Will as a Terrorizing Toddler

So, Will is closing in fast on the fifteen-month mark. And to be truthful, he's not terrorizing; however, he is EXTREMELY active, and has no conception of boundaries. We're working on it - I promise.

Anyway, every stage of baby- and toddlerhood is fun and interesting, but the speed with which he is acquiring new skills and habits right now is mind-blowing. It seems that his crawling speed increases on a daily basis, and he started to walk a week or so ago. He started by standing with no problems, and then we'd call him, and he'd take little, awkward baby steps and finally fling himself at us, trusting implicitly that we wouldn't allow him to faceplant on the hardwood floor. So far we've been able to catch him every time, but I just know that one of these days he's going to smash his little nose entirely flat in a misguided attempt to reach us while we're not watching. The thought makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time. Anyway, now he walks without prompting, further and further each time.

Moving on...well, he's also still picking up new words and phrases. To date in his vocabulary he has:

- "That's good!" - falling out of vogue, but still busted out with great enthusiasm when the occasion warrants such expression
- "Dog!" - generally applied to the correct animal, but often used for anything with a tail and fur - so, really, anything that moves
- "bath" - he still loves those
- "HI!" - his favorite word - shared with people, clocks, furniture, walls, corners of the room, whatever
- when you ask him how he is, he replies, "I'm good!"
- "cheese!" - his favorite food
- "clock" - we think - he does point at it while saying something that sounds vaguely like "clock"
- "WOW!" - used in moments of extreme amazement
- "Woof! Woof!" - only upon request
- "Meeee! Meeee!" - I'm pretty sure that's "meow!" for a cat, but it's not very developed yet.

He gives high fives now, and still sleeps around twelve hours a night (my favorite quality about my son, I think) and a solid two to two and a half during the day. He throws and rolls balls with dexterity, and is obsessed with opening and closing doors over and over and over again. After trying without success to keep him out of my kitchen cabinets and drawers, I've created one underneath my oven that is solely his. It contains an old spatula, and whisk, two splatter screens, a sad old teflon pan from Spencer's bachelor days, a leftover cardboard paper towel roll, and two plastic chopping mats. He plays in there with great focus. In fact, when we went to Carolynn's for Mary Virginia's first birthday, she did this Korean thing in which the one-year-old is presented with a variety of items (spoon, stethoscope, book, calculator, etc.) from which to choose. Obviously, whatever the child goes for first is considered to be indicative of his interests and predilections for an adult career. After Mary Virginia had finished, Will scooted right up there for the spoon. Hmm. Chef extraordinare at a high class bistro? Short-order cook at Waffle House? I can only pray for the former.

His hair is long enough to part now, which makes him look like a little missionary. I think it's cute. A little creepy and old-man-ish, but cute. Anyway, it doesn't seem to matter if I part it or not - he's so busy that it gets all messed up within two seconds of my fixing it. Plus he likes to brush his own hair and put on hats, so I've basically given up. We love him despite him having opinions and preferences of his own!

Photos of the past few months shortly to come!