Thursday, March 31, 2011

The Legend Continues to Grow. . .

It was not even a week ago that I posted the picture of Will's enormous foot and already there is more to add regarding his feet.  With Easter coming, Whitney and I knew that Will needed a pair of brown shoes since he only had a pair of sneakers.  Since I was at King of Prussia on Saturday, I went to buy him a pair. I found him the most adorable pair of light brown topsiders!  It was so excited.  I bought a size 7 1/2 because that was the current size of his sneakers.

The next morning, Whitney and I attempted to put the shoes on Will's feet.  After a mini-wrestling match, we were successful.  But shoes aren't supposed to be that difficult to put on.  Despite how ridiculously cute they were, it looked like we were going to have to return them.

Tuesday morning Will and I trekked up to KOP for our adventure in returning and/or exchanging the topsiders.  We first went to Nordstrom's to see what its selection of brown shoes looked like.  Of course all Will cared about were the balloons.  The saleswoman was very friendly and offered to measure his foot.  I thought - "Heck, why not!?"  Rookie parent naivete:  I didn't think his foot grown much in the last 2 months.  Oh how wrong I was!!  The punk's foot is now a size 8!  That is bigger than a 3 year old we know!  And other 3 year olds at his daycare currently wear a 9!

Now his foot may have measured a size 8, but since it is going to keep growing (apparently forever) we needed to buy an 8 1/2.  Hmmm. . . the sneakers he was currently wearing were a 7 1/2 .  Yup, that meant unexpected purchase of some new sneaks.

Unfortunately, Nordy's did not have any brown shoes in the bigfoot's size, so we went back to Stride Rite to exchange the topsiders.  Luckily, they did come in an 8 1/2 and were in stock.  We slipped those shoes right on without a fuss!  Yay!!  Success!

An hour later, we were back in the car with TWO new pairs of shoes and a happy little punk with a blue balloon.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Sasquatch Spotted in Southeastern PA!

As you all know, Will is quite the big kid.  He has been since the day he was born and it has not stopped.  At least he is proportional, still in the 90th (or so) percentile for weight and height.  Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that he can fit into 3T clothing and the 4T Packers sweatshirt from Grandad and Gaia doesn't look *that* big on him.  Scary stuff!

When Will was born, like any baby, he had his footprint taken.  Well, his feet were already so big that his footprint barely fit on the piece of paper.  I mean his toes were practically off the edge of the top and his heel was practically off the edge at the bottom.  And in 20 1/2 months, not much has changed.  While he was at Oak Lane this week the teachers took the footprints of the kids in his class (infant - young toddler).  Will is not the oldest kid in the class, but he is by far the biggest (surprising, I know).  Here is a picture of of the footprints, see if you can spot your favorite toddler's?

Sunday, March 20, 2011

What an ending!

As Spring Break winds down this evening, I thought I would reflect back on what a wonderful day Whitney and I had today.  A favorite local restaurant of ours, The Whip, has been serving brunch for several months and I have been dying to go.  In fact, for those past several months I have been dropping hints to Whitney about how much I would like to go there.  Well, today she took me!  It was such a nice grand finale to what has been a nice break.

Auntie Deb graciously took Will after Meeting for Worship this morning and Whitney and I headed out.  Driving through Chester County horse country on such a beautiful day, I think both of us were in a bit of shock at all the time we were about to spend together without our son.

Now, parking at The Whip is tight, to put it mildly; but my parking karma helped us out and just as we pulled up a parking spot became available right in front!  Anticipating a long wait, we took the Sunday New York Times with us.  However, because we were such a small party we barely finished the sections we started before we were seated.  Now for those of you who have not experienced The Whip, one of the best things is its wonderful selection of beer.  I was excited because there was a beer that they listed on their facebook page which I had the opportunity to try.  It was a coffee infused stout and was delicious!  For an appetizer we had the Welsh Rarebit, a favorite of Whitney's.  For the main course, I ordered the Smoked Salmon Bubble & Squeak (a potato pancake, filled with sauteed leeks and cabbage, topped with Scottish smoked salmon and a sunny side up egg) and Whitney ordered the Eggs Benedict.

Our food arrived, at least mine arrived as well as another dish that looked nothing like Eggs Benedict.  After gently questioning the server, it turned out that instead of putting in Eggs Benedict she entered in the regular Bubble & Squeak.  So she left us the Bubble & Squeak and put in Whit's Eggs Benedict.  When the Eggs Benedict came, we enjoyed our wonderful breakfast.  The Eggs Benedict were quite possibly the best Eggs Benedict either Whitney or I have ever had.  The wonderful meal and date ended with the requisite and divine Sticky Toffee Pudding.  It was a wonderful way to end break.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Spring Break

Well, we are half-way through Spring Break and I thought I would post a little update about our adventures.  Although, I suppose I should really say I will post about Will and Whitney's adventures since I spent all of last week sleeping.

Last Thursday Southeastern Pennsylvania was inundated with a major rainstorm but by Friday morning the sun was shining.  Whitney took Will to meet up with some friends at Longwood Gardens.  This was a brilliant plan, in theory.  Unfortunately, in reality, all roads leading to Longwood were underwater and thus the trip was changed to a morning at the helicopter museum.  On the way to the helicopter museum, Whitney passed the "new" YMCA.  It has been there for a couple years, but we have never seen it.  She was instantly enamored with the mini-water park it has for its outdoor pool.

