**t!

New word of the day. I said this (accidentally, of course) when I fell off a step on our back porch in front of Will. Needless to say, he's good at mimicking...

Oh yeah, and another new favorite -- Pee! Maybe it's a parent thing, but the fact that he says this when he's 1) about to pee or 2) actually peeing (usually on the floor after his bath and before the diaper is on) is just so darn cute. My little boy's all grows up...

3 Months in Pictures

I finally downloaded the pictures off our camera, so thought I'd post a few from the past 3 months (15-18 mos). Will still enjoys being the sole subject of our photos, and loves to ham it up!

Word....

Just a quick update on Will's progress on the talking front. These last few days have been crazy -- so many new words, and they come out so fully formed!

1. Ball -- This is now a favorite. Will has like 5 balls, of varying sizes, but his favorite by far is the adult sized basketball. It lives in the house now...
2. Bear -- Will inherited my stuffed childhood companion, know simply as Bear. She was a she when I had her, but now she's a he (go figure). Will has taken to Bear quite a bit lately, and started saying his name this week. Sounds a lot like "bar" though.
3. Bye -- Will has been saying "hi" for a while now, and this week he finally got the hang of "bye." But not just bye, it's "buh-bye." Of course.
4. Hot -- The oven is hot, pans are hot, empty pots are hot, the dishwasher is hot, food on his plate is hot. But does that mean he won't touch it? Nah!! Of course not!
5. Wow/whoa -- We say this a lot when Will does cool things (or things we think are cool). We'll say it, then he'll mimic. And sometimes, he'll say this by himself when he's playing with something he likes.

We promise pictures to come soon. We have lots in the camera, they just need to come out.

You know you're a mom when...

It's Saturday morning, you're almost to the grocery store, babbling to your jolly toddler in the back seat, and you realize (was it when I stepped on the brake?) that you're wearing slippers. Not the pink fluffy kind (thank god), but still -- the beige Isotoner slip-ons from Wal-Mart kind. Slippers. And, you're too close to the store to turn back now (and didn't it take a momentus effort just to get everything loaded and ready and out the door before 10?), so you go shopping in your slippers.

Awesome.

And you wonder, looking down at them laughing to yourself, if this is what it really means to be a mom. This complete and total lack of caring what other people think anymore, since dammit, you're a mom and there are just things you HAVE to do no matter what!

Christian was almost in tears (from laughing) when I told him. He said (quite honestly I think), that it was a good thing he hadn't been the one to do it -- since his slippers ARE the fluffy kind (no, not pink).

Holy molar! and other stories

I'm on a "record keeping" kick this month, since I realized that Will is almost and year and a half old and I have written almost NOTHING in his would-be baby book for posterity. I obviously didn't inherit my own mother's knack for thorough bookeeping when it comes to kids -- she can tell you exactly what I ate, said, slept, and pooped at this moment back in 1977. Amazing.

As for me, I guess this blog is the modern version of Will's baby book. So, onto teeth... Will finally got his first teeth when he was about 11 months old (which is a little later than average). Not that this stopped him from eating all kinds of solid food (including entire peaches with skin). About 2 months later, he had his top 4 teeth, and 2 more months after that, the bottom front two teeth. Now, much to our amazement (since we are decidely laissez-faire when it comes to monitoring teething progress), at 17 months Will seems to be getting his first set of molars! Technically, I think these are his First Molars, and boy do they seem to hurt. We first noticed them when Will was writhing around the floor, screaming in pain... It's just about the only way to get a good look in his mouth, since he won't let us stick our fingers in there. There's been drooling, not eating, night waking, and all around grumpiness. And this was on top of another horrible week-long bout of flu (which we all got at the same time). When it rains, it pours.

Walk this way, talk this way...

Since time is flying by (can we almost be at 18 months already?), I thought this might be a good time to jot down some of the "words" Will is saying these days. He's now 16 months, and seems to really be getting into saying No in it's various forms... So, here's what we have so far:

1. No -- As in, "Nonononono no!" when you touch his beloved Lamby-Lamb, or rest your head on one of his pillows, or touch anything that is his and he'd like to keep it that way, thanks. Or when he doesn't want to do something (of course).
2. Uh oh -- He used to say this for fun, then to imitate us. Now, he says it in a very purposeful way, right before he's about to drop his cup/food/toy on the floor, or when we drop something.
3. Momma, Mom / Dad-dee/Dad -- He really likes saying "Dad-teee," when he can clearly enunciate the second syllable. Momma isn't so popular these days, unless he's hungry/tired/sick/wants something... Go figure.
4. Hi -- Usually, this comes when he's walking around the house pretending to talk on our phone (which, by the way, is his favorite thing to do). Now, he says this to us when he walks in the room for the first time.
5. All done (or maybe Oh damn) -- We're not sure on this one, but we've been saying All Done during dinner for a while, and he seems to use it when he's finished doing something. But I swear sometimes, when he's playing, it sounds like the other version. And we never say this! Really!
6. Ball -- He doesn't say this a lot, but lately we think his fascination with all types of (toy) balls has brought this out.
7. Up -- Usually Will doesn't ever need to say this, since he just grunts/screams with his arms up in the air and we pretty much get it... But lately I've been trying to get him to say the word for it. He does it sometimes, but we know at least he can say it, if he wants.
8. Night night -- I heard this one second-hand. Apparently, during nap time at daycare, Will likes to pop his head up out of the porta-crib and say "No night night." We've never heard this one, but I guess he knows better than to try to talk back to Mom and Dad!! ;-)

Other than talking, Will's favorite thing right now is walking. Walking everywhere, trying to run, and preferably heading down to the school playground to move gravel from one spot to another. We can't wait for Spring -- we'll be outside every chance we get (which is like paradise compared to being cooped up inside with an intrepid, whiny 16 month old who likes to say No!). Gee, maybe by June ... if we're lucky. Did I mention how much I love winters in upstate NY??

