Can't hear the buzzer with my hands on my ears! That may be Will's current theme song. The habit developed the first time we took him to Wabash basketball game in December. He heard the buzzer sound, put his hands on his ears and refused to take them off for the entire and I mean entire game!!!! He played, and ate popcorn (like a dog-no hands)but never once took his hands off of his ears until we had completely left the gym.
This has continued for weeks. He has gone to several more games and done the same thing! We have ruled out ear infection and real auditory issues. Although I do beleieve that he is developing the "three year old selective hearing" skill. Well honed I am told by the early teen years! Joe and I have been really concerned as of late and took him to the doctor yesterday.
Here is what our sainted doctor told me, " This is a phase. There is nothing physically wrong however, many children do become more sensitive to sound around age three. In all likelyhood he will just grow out of it. Continue to take him to games and he ought to desensitize in the process." Great!!! So chalk one up to the frantic mom who thinks there must be more to this.
We have purchased ear plugs, ear muffs (ear mumps a la Will)and had Dr. Douglas tell Will directly that while the buzzer is indeed loud, it WILL NOT HURT HIM. We shall see... there is a game tomorrow night.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Christmas, 2010 and snow!
It has been some time since I last sat at the computer and wrote a few things to remember. Wow, what a quick holiday season it was, filled with baking (feeding frosting to our elderly dog Lulu, decorating (painting arms in various shades while briefly unattended), singing (on the altar in church with a rather loud drum)! It was a great month!
Christmas was in all honesty terrific. It did not begin with much hope however! I had decided that if we were relegated to attending Christmas Eve services at St. Bernard's (perhaps the darkest, saddest, most depressing looking church I have ever entered) that Will would participate in the children's chorus. A friend mentioned that her daughter, a friend of Will's, was going to sing. It seemed a great idea and perhaps something for us, Will's parents, to look forward to at church. He loved the songs ad picked them up very quickly at the rehearsal. The addition of the drum for "Little Drummer Boy" was a big hit! Come Christmas Eve Will was dressed in his holiday attire and ready to perform... little did we know what that REALLY meant! The singing was fun and certainly the highlight of the service. The problem we encountered was that the child I sent up to sing with the chorus was not the child that returned to the pew afterward. He was totally off the wall. Joe took him out of church (1). The priest invited the children to sit on the altar for a story at the gospel (too long at 15 minutes). It was then that I thought the hand of God would come from above and pluck him off the altar! He jumped, rolled, chatted, hopped, danced, waved... you get hte picture. I took him out of church (2). We returned until Will decided to try to use the rope belt from his shepard tunic to make a "bridge" across the main aisle. Joe took him out of church (3)! I have never been so exhausted after a holiday service. He didn't calm down at home either and blessedly fell asleep after several threats to call off the impending visit from a certain S. Claus.
Christmas morning came first at 4:15am. Will incredulously asked if Santa had been here yet. I told him no, not yet but that he was indeed coming. He should have been concerned if he was remembering his less than behavior of the previous night. All was well later in the morning at 8:30am when he really got and came down to see the tree and gifts! Whew! What a holiday!
Out first really big snow arrived yesterday! We went out as soon as we could after preschool. Will had a great time riding in the sled and shoveling the snow into the sled. Our only mishap happened when he tried to toss a shovlefull of snow over a nearby fence! The result was a face full snow! When I suggested that this was not a great idea Will responded with, "I know Mommy! I not do that 'gin! AHHHHHH! " I brushed the snow off his face and we continued on down the road. I think we shoveled most of Main Street as well as our own backyard walkway. Oh the joys of wintertime... how many days until Spring?
