William's First Week

The first day of school was great for William. He was very excited to go and see "Langholz" - his teacher! We worked on the "Mrs." part and now he tells me after school that he played with Mrs. Langholz and Mrs. Kest (his assistant teacher). He also says they nap at school. Two of his classmates were in his class last year, so he plays with Davis and Lola a lot. The other kids are adorable too. I'm the room mom and had the chance to go in and take pictures of them all. I made a little class page of pictures with their names and laminated it. William loves to look at the pictures.

Dropping William off on his first day

Standing outside his classroom

Immediately bolted to the cars

School is going great for William. The first week went very well and he said he had fun every day. He told me the second day of school he read books, sang a song and played with "Light Queen."

His teacher has texted a couple photos and wrote a nice email saying all is well! Fun to get the little update. 

William and Gabriella taking a spin!

William loved phones and cameras? Huh?

New artwork up on the wall

William has had blue day and red day at school, and I can see his identifying colors has gotten so much better. Red, blue, pink, orange, yellow, green are really good! Amazing what a couple days with a teacher can do!

So far so good! I'm looking forward to their first class party - it will be a Halloween party. Fall Festival is coming up, which William loved last year. Then lots of class playdates and other fun events coming up! 

Big Boy Update 2

Smooth sailing now! Naps are great and the past three nights he's stayed in his bed without requesting to be tucked in. He woke up today at 7:15a. And yesterday when I checked on him at nap time I heard him talking to Dusty Crophopper (a picture is now on his wall) about how Mommy was going to get Baby Grace from her nap. I peeked in and he was tucked under the covers laying on his back just chatting away. He tells me he tucks in Peter at nap time and bed time, and shows me how he tucks himself in - so he's feeling accomplished, I think. Two thumbs up for William!

Two thumbs up

So next on the to do list... I ordered the rest of our potty training supplies... I keep going back and forth on that one. I think he'd do well, but then begins the racing to the nearest potty (or bush/tree) to go all the time. Seems daunting... Keep you updated!

Frozen!

Olaf selfie

We brought William to see Disney's Frozen On Ice show at the Amway Center this past weekend. William has loved Frozen since he first watched the movie a couple months ago. He loved the show on ice too! 

Frozen on Ice!

I tried to get tickets as close to the ice as possible, since I didn't think he would like it as much if it looked like ants on ice. So our seats worked out great. William got an Olaf hat with Matt's cotton candy and he was happy to watch the entire performance. It was kind of long! 6:30-8:30p! William got antsy getting on and off his seat in the last ten minutes. But was still paying attention to the show. William danced and was thrilled when Mickey, Minnie, and the other main characters came out on ice. A huge highlight. 

Dancing the snowman dance

Lots of clapping 

Bye Bye as we left. We heard "Frozen again, please." many times.

Since the show, William talks about Elsa constantly and even got very upset with me and made me rip the cover off the Lands End magazine when I tried throwing it away because the girl on the cover catching snowflakes in her mouth is apparently Elsa. Who knew Elsa modeled on the side? So funny... 

There's the hand pointing to Elsa

Big Boy Bed

William is no longer in a crib sadly! It's still the same crib though which makes the transition easier for mommy - I mean, William. Hopefully. The front part comes off and now voila! It's now a big boy bed.

We went to the mall yesterday and William picked out his new sheets and quilt in hopes of making it a really fun experience. Trains, cars, buses, diggers, of course. We also got him a book about Elmo moving from a crib to a big bed. He loved the book. I read it to him once and then he said he would read it, literally repeating each page form memory! It was pretty impressive.

He used the quilt in the car on the way home

He said "Thank you, Mommy." probably five hundred times on the way home from picking out the sheets. Cracked me up! Then it was time for nap time.

We didn't have the guard rail up initially for nap time and he fell asleep, but only with me rubbing his back. Then a thunderstorm came and he jumped out of bed crying for us. He probably slept for 30 minutes.

