10-5 Hike at Laumier Sculpture Park

Everyday that Grandma worked we had lunch with her at the office. You loved sitting in the office chairs and eating at the big table. You also loved all the attention from Kim and the other ladies at Grandma's office.

One day after lunch we went to the Laumier Sculpture Park to enjoy the beautiful weather, you were so happy to be outside!! We tried out the ERGO back position for the first time and you were quite pleased as was I, I could see where we were walking!

Your favorite part of the walk was when we ran into the park maintenance guys and got to watch then use the forklift to clear some brush.







You and Tia Julie played and played in the big open field. You were playing hide and seek and talking about the train noises you were hearing. You can't tell in the picture but the open area had quite a slope and you found it hilarious to run up and down the hill!

Halloween Flashback

At the beginning of October we visited Tia Julie and Grandma in St. Louis, more on that in the next few posts... And of course we went to the Kirkwood Farmer's Market to take our annual Pumpkin picture. Oh how you have grown!! Dad was disappointed as we didn't find as ugly of a pumpkin to pose in front of this year, but oh well.









Since I was doing a flashback I had to pull out one of last years Halloween pictures. Last year you couldn't sit up on your own yet and this year we can barely keep up with you! You can run and walk backwards and climb on tables:)

Our family loves traditions and we love holidays. It feels like Halloween is the kick off to the holiday season and we are loving all the festivities!

Our September Staycation

Toward the end of September Dad had a week off so we did a family Staycation in Phoenix. You got to spend lot of time with Dad!!

In true Weiss Family style, we took a trip to Ikea where you loved sitting in the small Poang chair, you are so your father's son!

We also checked out the Phoenix zoo again, you especially liked seeing the Giraffes and the monkey.

We tried a few local restaurants that week, one of which was a local Mexican dive, you loved sitting on the booth without a booster seat. Nowadays you want to do whatever we are doing and sitting on big chairs and couches is a constant game!

We loved our week with Dad home!

Willem the Five toothed wonder

Willem made it to 18 months with only 5 teeth. I was trying to get a picture of his teeth for posterity. By the way, Willem likes broccoli now.

You are 18 Months old!!

Whoa time has flown. Last Saturday was your 18 month birthday. You weren't feeling too well that day which was a bummer, but we made a half birthday cake for you and had a fun day overall. We went to a bbq at Paw Paw and Gigi's to celebrate Maw Maw's birthday and then we went to a friends birthday party at Encanto Park. It was your first kids birthday party and you seemed to have a lot of fun. You really enjoyed pushing and kicking this big beach ball around in the grass. You also liked that the party was right on the train track so we had a great view each time the train came around. You seemed more interested in the carousel at the theme park than you had been in the past, you actually asked to go on it.

Today we had your 18 month well check and you are now 25lbs and 34" tall, almost 3'!! We can tell how much you've grown by which drawers you can now get into. Your favorite game each day is to empty the bathroom, dresser and kitchen drawers so each inch you grow is opening a new world of possibility for your explorations.

This past week you really started doing more movements when we sing songs. Like when we sing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" you'll put your fingers together like raise them up in the air like we do. You also love following along to the "Wheels on the Bus". You'll do the wipers and of course your favorite, "toot toot", and move on back. Your vocabulary seems to be growing expoenentially, you now recognize most animals and can communicate elephant and penguin through the signs we made up.

You are getting more and more opinionated and very quickly pick up on things we'd prefer you not do. You love dismantling the childproof padding on the fireplace as you know you get a reaction out of us each time. So this morning I was getting ready and straightening up the house and you were not too pleased by how I was spending my time so you kept bringing small pieces of padding to me. I think by the end you had about 10 pieces of padding on our bed and the ground and in drawers.

Today was our first biking adventure without Dad. We rode over to Paw Paw and Gigi's new house and the ride went off without a hitch. The weather was perfect and we both seemed to enjoy being able to spend an hour outside in the middle of the day. You were happy as could be, munching on your goldfish crackers and wearing your Thomas the Train helmet as we rode down Central Ave.

Willem by Willem

Willem grabbed the camera and took some self portaits.