Christmas was in all honesty terrific. It did not begin with much hope however! I had decided that if we were relegated to attending Christmas Eve services at St. Bernard's (perhaps the darkest, saddest, most depressing looking church I have ever entered) that Will would participate in the children's chorus. A friend mentioned that her daughter, a friend of Will's, was going to sing. It seemed a great idea and perhaps something for us, Will's parents, to look forward to at church. He loved the songs ad picked them up very quickly at the rehearsal. The addition of the drum for "Little Drummer Boy" was a big hit! Come Christmas Eve Will was dressed in his holiday attire and ready to perform... little did we know what that REALLY meant! The singing was fun and certainly the highlight of the service. The problem we encountered was that the child I sent up to sing with the chorus was not the child that returned to the pew afterward. He was totally off the wall. Joe took him out of church (1). The priest invited the children to sit on the altar for a story at the gospel (too long at 15 minutes). It was then that I thought the hand of God would come from above and pluck him off the altar! He jumped, rolled, chatted, hopped, danced, waved... you get hte picture. I took him out of church (2). We returned until Will decided to try to use the rope belt from his shepard tunic to make a "bridge" across the main aisle. Joe took him out of church (3)! I have never been so exhausted after a holiday service. He didn't calm down at home either and blessedly fell asleep after several threats to call off the impending visit from a certain S. Claus.
Christmas morning came first at 4:15am. Will incredulously asked if Santa had been here yet. I told him no, not yet but that he was indeed coming. He should have been concerned if he was remembering his less than behavior of the previous night. All was well later in the morning at 8:30am when he really got and came down to see the tree and gifts! Whew! What a holiday!
Out first really big snow arrived yesterday! We went out as soon as we could after preschool. Will had a great time riding in the sled and shoveling the snow into the sled. Our only mishap happened when he tried to toss a shovlefull of snow over a nearby fence! The result was a face full snow! When I suggested that this was not a great idea Will responded with, "I know Mommy! I not do that 'gin! AHHHHHH! " I brushed the snow off his face and we continued on down the road. I think we shoveled most of Main Street as well as our own backyard walkway. Oh the joys of wintertime... how many days until Spring?
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The Two Sides of Will
I will begin by admitting that my son has both a public and private personna. For this reason I believe that in the future should Will have any interest in becoming a politician he has the potential for success.(Of course we all know which side of the aisle he will espouse, after all he is with me much more than he is with Joe) We see his private personna all the time... some parts are sweet and cozy and some well.... let's just say he lets it all hang out!
Apparently his public personna is quite awesome especially when neither Joe nor I are around to witness. The reports I get from preschool are glowing... Will listens, Will follows directions, Will participates with lots of the other children, He is so sweet. I have to think... are they talking about the same Will that stomps his feet and yells "no" at the top of his lungs if I even suggest that he stop what he is doing to change gears? I suppose the answer is indeed yes and follows in a long one of children who do the same. He is also unbelieveably cooperative at the doctor and the dentist. He sits, does exactly what they ask him to do, and chats pleasantly with the nurse/hygenist. They all think he is "just soooo cute".
The only exception to this is Church on Sunday. If we can get to the point at which communion is distributed we consider it a major victory and we leave directly after communion so as not to prolong the agony ( for those around us). Yes, we adhere to the not commonly known Roman Catholic tradtition of "Host and Coast". Perhaps Will does not acknowledge that church is a public place or he is so comfortable at Church that he does not feel the need to project a favorable image... who knows? And about the grocery store.... don't even get me started, it's a lost cause.
Many tell me that some day I will look back on the days of quick church exits after having jumped off the kneeler for the third time and reminders of two quarters to "ride Bob the Builder" if grocery store behavior merits with nostalgia... I'll let you all know when that kicks in.... I'm guessing not for a while.
Apparently his public personna is quite awesome especially when neither Joe nor I are around to witness. The reports I get from preschool are glowing... Will listens, Will follows directions, Will participates with lots of the other children, He is so sweet. I have to think... are they talking about the same Will that stomps his feet and yells "no" at the top of his lungs if I even suggest that he stop what he is doing to change gears? I suppose the answer is indeed yes and follows in a long one of children who do the same. He is also unbelieveably cooperative at the doctor and the dentist. He sits, does exactly what they ask him to do, and chats pleasantly with the nurse/hygenist. They all think he is "just soooo cute".
