17 Months!

I don't know how it's possible that we have a walking and almost talking little man! William has definitely developed his own words and is pretty good about communicating what it is he wants.

"wah wah" - water or bottle of milk

"Ba - ee" - Bailee

"Brrrr" - cold or hot

"Nigh - nigh" - tired and time to go to bed

"Bir" - Bird

"Lighhhh" - light

"No no no no no" - When he doesn't want something, or when we take away something he really wants.

William also is able to make the following animal sounds: dog, cow, snake, elephant, and monkey. And, he knows where his eyes, nose, mouth, ear, hair, foot, and belly button are.

He has started to really love his blanket and loves to cuddle with it before he goes to bed and after he wakes up. His favorite TV shows we watch in the morning are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

William definitely knows what he wants and will throw the hugest fits if he doesn't get his way, which we don't give in to. I just hope this phase passes quickly.

Breakfast every morning has to consist of banana, usually followed by a peanut butter or jelly eggo. For lunch, William loves grilled cheese, or pb&j, a cream cheese sandwich, yogurt, applesauce, quesadilla, egg salad...really anything. And lately, his favorite snack is gorgonzola crackers dipped in tomato basil hummus. For dinner, we admittedly need to incorporate more veggies. His go to veggies are carrots or zucchini. He likes pasta with tomato sauce, mac & cheese, risotto, gnocchi, chicken pot pie, pretty much anything.

He is still taking his 3 hour naps and I really hope this continues for awhile. Bedtime is about 8:30 and we usually sleep until about 6:30.

One of his favorite things is giving Bailee her treats, and watches over her to make sure she eats it all and eats it fast. Poor Bailee.

He really is the sweetest little boy who likes to come up and give hugs, make kissing sounds, or blow kisses...still working on actually giving kisses. We love this little boy and know he will be a fantastic older brother!

Ojai!

We just got back from a week long trip to Ojai, William's fourth trip. We were hoping for some sunshine and ended up with a 100 year rain storm. The storm was so severe, oak trees were coming down around the town, one of which was in Aunt Betsy's yard! What can you do? We still had so much fun seeing everyone and hanging out with Uncle Ryan! William particularly enjoyed the dogs, Riley, Maggie, and Poppie. And, he loved going to Aunt Betsy's where he had his own special chair in her room, and he loved poking his head out the cat door watching the cats.

Plus, Reese Witherspoon got married the weekend we were leaving, so we were on celebrity watch. I saw Robert Downey Jr. and his wife twice. We enjoyed good food and can't wait to plan our next visit!

I wish I could say our flight home was uneventful and smooth sailing. But, Alaska Airlines' computer system crashed delaying our flight by more than 6 hours. It was a complete nightmare, but we are fortunate our flight wasn't cancelled. And, William was surprisingly good, despite being deliriously tired.

DISNEYLAND!!!

Last Tuesday, we embarked on our 2+ hour drive from Ojai to Disneyland. We left bright and early and still managed to hit downtown L.A. traffic. We picked up Auntie Ellen from John Wayne Airport and it was off to the park! First stop was meeting Minnie Mouse. William waited very patiently for his turn ran up to Minnie, gave her a huge hug, and ran back.

We walked around the park to get him accustomed to the crowd. The park was busy with Spring Breakers! Then, we decided Winnie the Pooh would be the first ride. William loved it. We rode a few more rides, walked over to California Adventure and rode a few rides there before William finally passed out around 5:00. He slept for about an hour in his stroller while we ate dinner. When he woke up it was off to the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. We decided to call it a night and walked back to our hotel where we were able to watch the fireworks. After every loud bang, William would scream and laugh with excitement. We finally went back to our room and passed out. It had been a long day for everyone!

The following day we got up early and hit the park as it was opening. The first stop was Fantasy Land where he hit some of the more popular kids rides, like Peter Pan. Then it was off to do Autopia, where William was just tall enough. Jon let Will drive, and you could barely see the top of his head over the steering wheel. I think he liked it though. We met Buzz Lightyear, and William was so excited for that. We enjoyed our Mickey Mouse pancakes in New Orleans Square, looked at the ducks, headed to the petting zoo to pet the Billy goats and then ventured over to California Adventure. Finally, around 1:00, William was ready to head back to the hotel for his nap, where we all enjoyed a nice long 3 hour rest. Well, it was sunny when we laid down, and had clouded over when we woke up. But, we decided to venture back to the park anyways. It started downpouring just as we got to the park. Looking like a bunch of drowned rats, we walked to Rainforest Cafe where we were hoping to wait the rain out. Unfortunately, it continued to downpour and even with ponchos for William and the stroller, we decided it was just too miserable for everyone and headed back to the hotel hoping that the following day would be dry.

We lucked out because our 3rd and final day was dry. The plan was to enjoy both parks until William was ready for his nap and then we would hit the road back to Ojai. William lasted until about noon.

Disneyland was a huge success and we had so much fun! Just seeing the joy on William's face was well worth it. We're happy that Auntie Ellen was able to join us for William's first trip to the Happiest Place on Earth!

Piano Man at 16 Months!

Our little piano man is 16 months old. William loves playing the piano whenever he visits Nana and Grandpa's house and the kid isn't half bad! Hopefully we will think to record his playing the next time we visit.

These days, William runs/walks everywhere, loves his Buzz Lightyear ride-on and Radio Flyer scoot-about, looking out the window for birds and counting the cars on the street, walking around outside and hitting bushes with a stick, cleaning up Bailee's food she drops and making sure Bailee eats her treats, loves watching Mickey's Clubhouse in the mornings, has to have a banana for breakfast otherwise he freaks out, loves reading all of his books, can make snake, dog, monkey, and cow sounds, can give "five," insists on feeding himself with his fork, is a huge grilled cheese fan, is sleeping through the night for the most part but is an early riser, usually around 6:15-6:30, thinks any and everything is a phone that he'll hold up to his ear and say "hello," and has outgrown his first pair of shoes.

We are eagerly looking forward to our trip to Ojai and DISNEYLAND in the coming weeks. We'll let you know all about it!