Dorothy's sunflower

We're lucky to have two MVP neighbors on our block - Dorothy (known to William as "Doraty") and Kelly (AKA Uncle Mac).  While Uncle Mac has been having a busy summer, and we haven't seen much of him around (William's still wearing the safety glasses Uncle Mac gave him on truck clean-out day), Dorothy's good-neighborliness has been working overtime.  She planted a big sunflower near the lovely telephone pole in our front yard in an attempt to distract her view from the technological eyesore and the tremendous weed growth we've been harboring.  Nang and I have been ridiculously excited about it blooming, and this week it erupted!  We enjoyed it for a full 2 days before a hoodlum walked by, wacked the flower off, and stole it.  Awesome neighborhood.  Now we have have a headless sunflower stalk, and we are MAD.

RIP sunflower

First fish

William and I joined some of Mimi's side of the family at the lake for a reunion.  

 Jeffery landed this fish, and let Willy (the name he prefers when fishing) help him reel it in

We found the perfect Cars-themed, kid-sized fishing rod on a trip to Walmart, but Willy hopped out of the cart to pick the pink, flower-covered Barbie-themed pole.  Back at the house, he took off to find Papa and catch some fish with his new, manly fishing pole.  

Papa tried to convince William to touch the fish by kissing it himself, but William remained skeptical

First movie: Brave

Nang, William, Mimi, and I ventured out for William's first movie theater experience on Sunday morning.  William made two requests: that we go see the elephant/lion movie (Ice Age: Continental Drift, a movie with mammoths and a saber tooth tiger) and that Nana join us.  We honored neither of these requests.  Nang, Mimi, and I vetoed the movie choice because we wanted to see Brave.  Fear not, little man's Om Noi has been chomping at the bit to take Minh to see the new Ice Age movie, so neither will miss out on that special experience.  But Nana's trip from New Orleans was too long for her to make the 10:05 a.m. showing on Sunday.

William enjoyed his theater experience - the BIG screen, BIG chairs, and LOUD audio.  But the movie did not hold up to the others he watches at home (How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda 2, Tangled, Toy Story 3), and couldn't hold his attention.  It didn't help that the previews started 30 minutes after the listed showtime, and he was almost over the novelty of the auditorium by then.  But when the lights went out, the enchantment continued a little longer...until he couldn't sit still anymore, and had to sit in Mimi's lap, then climb all the way down our row lifting all of the armrests along the way and laying out on the seats, running around and around and around the row, telling us about "the Guy" sitting at the end of our row, and ultimately settling for standing up in the row behind us and talking to us or standing in our row, licking the railing in front of our seats.  Mmmmm...I'm sure they clean that after every showing with something antibacterial.

 You DON'T sneak milk into the movies?

We maaay have been more excited than he was

 Patiently waiting, waiting, waiting

The show begins!

Medium shoclat

William's sucking up a "medium shoclat" in the photo - a Whataburger chocolate milkshake.  Sometimes we stop there  on the way home for a treat...perhaps more than sometimes because he knows what to order when he sees the orange W sign.  Now in addition to watching my language, not watching too much TV, and eating my vegetables without grimacing (even the gross ones), I have to work on Coke and milkshake intake.  Ugh.

Like father like son

Monitor picture of Ba and William sleeping together.

Pensive

Friday mornings

Friday mornings are busy for Mama and William. We generally check in at the shop if we are working that day, answer any questions/drop off work orders/practice using the tape measures and various magnets, and head to get pepperoni and mushroom kolaches (he picks out the much-rooms and feeds them to the birds). If we are good on time, William gets to choose whether we drive through for our breakfast treats and eat them in the car listening to "noosic"or go inside to order and eat on the patio and feed the grackle birds bits of our breakfast. Generally, we eat on the patio no matter how hot it is. Then off to music class!

Manly clothes

Bibs cramp the little guy's style. However, a ruffled, monogrammed apron over his dinosaur shirt to prevent any breakfast spills is acceptable.

In the middle of the night...

William slept from 10:30 to 4:30, and then made the trek to our room to sleep with Mama. Nang went to sit in the hall and keep him in his bed and on his way back to sleep, but after an hour, he wound up grabbing a blanket and sneaking into bed with the baby. Now Mama's wide awake because I had enough time to start thinking and therefore stressing and tearing up about almost everything in my life (dramatic and unfortunately, true), baby girl's having a dance party in utero, William's tossing around resisting full-on sleep because he doesn't want Nang to leave him to sleep alone, and Nang's gone to the world. Man! To be able to manage stress must feel great (and restful).

No more crib

We are trying to combat the bad habit of letting William wail his way into our bed at night. Nang thought a good cry-it-out approach would work again (he got William to sleep through the night at 13 months with his version of the technique), but I warned him to keep a close eye on the monitor because the little guy was close to figuring out how to hop out of his crib. One big thud later (no tears, so we figure he landed somewhat softly), William's sleep setup looks something like a college apartment. We still have no idea what to do about getting him to sleep at a decent hour (wide awake picture below was snapped at 10 pm) and keeping him on the mattress in his own room through the night...little steps.

Choking hazard

Anything can be a choking hazard. Here William demonstrates that grapes, even when cut in half, pose a serious threat to little ones. For his evening snack, William is on a grape streak, but he will only eat one, the rest he likes to marinate in his cheeks for awhile before spitting them out and heading upstairs to have his teeth brushed.

Snack bag destroyer

The snack bag destroyer struck again. This time the victim was a bag of cheese slices. William brought the bag to me, and told me that it tore - duh, little man.

Still a cool breeze

I heard William rustling around in the backseat on a drive, and turned around to see the little monkey pulling these sunglasses out of the cupholder in the door with his toes.

Row, row, row your boat

We spent a few days at the lake with Mimi's side of the family, and William thoroughly enjoyed the stay in "his" vacation home. He even finagled his way into the driver's seat of the boat on a sunset cruise...borrowed sunglasses were mandatory for proper driving.

Mwah!

One step back...

two steps forward!  Actual and weird progress on the potty "training" front.  Yesterday, during William's pre-nap shower, he hollered, "Mama!  Done!  Get out shower!  Get out shower!"  His voice sounded sincerely distressed, and it turns out he was trying to get away from the giant turd he laid while in the shower.
This morning, he wanted to get in the shower with me, and he took off his shorts and diaper (he can't manage his shirt on his own yet), and when I stalled too long on letting him in, he walked to the toilet, and Nang found him trying to stand in front of the toilet and tee tee like a big boy!