The only exception to this is Church on Sunday. If we can get to the point at which communion is distributed we consider it a major victory and we leave directly after communion so as not to prolong the agony ( for those around us). Yes, we adhere to the not commonly known Roman Catholic tradtition of "Host and Coast". Perhaps Will does not acknowledge that church is a public place or he is so comfortable at Church that he does not feel the need to project a favorable image... who knows? And about the grocery store.... don't even get me started, it's a lost cause.
Many tell me that some day I will look back on the days of quick church exits after having jumped off the kneeler for the third time and reminders of two quarters to "ride Bob the Builder" if grocery store behavior merits with nostalgia... I'll let you all know when that kicks in.... I'm guessing not for a while.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Mochamotor and other additions to Webster's
While Will is talking up a storm all day long, I might add, some of his words are creative to say the least. We enjoy trying to figure out what the actual vocabulary might be and usually we are close. Yesterday Will and Joe were playing "train" through the rooms in the house. Each of them would have a turn being the engine or as Joe (Mr. English Major) told him, the locomotive. Will comes racing through the kitchen shouting, "Mommy, I'm the mochamotor!" Honestly I was hoping that meant a chocolate making machine, alas!
On this same topic some of Will's favorite flying machines are "hepildoctors". You are familiar with such things... they take off perpendicular to the ground and have rotars... that's right heilocopters! And did you know that the emergency vehicle often seen racing down the street to a hospital is called an "ambience"? I hope that they have a terrific atmosphere of healing should I ever be transported in one.
There is only one more I will add... Will has a new set of zoo animals. We go through each one and name the animal. Until last week I was unaware of the new species of "rhinociteosaurusus" (rhino-cit-o-saur-us-us). I think we have been talking too much about animals and dinosaurs that he is perhaps getting them confused. Either that or Will just has a really bad cold!!!
On this same topic some of Will's favorite flying machines are "hepildoctors". You are familiar with such things... they take off perpendicular to the ground and have rotars... that's right heilocopters! And did you know that the emergency vehicle often seen racing down the street to a hospital is called an "ambience"? I hope that they have a terrific atmosphere of healing should I ever be transported in one.
There is only one more I will add... Will has a new set of zoo animals. We go through each one and name the animal. Until last week I was unaware of the new species of "rhinociteosaurusus" (rhino-cit-o-saur-us-us). I think we have been talking too much about animals and dinosaurs that he is perhaps getting them confused. Either that or Will just has a really bad cold!!!
Monday, November 9, 2009
GOTTCHA!
Let me begin by saying that Will's behavior in church has always been a bit suspect but we have managed to move to the "acceptable for a three year old" range until last Sunday! Yesterday was much better but last Sunday was perhaps his worst ever... who knows what prompted the wild toddler act perhaps it was the fact that Halloween was the night before. That could have been the issue! For whatever reason Will was AWFUL in church.
Whenever Will is not behaving appropropriately in church Joe will take him out into the vestibule. Usually they sit out there and have a discussion about why they left and what Will needs to do in order to return to the pew with me. In this case not only did they go out to the vestibule they also went for a walk into the old school building. Will continued to misbehave as they walked past the old cafeteria. Inside the cafeteria a group of people were setting up for the K of C breakfast that is held after the 9:30am mass. Joe sat Will down on one of the benches in between the cafeteria doors and the restroom. All of a sudden there was a loud "CRASH, BANG!" from the cafeteria. Will stopped for a minute, looked at Joe and asked, " What that sound was Daddy?" (He actually does talk a bit like Yoda sometimes.) Without missing a beat, or so he thought, Joe responded with, "That is probably Jesus coming to see why you are not behaving in church!" Will waited just a minute and then said in a matter of fact manner, " That not Jesus, Daddy. Jesus not walk. He on cross."
As Joe relayed this story to me after mass I asked him what his response was. He said, " I didn't have any. At that point I thought it best just to move on." So it goes... sometimes you just have to move on.
