All about Will

At long last, here is an update on Will: the sweetest, smartest, silliest three-year-old around.

He continues to spend lots of time in his occupational therapy swing. This kid has loads of energy to burn, and the swing helps immensely with that. He also runs or marches around the house (usually in a specific pattern) multiple times each day :).

We try to encourage as much physical activity as possible to offset his new, much more sedentary hobby - computer games. He figured out how to operate the mouse (using both hands) and LOVES to play on the various kiddo websites: PBS, Nick Jr, and Disney Jr. We call it his crack addiction; no one looks forward to prying the mouse from his little hands when his allotted time is up for the day :).

A hilarious benefit of his new fondness for 'gaming' is the new phrases he's been adopting and a new penchant for returning things to their proper place - a lot of the games involve clicking items around to where they belong. One day as he went to put an errant pillow back on the couch, he narrated his action by saying "Click on the pillow!" Oh dear. He's also been encouraging me to 'try again' when he doesn't care for what I say: "Will, it's time for a bath." "No, Mommy, try again!"

Will still loves going to the developmental preschool two mornings a week; here we are waiting for the bus on a recent, chilly morning.

Chuck and I attended our first 'parent-teacher' conference at the end of September and it was so great to hear all of the wonderful things that Will's teacher had to say about him. Checking out the different areas of the classroom and looking at their daily schedule has also helped me ask more specific questions when Will gets home from school since he isn't able to really volunteer information about what he did there.

Will had lots of fun playing 'spectator' at Clyde's soccer games this fall - as long as Daddy, Uncle Cody, or Grandma Pam was in attendance to keep him entertained/unbuckle him from the stroller.

Will is super into helping in the kitchen lately, and he insists on wearing an apron. His favorite aspects of the experience are, not surprisingly, helping to crack the eggs and then licking the beaters afterwards.

Last week we had an appointment with the developmental pediatrician - here's Will playing in the waiting area. We hadn't met with this particular doctor before; it was his colleague who diagnosed the autism and he has since moved. Dr. Leavell walked us through the genetic testing results (the bottom line is that everything came back within normal ranges so no real concerns/answers there) and discussed Will's progression in various areas. Will has come leaps and bounds in his language development - both expressive and receptive - which is really encouraging.

Speaking of doctors, Will came with me to my most recent prenatal checkup earlier this week. I was a little nervous about how he would do, especially his rough morning and refusal to let me out of his sight were what precipitated his tagging along, but he was amazing! Especially since Dr. Klomp was just coming back from a delivery and thus had a slight backlog there at the office. Will happily read books in the waiting room for 45 minutes and then continued to hone his photography skills once we were in the exam room.

The sweetest thing was his concern for me - first when Maria took my blood pressure and then when Dr. Klomp was measuring the baby's heartbeat. Both times Will watched me intently and asked, "Okay, Mommy? Okay?" What a doll!

And now, just for fun, here's a video of Will singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" a couple of weeks ago. He was sooo wound up! My favorite is when he pauses and asks, "Hmm, what comes next?"


We really, really love this goofy, darling kid - which is what gets us through the not-as-darling meltdowns :).