Winery Update

I thought that since we don't have any new pictures to post right now, I'd update everyone on our winery plans. Yes, we're still actually planning to start a small winery one of these days... Last summer we finally bought some land for the venture -- about 11 acres on the west side of Seneca Lake not far from Geneva, NY (located somewhere in that red box on the lake map to the left). It's a great site for a winery (note all the circles with numbers, indicating other wineries), but we'll probably never have more than 7 acres planted in grapes (which is fine by us). Odds are those grapes will be mostly riesling, with maybe some Cabernet Franc or Lemberger (an obscure red vinifera variety from Germany). But that won't be for another 3-4 years or so.

So, our next step is to decide what type of building to put on the land now for use as a place to make/store our first small batches of wine. We won't have a tasting room until things start to pick up (i.e. and we start making some money). We'd like to incorporate as many "green" building techniques as we can, since white wine generally requires a lot of cooling to maintain. Our thought right now is to build some sort of basement (with a roof), so we won't have to pay for air conditioniong to space to maintain coolness for storing the white wine. Once we have that, we'll add on the rest of the building to eventually become our winery/tasting room, and then use the basement for storage. It's all in our heads right now, but the dream is still alive!

He's a dance, dance ... dancing machine!

And a whole lot more .... The kid can move and he almost NEVER sits still. Who could imagine that it would literally take DAYS for him to go from falling to walking, never wanting Mom or Dad to try to hold his hand 'cause he's a big boy. Whoa, humans are amazing. Will's first few minutes of fame, right here ...

Walking: The Final Frontier

(Trumansburg, NY, January 28, 2007) -- William Thompson, 14 months and 19 days old, has finally gotten over his irrational fear of falling face-first on the floor from a completely vertical position. Yes -- he is walking! His first tentative steps and expert cruising have given way to what looks like a tiny drunk, weaving his way home carefully after a hard night of partying.

Of course, these first unaided steps were taken at daycare (naturally, where else). He proceeded to walk the entire length of the daycare room, pausing every so often to acknowledge the shouts of encouragement and cheers from the older kids. But, strangely enough, after a long day of walking Will was back to his crawling ways at home with Mommy and Daddy. He was bushed.

We hope to catch his antics on camera soon, but for now, check out some new pics and our little movie of his favorite activities: http://picasaweb.google.com/tburgthompsons/January2008

In other news, we also gave Will his first haircut this past weekend. Now, his once straggly mini-mullet in the back is straight and clean like his Dad's ... The funny thing about the haircut is that Will actually just sat there and hung out while we amateurs attempted not to butcher his hair or inadvertently trim his ears. What a trooper! Here's a recent picture, pre-haircut (in a laundry basket).

Christmas Pics & the Den of Sickness

So the one thing that's not so great about being the parent of a baby/toddler is the never ending exposure to every disgusting illness that's flying around school and daycare. I swear Christian and I have been more sick this past year than in our entire lives ... (okay, maybe since grade school). We're now in the midst of yet another yucky bug -- this time with fun stomach issues.

Christian got it first, and Will is definitely off (he's been refusing to eat for a few days), and I'm just PRAYING I don't ge too sick. Who will take care of everyone?? Anyway, we're hanging in there.

Will is still not yet walking, but he gets sturdier every day standing on his own. Here are some fun pictures of Will at Christmas -- enjoying presents and the snow. What a ham!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I guess this wasn't really Will's first Christmas (technically that was last year, when he was about a month old). But this one definitely felt like our "real" first, since he was able to participate and move around and play with his gifts. We spent the holiday at the Thompsons in Penn Yan, with Aunt Cass, Uncle Matt, and cousins Riley (2 1/2) and Abby (4 months). It was quite a new experience with a house full of kids! Needless to say, we were all a little exhausted when we got back home on the 26th.

Of course, Will's favorite presents weren't his -- Riley's new chair, her Lincoln Logs, and the Dora the Explorer hand puppet ... BUT, he'd already been really enjoying his play table from Grandma and Grandpa Scheuer (an early gift at Thanksgiving), and now he's into playing with his Little People garage and cars. We have a few too many toys lying around now, and I think we can safely put away all Will's true baby toys for good.

On a side note, Will has finally mastered the stairs! Well, going up the stairs. So far he's not so interested in going down, but he can spend forever going up. It's his favorite thing. We are so screwed ... But the gates are up (top and bottom), and now we just need to teach him how to come down safely.

More holiday pictures coming soon, and hope 2008 is a good one!