Whenever Will is not behaving appropropriately in church Joe will take him out into the vestibule. Usually they sit out there and have a discussion about why they left and what Will needs to do in order to return to the pew with me. In this case not only did they go out to the vestibule they also went for a walk into the old school building. Will continued to misbehave as they walked past the old cafeteria. Inside the cafeteria a group of people were setting up for the K of C breakfast that is held after the 9:30am mass. Joe sat Will down on one of the benches in between the cafeteria doors and the restroom. All of a sudden there was a loud "CRASH, BANG!" from the cafeteria. Will stopped for a minute, looked at Joe and asked, " What that sound was Daddy?" (He actually does talk a bit like Yoda sometimes.) Without missing a beat, or so he thought, Joe responded with, "That is probably Jesus coming to see why you are not behaving in church!" Will waited just a minute and then said in a matter of fact manner, " That not Jesus, Daddy. Jesus not walk. He on cross."
As Joe relayed this story to me after mass I asked him what his response was. He said, " I didn't have any. At that point I thought it best just to move on." So it goes... sometimes you just have to move on.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
William P- The Musical!!!!
"Something exciting. Something inviting. Something for everyone! A comedy by Will!" Ever since Will really began to notice sounds he has been drawn to music and singing of any kind, good or bad. He loves it all! We and our families have provided him with all sorts of musical toys, instruments, CD's and such, as yet mercifully no drums... I am hopeful we can avoid classifying a drum as an instrument. We'll see?
Preschool has brought a new level of musical awareness. Will is now old enough to learn songs! He has mastered "old Wabash" much to Joe's delight and is now working on entire repertoire. Lately, our family has been treated to what I refer to as Preschool Preludes. As we go through the day doing our usual mundane things Will suddenly breaks out into song... just like in a musical! These songs are the things he learns in preschool... one day he was sitting in the back seat of the car as Joe drove and began singing, " What's the weather? What's the weather? What's the weather outside? Is it sunny or rainy or cloudy outside?" Apparently, they sing this everyday. Yesterday at Grandma and Grandpa's house after lunch he went into the kitchen and started singing a days of the week song. It was the first time we had heard this one... "How many days are in a week? How many days are in a week? How many days are in a week? There are seven days in a week! Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Friday Thursday, Monday then comes Saturday! (As you may notice the lyrics need a bit of work but well... it's a new song!)
With Christmas coming I have no doubt that he will be singing up a storm. We have already listened to one ( an only one) holiday music CD! I am trying to hold him off just a bit. But he is right now in the background singing "Up on the Housetop" complete with hand motions thanks to some very early holiday commercial... uugh!
All this does make me wonder if the future holds school programs where Joe and I sit in the audience waiting for Will's class to perform and realize that THAT child who is over emphasizing, all the lyrics and choreography with great enthusiasm is yes, in fact our son! HMMMMM! Let's just say Will may espouse the " life is stage" philosophy.
Preschool has brought a new level of musical awareness. Will is now old enough to learn songs! He has mastered "old Wabash" much to Joe's delight and is now working on entire repertoire. Lately, our family has been treated to what I refer to as Preschool Preludes. As we go through the day doing our usual mundane things Will suddenly breaks out into song... just like in a musical! These songs are the things he learns in preschool... one day he was sitting in the back seat of the car as Joe drove and began singing, " What's the weather? What's the weather? What's the weather outside? Is it sunny or rainy or cloudy outside?" Apparently, they sing this everyday. Yesterday at Grandma and Grandpa's house after lunch he went into the kitchen and started singing a days of the week song. It was the first time we had heard this one... "How many days are in a week? How many days are in a week? How many days are in a week? There are seven days in a week! Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Friday Thursday, Monday then comes Saturday! (As you may notice the lyrics need a bit of work but well... it's a new song!)
With Christmas coming I have no doubt that he will be singing up a storm. We have already listened to one ( an only one) holiday music CD! I am trying to hold him off just a bit. But he is right now in the background singing "Up on the Housetop" complete with hand motions thanks to some very early holiday commercial... uugh!
All this does make me wonder if the future holds school programs where Joe and I sit in the audience waiting for Will's class to perform and realize that THAT child who is over emphasizing, all the lyrics and choreography with great enthusiasm is yes, in fact our son! HMMMMM! Let's just say Will may espouse the " life is stage" philosophy.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Halloween Gators
A while ago, back in the summer, I asked Will what he wanted to be for Halloween. He said he wanted to be a football player. This amazingly remained the same for months! I thought "great" this will be easy he can be Wabash player and I can go over to the bookstore and get a jersey, right? WRONG! They don't make Wabash jerseys for 3 year olds, go figure? Every other college has small jerseys but none for Wabash... so next on the list.