Top left: pretending to snore; Top right and middle, lower left: nap time;
Bottom right: night time and he's down 

Then bed time wasn't so hard. He liked the guard rail that was now up and kept going up and down. I rubbed his back for a few minutes and left him before he had fallen asleep. He cried a short time later asking for me to tuck him back in then fell asleep until around 3am. Then he cried again for me to tuck him in, and again, and again, and again. Probably every 30 minutes-1 hour after 3am, it was a request for being tucked in. He usually sleeps all over the place not with his blankets over him. I think the position of a pillow and sleeping one way the whole night was kind of foreign, which is why I think he needed help getting back into position when he woke up and the quilt wasn't over him anymore. hopefully he gets use to that soon because I was up more than I was with a newborn!

Wake up time was 7am. Not the norm for William. He's usually asleep till 7:30a. Grace slept till 8:15a. The tables have turned for those two.

So night time wasn't the most desirable situation, but we just need to get William over the fact that he doesn't need US to tuck him in all night long - he can tuck himself in :)

We shall see how nap time goes today... But William does tell us he likes his new bed, so that's a good start!

Inside the Lines

Our little artist William is a big fan of drawing. He was always up for art in school and when he's at home it's not unusual for him to ask for crayons and a coloring book. He will flip from page to page randomly scribbling and talk about what he's creating. And this weekend there was a new development -- coloring inside the lines (his best attempts and very, very close)!

Too busy coloring to eat!

Notice the clown's hair (top blue arrow) and the star (bottom blue arrow). I looked over while at dinner and all by himself, there he was very focused on coloring inside the lines of different areas! Yes, it's a funny observation, but I just love to see new abilities! I never encouraged drawing inside the lines. I let him color as he pleases. So it's fun to see him conquer something new on his own. 

Another amazing observation -- William can do small puzzles by himself! We have been doing puzzles with William probably since he was 2. He loves doing puzzles and has always needed assistance. He has understood how puzzle pieces fit and some don't, but we'd guide him along the way. But last week he took a truck puzzle, sat alone and finished it! It's actually a box of four different truck puzzles and he did them all (in different sittings). They're 12 piece puzzles.  

Puzzles!

Puzzle in progress

Puzzle almost finished

All done!

When he completes the puzzle he says, "I did it!" and raises both arms up in the air. So cute!

Another truck puzzle

Bulldozer puzzle this time

I love the concentration! He amazes me every day. Something new all the time. Great job, William!

Now Showing...

Planes Fire and Rescue starring Dusty Crophopper!

Planes Fire & Rescue

Also known as William's first movie theater going movie! 

Saturday night we went to the theater at Disney Downtown and saw the 6 p.m. Planes showing with William. The movie was very cute! Dusty Crophoopper learns how to become a rescue plane in the event of fire, and meets a bunch of friends along the way. William watched the whole movie from his seat. Toward the end he started to lay down in his seat and I don't know if he was antsy or just getting comfortable, but he was very attentive to the movie. Great thing about a kid movie is there are plenty of kids around, so no worries when William would yell out a question or observation.

"Uh, oh! Mommy, BIG fire!"

William's first movie theater experience

The nice part about the Disney Downtown movie theater is you can bring dinner to your seat. We got a pizza and chicken tenders, and William watched the movie while dipping his chicken tenders in barbecue sauce!

Of course there was ice cream following. Strawberry for William!

A very fun first movie going experience! 

SafeStart Update

William is back at it with Safe Start swim lessons. We had around 3 weeks of lessons in June and didn't wrap up in that time. We went on a few getaways and our instructor broke her arm roller skating, and so we had to resume again toward the end of July. The good news is that the new instructor is a great match for William and he's done in 1 week (4 days actually) what was accomplished in 3 weeks with the last instructor. William thinks a lot during his lesson and so the new instructor knows the right amount of encouragement plus the right way to push him before he thinks too much.

