Over the last month...

We are all doing just fine. Wills is talking and singing and running up a storm. Some of his newest words and phrases are:

hot dog, mickey (as in mickey mouse), weeeeeee, aaaaooooooohhhhh (as in a dog howling), splash, hot, hat, oh no!, cup, house, pool, walk da dog, daddy's car, mommy's car, Michael (his friend down the street), Gabby (his friend from school), baby, bo-bo and weez (his cousins), tractor, moon...

He and his cousin Louise are hilarious to watch together. She loves him so much, and you can tell he wants to be just like her. They could entertain each other for hours!

He loves swimming in our neighborhood pool (much more than he liked swimming lessons), Mickey Mouse, the movie "Cars" (he's obsessed), running in the cul-de-sac, sitting on the riding lawn mowers at Home Depot, stuffed animals, sunglasses, daddy's shoes (see video), wearing his hat sideways, and playing with our neighbor's 2 1/2 year old Andrew across the street. He has gotten suprisingly good at puzzles all of a sudden, and he still loves books. He also really likes sports stuff - his golf clubs and golf balls, his football, his baseball, his basketball, his soccer ball, his frisbee, etc.

He is doing great at falling asleep on his own, especially when we are at home, and last night he slept for just over 12 hours! Now that is definitely a first.

Here are some pictures! Our friends Mark and Leslie were here over the weekend visiting from Chicago - they brought their son Bryan and he and Wills had a great time together!

Dancin!

I caught Wills dancing this morning while watching "Imagination Movers" on Disney...Check this out.

Swimming Lessons

Wills has been taking swimming lessons at the Atlanta Swim Academy. He is a "shrimp" - that's what they call the 18 month to 3 year olds :) The main purpose it just to get him used to the water, splashing, etc. They practice kicking, splashing, blowing bubbles, floating on their backs, jumping in, and sliding in (see video). So far, he seems to like it!

So, in our spare time (ha ha), we've been trying to redo the landscaping in front of our house. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a "before" picture, so all I've got is an "after"...we haven't put in flowers yet, but think we're done with the shrubs...

Not the best lighting...

The lighting is not the best, but Wills is hilarious. He discovered my sunglasses and thinks they are so funny! Also, if you know Wills, you know he loves balls - any kind - football, basketball, soccer, baseball, "goff ball"...as soon as he sees one, he picks it up and won't put it down. Unless he is throwing it down the drive way, at which point he gets really mad when he can't run fast enough to catch up with it rolling down the driveway. It's really cute :)

I'm so bad!

Sorry it's been so long - no excuses! Wills is totally full of himself these days...in to absolutely everything, especially if tim or I say "no!". He loves to dance and sing along with his music in the car (especially row-row-row your boat). He is gabbering all the time - some of his newest words are: nose, eyes, knees, truck, car, vroom-vroom, beep-beep, choo-choo, cheese, golf ball, basket-ball, oh-no, daddy...

He is taking swimming lessons and really seems to like the pool, especially splashing (as long as he is the one making the splashes), jumping in, and blowing bubbles.

He ate meat for the first time, willingly, on his own, the other day - a piece of bacon, of all things. He also loves cheese, goldfish, cheerios, froot loops, craisins, peanut butter and jelly, bananas, and pears. He also loves to dip things (which you'll see in the video). He loves playing with his friend Andrew across the street - anytime they are out in the cul-de-sac, Wills wants to go out there and play too. They play with balls and run around.

And finally, the biggest news of all...Wills is going to sleep on his own! This is officially the best thing ever...it took about 10 days of "crying it out", but by day 2 he was really only crying for 10 minutes at most. Now we read a book, give a hug, say goodnight, and lay him down in the crib. He hugs is lion blanket and looks up at us so sweet...and we leave the room! Why didn't we do this sooner????

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks, and a video!

Discovering post-it notes

Taking a bath

Climbing on the ottomon

It's getting better...

So, each night has gotten a little bit better - Wills cries for anywhere from about 5 minutes to...oh, about 20. Right now, we are at minute 14. This is hard, but I know it's worth it.

On the brighter side...here are some pictures from our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. Wills knew EXACTLY what to do when it came to hunting eggs - it was so cute!

Ugh...Wish Us Luck

Tonight is the night...we are going to let Wills "cry it out". I know, I know...how have we let it go on this long? We have been rocking him to sleep for his entire life...and it's gotten to the point where he has to have it in order to fall asleep, and it takes a good 30 minutes to sometimes over an hour to get him to bed. Plus, when/if he wakes up in the middle of the night, we might as well start our day.

He's been crying for about 20 minutes now, and it's breakin' my heart :(

On the bright side, here is a sweet video...listen carefully for "hi", "elmo", "fish" (which is a puckering face), "dog", and "shoe"...there are also some good dance moves.

Update...by the time this video uploaded, he seems to have fallen asleep. We'll see!!