Some of you may know that we have a connection in Gainesville, Fl. My sister and brother-in-law are closely associated with the University of Florida (Go Gators!) Sorry, reflex action! Low and behold for Will's birthday they sent him of all things... a Gator jersey and not just ANY Gator jersey but a "Tebow" jersey! Whoo hoo, Halloween costume back on track! Because of Aunt Lisa and Uncle Bob Will is well versed in all things Gator. He knows the song " We are the boys of Old Florida" almost as well as "Old Wabash", he knows the "Rama Jama" cheer and my sister's personal favorite "It's Great to be a Florida Gator"... oh... and he can CHOMP with the best of them. And he can pick Tim Tebow out in magazine photos! All in all he is as big a Gator fan as a three year old can be. So moving on with the costume assembly. I figured that all I needed were football pants (check) and a helmet. Joe found the pants in a dress-up Colts uniform set and a Colts helmet. What I did not think about was that there is not a huge call for "Gator orange" paint in the midwest. I spent many hours in lots of home improvement stores looking for the correct orange. With a little help from some tinted primer I was able to paint the helmet and the Gainesville group provided the script helmet sitcker. We are set to go.
He wore the costume for the first time last week to the Children's Museum party and we added one more detail that apparently, for Will made the costume- eye black! I was instructed not to write the Phil 4:13 that Tebow writes on the stickers because Joe did not want to invite those sorts of conversations so we chose "Tebow Time" Will LOVES the eye black ( a proud dad moment) He looks at himself from all angles in the mirror in our room and then proclaims himself "really cool". That's really what we were going for a cool, fun costume! And I bet he will be the ONLY Tim Tebow this Halloween in Crawfordsville. Oh yeah... and just to finish out the look we have a Heisman trophy for him to carry and Joe, well.... Joe is going to be Urban Meyer... his costume you ask? A UF (Go Gators!) baseball hat. I can only do so much!
Some of you may know that we have a connection in Gainesville, Fl. My sister and brother-in-law are closely associated with the University of Florida (Go Gators!) Sorry, reflex action! Low and behold for Will's birthday they sent him of all things... a Gator jersey and not just ANY Gator jersey but a "Tebow" jersey! Whoo hoo, Halloween costume back on track! Because of Aunt Lisa and Uncle Bob Will is well versed in all things Gator. He knows the song " We are the boys of Old Florida" almost as well as "Old Wabash", he knows the "Rama Jama" cheer and my sister's personal favorite "It's Great to be a Florida Gator"... oh... and he can CHOMP with the best of them. And he can pick Tim Tebow out in magazine photos! All in all he is as big a Gator fan as a three year old can be. So moving on with the costume assembly. I figured that all I needed were football pants (check) and a helmet. Joe found the pants in a dress-up Colts uniform set and a Colts helmet. What I did not think about was that there is not a huge call for "Gator orange" paint in the midwest. I spent many hours in lots of home improvement stores looking for the correct orange. With a little help from some tinted primer I was able to paint the helmet and the Gainesville group provided the script helmet sitcker. We are set to go.
He wore the costume for the first time last week to the Children's Museum party and we added one more detail that apparently, for Will made the costume- eye black! I was instructed not to write the Phil 4:13 that Tebow writes on the stickers because Joe did not want to invite those sorts of conversations so we chose "Tebow Time" Will LOVES the eye black ( a proud dad moment) He looks at himself from all angles in the mirror in our room and then proclaims himself "really cool". That's really what we were going for a cool, fun costume! And I bet he will be the ONLY Tim Tebow this Halloween in Crawfordsville. Oh yeah... and just to finish out the look we have a Heisman trophy for him to carry and Joe, well.... Joe is going to be Urban Meyer... his costume you ask? A UF (Go Gators!) baseball hat. I can only do so much!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