Notice Cars lined up to watch him in the bottom

SO back on track and it's so much fun to see him learning new swim techniques. William loves "getting the wall" the most, which means he pushes off Kristin and swims to the wall to grab the ledge. He's needed to float again, which he isn't enthused about doing like he was last year. And Kristin got him to float in just a couple lessons. Now he's perfecting the swim, float, swim to the wall. He did it all with his swim trunks a couple days ago and this past Friday he did his "test" with summer clothing on plus diaper (which I swear can hold 10 gallons of water, it's impressive!) plus shoes. He needed some assistance flipping from the float to swim and the float to wall with the clothing on - because it got so heavy, but that is the point. He could fall in without us seeing and needs to be able to swim and float with clothing on. He wasn't sold on wearing shoes in the pool or a shirt - he kept asking Kristin to take off his shoes and shirt ha!

Ready to go with summer clothing on

"I hold you." is what he tells Kristin

Nope sorry little guy! Time to kick!

Get the wall!

Floating after a flip

Swimming to Kristin's hand

I was debating starting Grace in lessons because I think it's great to get them used to the water, and she is walking, but I think I need a break myself! If we had Kristin from the very beginning, I'm sure Grace would have already been in lessons and maybe even wrapping up at this point. But it got a little dragged out. So now I'm thinking in the winter. Kristin teaches lessons at the downtown YMCA at the indoor pool, so that may be a nice holiday break activity!

2 1/2 Years Old

2 1/2 on this day

Notice cars next to him

William is 2 1/2 years old! He is the cutest and sweetest boy ever! And what a fun age! He is so much fun to be with and always up for a good time. He is so loving and caring. Always offering things and worried someone needs help. A kiss and a hug are a mandatory combo and the terrible 2's is not something we have encountered (clearly, they all have their days, but for the most part he is really obedient and good). In celebration of his 2 1/2 birthday, we got a Carvel cake! No candles or anything, but William LOVES ice cream. I thought I'd write down some bullets as to what William is up to and like at age 2 1/2 -- enjoy!

Loves to wrestle with Grace 

Big smiles at the beach

Peter and Green Blanket in tow

William at age 2 1/2:

• He's learning his colors. Sometimes you need to ask him to check the color before answering again. Then he takes a look and comes up with the right answer. 
• Learning to count. Counts to 3 now. And I overheard him go to 4 the other day.
• Knows his first name and last name. He says "Orosz" better than most!
• He knows his manners: Please, Thank you, I'm sorry, and May I?
• Says "I love you"
• Very caring and thoughtful - I have actually seen him offer one of his cars or Peter Rabbit to Grace to play with or when he's on the playground he's happy to share his favorite Mater tow truck or Lightning McQueen.
• Wants to be "tucked in" every night and nap time, and still needs: original green blanket, backup green blanket, gray blanket, airplane blanket, Peter Rabbit, bunny, Pooh, and Dog to be in his bed for bedtime. He literally will hyperventilate if anyone is missing. Not so much the blankets if one is missing (with exception of original green blanket). When we travel he's okay so long as green blanket and Peter are with us -- the rest can "nap" at home. 
• Has climbed out of his bed (see last post)
• Loves to read and will sit in his little chair flipping through a book. He will sit still for quite some time. He tells me he's going to go read and then he makes observations on each page. His favorite book right now is a big Winnie the Pooh book. He's so worried about Pooh finding his honey or running away from bees. Tigger makes him laugh too. 
• Loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Chuggington, Peter Rabbit, Thomas the Train, a little bit of Sesame Street if Elmo is on.
• Has watched Disney's Cars (Mater "tow truck", "Light Queen" or rather Lightning McQueen are his two favorites), Disney's Frozen (Elsa and Anna are his favorites), Piglet's Big Movie, Jungle Book in their entirety - he's seen Cars 2, and Up, in tidbits
• Recognizes Idina Medzell's voice - she is Elsa in the movie Frozen and Idina sang in Wicked as well. When a song from Wicked came on the radio, William immediately looked at me and said, "Elsa." with big eyes. He also sings "Let it Go" from Frozen in the most adorable voice. Only sings these parts though: "Let it gooo... Let it gooo... Don't hold back... Let it gooo.."
• Loves trains and when we are driving in Winter Park will always ask if we can ride the train.
• Very good with location in general! If we're driving down Lakemont he asks if we're going to the gym (YMCA is on Lakemont) and if we're passing Matt's office, he points and tells me it's Daddy's work. Any of the roads near Park Avenue in Winter Park, he would know the train is nearby and when we're near Morse, he talks about school.

