Spring is here!

Sorry it has been so long since our last post, the weather has been great so we have been outside as much as possible. William absolutely loves it outside and would probably stay outside all day if we let him-we're thinking about putting him out in the back yard with Maggie each morning with a bowl of food. We have taken him to our neighborhood park about 6 times now and to a nearby state park once. We didn't think that Will would be coordinated enough to enjoy the park gyms but he has proved us wrong yet again. As soon as we got out of the car Will made a beeline for the gym and we were running after him to keep up. We are constantly amazed by how perceptive he is and by the powerful effect of visual stimuli on very young children (this has been a disadvantage on several occassions already). Will especially loves the swinging bridges and all types of climbing ladders on the gyms. Here are a couple videos of him at the park for the first time this spring.



Will has been insisting on drinking from whatever I am drinking out of, but I was able to convince him to drink out of one of his cups. As you will see he thoroughly enjoyed himself. I ran out of CD and a few seconds following this video water started to pour out of the bottom of the highchair. I think we'll continue to use the sippy for milk and juice.

We have been in a cold-snap again, which means more creativity with indoor play. Fortunately, Will is pretty innovative when it comes to occupying himself with everyday items as you will see. He has taken a strong liking to metal objects including mixing bowls, a potato ricer, a pulp strainer, and lids to pots & pans (I draw the line at the pots & pans themselves because Will has previously dropped them on his feet). Nearly everyday, sometimes multiple times per day (when I am ambitious & put things back) Will empties out the corner cupboard and composes his masterpieces of both visual and audio display. He particularly enjoys dropping a metal lid over, and over, and over to hear the crashing that it makes (I usually end up leaving the room). He is just beaming with pride in these pics.

Later in the day we were downstairs and I turned around to find Will using his chair as a jungle gym, so I ran to get the camera to get some video. This is the end of his climbing up and jumping off the chair so he is much better at it in the video than he was when he started.

Last, but certainly not least, Will has been spending more time eating. He doesn't just prolong eating, he just keeps eating and eating and eating. After Will finished lunch yesterday I was so astonished by the amount of food he ate that I recreated his plate of food. As you can see he ate 1/2 of a meatball, a helping of pasta, 1/2 cup of steamed broccoli, 2 clementines, an apple, whole milk, and water. Is this what a 17 month-old typically eats, or do we have the next Guinness hot dog eater on our hands?