You are driving!

9/12 Community Fair

Last Saturday, Uncle Jayme went with us to a community fair put on by a very generous church in N. Scottsdale. There were horses and animals to pet and jumping houses. You most enjoyed watching the other kids play and exploring the community room we spent most of our time in. Almost immediately after we sat down to eat you ran to the middle of the room, 50 feet away from us and just stood there observing. You are very independent these days! You stayed there most of the time but would run back occasionally to check in.

















One of these times Uncle Jayme gave you a Dorito. We offered you a snow cone but you wanted nothing to do with it. You held onto the Dorito knawing on it for awhile and then one time when you came back you decided to dip it into the melted snow cone. You didn't try it right away, you ran back to the middle of the room, tasted your concoction, stood for a moment and then ran back for more. Again, you dipped the Dorito and ran back to the middle, licked the sugar off and came back for more. You continued on like this until your Dorito had disintegrated into nothing. Then ceremoniously you threw the last little bit of Dorito into the drink. You were cracking us up with this routine!
















We had a lot of fun with Uncle Jayme! He took you to the area where you could pet the animals and you loved being that close to the animals you like to look at in your books.


This was a great Saturday!!

Willem, The Monkey

Over the past few weeks you have definitely become a monkey. This morning we were playing outside and instead of opening your car door you climbed through the window just because you could:)

You also love climbing into Mom's car. We've gotten into a routine of you climbing into the drivers seat and playing for a bit when we are leaving the house. So many buttons to push!!

The last few weeks...

We are getting toward the end of Summer in Phoenix and find that we can go out much more during the day, which we are thoroughly enjoying. You have gone through another growth spurt and are tall enough to reach all the door knobs and counter tops, which you find quite exciting!!

What else is new:
-You are very into shoes. You love picking out shoes and bringing them to us to put on you and you like bringing us our shoes if you think we need to be heading outside.














-For breakfast you love eggs, yogurt, oatmeal and fruit, or some comination there of. You especially like drinking your cereal or yogurt by picking up the bowl. You think this is quite funny and it's so cute, I keep encouraging you by grabbing the camera:)



















-The other day we went to a park near the house and the ducks were walking right up to you and you didn't flinch. I didn't get a picture of it, but one time you weren't in the stroller, you were just standing by yourself on the sidewalk and the duck literally bit at your shirt and you didn't move an inch. It looked as though you were studying the duck. That same trip to the park you found a tall hill and just had a hoot running up the hill and back down the hill. You must have done it a dozen times, each time with it being more and more exciting.














-Last Friday we went to a Train Park. You love trains, especially moving your hand to say "toot toot". We road the train around the park which you enjoyed and then went to the playground. I could tell how much you'd grown, you were truly independent playing on the gym equipment. You also loved playing in the sand with the other kids. You are really noticing other kids and wanting to play with them more.

Time with Dad

We are all adjusting to Jason's new schedule right now and taking in every moment we can as a family. Since Jason is often behind the camera we don't get as many pictures of him playing with Willem.

When Jason gets home, Willem plays this game where he acts like he's disinterested and then as soon as Jason goes to the room to change out of his scrubs, Willem runs after him eagerly asking to be wrestled with. I don't usually see them for the next 5 minutes and all I hear is Willem laughing and laughing.

I'd say wrestling is Willem and Jason's favorite activity but Jason is going to need to add some comments on this post. Willem also loves jumping on his Dad when Dad isn't expecting it.

Grandma visited last week and we had a lot of fun!! One outing we went on as a family was to the Arizona Museum of Youth in Mesa. It was our first time there and you thoroughly enjoyed it. Most of the activities were designed with you in mind so you wandered around from activity to the next. You especially enjoyed the slide, drawing with chalk, the grocery area, and sweeping the ground.

8-22 Arizona Museum of Youth

Grandma visited last week so we went on a fun outing to the Arizona Museum of Youth. It was our first time there and you thoroughly enjoyed it. Most of the activities were designed with you in mind so you wandered from one activity to the next, drawing with chalk, doing a craft with Dad, going down the slide and more. Here are a few pictures from our outing...