That evening, after I spent all day sleeping, the whole family ventured out to a friends house to eat pizza and play let our children run around like the wild animals they are.  It was great.  They had a Wii and Lego Star Wars, what more could I ask for?  Well, little did I know that their 5 year old is an insane Wii player!  I was laughing so hard watching him shake his body all over the floor of their living room that I could barely play.  He kicked my butt at the sword-fight Wii game, but only because when someone goes that crazy with the Wii remote there is no defense.  His Dad described it aptly as General Grievous with all four arms out and spinning four lightsabers.  What the!!!???   Needless to say, the evening left Will and I exhausted.  I'm pretty sure we both fell asleep on the ride home.

Moving right along, Sunday night we went to dinner at Ruby's Diner.  Nothing super-exciting but Whitney and I did have a conversation that I cannot believe we actually had.  So, Will has this book Sheep in Jeep.  It's all cute and rhyming, making it pretty easy to memorize.  I start reciting it (oh yes, I am at that level of parenthood), Whitney then corrects me.  At this point, we then begin debating for several minutes the correct version of the book.  Does the line, "Oh dear!  The driver Sheep forgets to steer!" really come that early on?  After laughing at our own insanity, we look for a new toy in the diaper for Will and what do we pull out?  Oh yes, Sheep in Jeep.

In other news, I'm still working on getting a video of Will and his "nnniiiiiiiiiiiiccccccccceeeee" touches. The fact that we have a new and working camera should speed things along.

And now back to the Y.  This morning we took a tour and were both completely enamored.  The cardio machines, the basketball courts, the (indoor) kiddie pool, the spinning room, oh my!  And I forgot to mention the free 2-hours of child-care per day while you workout!  I'm getting worn down.  I see a Y membership in the near future.  . . .

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiccccccccceee!

No, I am not trying to quote from a certain Sacha Baron Cohen movie, but instead my son.  A little background, Will is huge.  At the last measurement check almost a week ago, he was 34 1/8 inches and 33 or 34 pounds.  In other words, a big dude for a toddler.  Whitney and I have been conscious that he has no idea of his own size or strength.  Sometimes he is not gentle when he plays with us or other things.  So, a few months ago we started teaching him about "gentle touches;" we gently touch the cat, the dog, Mommy and Mama.

It was going really well.  He would start to be inadvertently rough with something and we would say "Will, you need to be gentle" and he would give the thing/animal/human a hug, snug, or kiss as a "gentle touch."  Then Whitney came home last week.  Will started playing a little rough and I reminded him that he needed to be nice to her.

Out of nowhere, WillWill pats Whitney with one long stroke and says "NNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCEEEE!"  He also semi-grunts the word when he says it, so it almost sounds like Frankenstein.  It was hysterical!  Whitney and I couldn't stop laughing.  In fact, every time I think about it, I start laughing.  We will do our best to get this phenomena on video because it really is priceless.

In other news, strep throat would have been easy right?  But why settle for strep when you can have mono?

Saturday, March 5, 2011

I made it out alive! (barely)

So, Whitney came home yesterday afternoon from her weekend in Washington, D.C.  Yay!

WillWill and I had a very nice week, but it was much more hectic than I would have thought.  Every morning, except Friday, Will woke up earlier than normal and we made breakfast.  Then began the whirlwind of making his lunch, getting him dressed, getting me dressed and getting everybody out the door.  While I was successful every morning, it sure made me need an extra cup of coffee by 9 am!  In the evening, after softball, I would pick WillWill up and then immediately head to dinner.  He would usually crash in the middle of dinner and we would head upstairs for jammies and stories.  I would then collapse in exhaustion on the couch.

At first, I was not surprised by how little energy I had to spare, single-parenting is tough stuff!  But then, as my body and mind quieted a little more, I realized that my body in fact was rebelling.  By Thursday, I woke up and felt like I had been hit by a truck and my throat was the victim of some terrible slasher movie. It only worsened that night, when I awoke in the middle of the night with a low-grade fever.  (Of course, unfairly, one of my first thoughts was that of course I would get sick while Whitney was out of town!)  A couple tylenol and several hours later, I woke on Friday feeling almost as good as new.  Or so I thought. . .

As the morning hours on Friday slowly crept by, I felt worse and worse and worse.  In fact, I called the doctor.  I was pretty sure that the kidd-o's possible manifestation of strep throat had indeed become a full manifestation of strep throat in MY throat.  After the 10 minute trip to the doc's (literally), it was confirmed.  I went to the pharmacy to pick up my anti-biotics and the pharmacist was worried that it was for Will, but I assured it was not.  When I came from the pharmacy, there was my wonderful wife just having returned!  Yay!

Saved by Whitney!  The moral of the story is that single-parenting is fun and hard.  Will and I were able to feast on such great meals as mac & cheesy; sour cream banana chocolate chip pancakes slathered with peanut butter and goldfish for breakfast.  Despite the awesomeness of our time together, I must not forget that eventually, he brought me down with his dreaded little toddler germs.