Loves going to the pool and swimming

Loves Disney's Cars - "Light Queen" in background.

Fun in the ocean

Grace you need to take off your shoes to swim!

• Knows where we live. When we pull into our driveway he says, "Our home..." It's so cute. 
• Enjoys drawing. I found him sitting quietly with a  few other kids at the Y daycare the other day drawing. He sat there for a while and when I finally told him I was there, he came up to me and said, "Mommy, I draw Elsa!" A Frozen coloring book was available haha!
• Always wants to know where Grace is. When he wakes up or if we're out without her. He basically assumes she is always sleeping though. Sometimes when she's grouchy, William will say, "Baby Grace needs nap."
• Nap time is a breeze and he sleeps 3 hours usually! From 1-4ish. If he has cars in the bed with him he stays up a bit and will sometimes not fall asleep till later meaning he will sleep till 5p!
• Bedtime is flexible. He is able to stay up later if we're out, but if it's a normal night then he probably goes to bed around 8p - and may not fall asleep till 9p. Depends on how tired he is. He's happy to sit in his bed though and plays with his stuffed animals.
• Eats pretty well and actually prefers more interesting food to the basic kids food like PBJ and chicken tenders. I can rarely get him to finish a Chik-fil-a meal, but if I have mahi mahi with couscous, he wants it all. He loves feta, spinach smoothies, salmon, black bean burgers... we feed him what we eat. We really don't ever make them special meals that are more "kid-like". We want them to be open to anything. The other night at dinner William insisted on as many clams and oysters from my bowl that I'd be willing to share. He wanted to drink the seafood broth with a huge spoon! 
• Loves chocolate milk and sweets of any kind! Some mornings he asks if he can have ice cream for breakfast!
• Loves pancakes.
• He is great at sitting at a table, drinking from a regular cup and feeding himself. No assistance needed. 
• Loves sports. Wants to play football, basketball, soccer, baseball, golf, tennis. When we pass a golf course, he wants to golf. When we're home and he sees my tennis racquet, he wants to play tennis. At the gym when we pass the courts, he wants to play basketball. He's ready to get into the game too. Some older boys were playing soccer out front of our house the other day, and I had to bring William inside because he was so upset that he wasn't allowed to go play with them.
• Remembers his friends names and will ask where they are when he's thinking about a particular person. 
• Knows who his uncles, aunts and cousins are by name. 
• He's shy when he first encounters a situation, but wait two minutes and he's dragging you to the playroom (assuming it was at home).
• Little negotiator. Will hold up one finger and say, "One more time." or "One more gummi and that's it!" He likes that one at swim lessons too. He will tell the instructor, "Almost done and that's it!" 
• Really enjoys the water and is thankfully cautious. Only a few times has he jumped into the water without warning us specifically beforehand. We're there to get him, but usually he gets our attention before swimming from the edge or jumping from the edge. He's getting very strong at kicking and moving his arms. I'm sure by next summer he will be all over the pool. 
• Time out happens now and then, mostly for pushing Grace. He gets very upset when he has to go to time-out. 
• Big on clean up. Will put his shoes away at the end of the day. Or says he wants to carry Daddy's shoes upstairs to his closet. When we're done playing with toys he sings a "Clean up" song and will happily pick-up. Amazing! 

So excited he has a ticket to ride the train

Hugs for Grace

I'll carry the luggage, Mommy!

Watching Mickey Mouse or Peter Rabbit probably!

Always running

Golf is the newest sport

I could go on and on. The list is rambling, but I like to try and remember all the cute and funny William-isms. He's getting so big (he's as tall as some 4 year olds!) and he understands so much and is talking in lots of complete sentences. He's funny and cracks us up all the time. Like when he told the carpool line lady at school that I was going home to take a nap after 9 a.m. drop off. I probably was, but he didn't have to share it! Haha! 

We love you William and want you to stop growing up NOW! I'm sure the best is yet to come though. Here's to the next 1/2 of the year until 3!