William's Blog

Mommy and I just had a long conversation about what to be for Halloween. I want to be a grey wolf and Eliana to be a grey wolf pup and Daddy to be a loon and Mommy to be a loon chick. But Mommy said Eliana already has a pumpkin costume, so we can dress up one of my stuffed animals as a wolf pup instead. And Mommy wanted to be a witch because she has a witches hat, but I am too scared of witches, so that wasn't okay with me. Mommy suggested a farmer to go with the pumpkin. But I said that wasn't scary enough. She has to be something scary that I'm not afraid of. She was wondering what that could possibly be. I suggested a big dog with big teeth. Then she suggested a bat. I thought that sounded like a great idea! So she asked if she could be a bat who wears a witches hat. But I said, "No!" Then I played a word game that I often like to play. "If you were bat who wore a witch's hat, do you know what you'd be?" Mommy said, "No, what?" "A bitch!" I like making funny sounding words!

I've been going to school three days a week for two weeks now. The last time Mommy picked me up I told her I have a new friend. My friend Noah is in my class all of three days. We are both shy and quiet so it took us a while to make friends. On Wednesday after our moms came back from talking (Wednesdays I go to Janie's class with Mommy or Daddy) Noah and I were hiding under the easel together. It was really funny to see our moms looking around for us. Then yesterday in Sandy's class, where I get dropped off, Noah and I sat by each other in circle.

William's watercolor painting

I have really been enjoying school. The excavator and the "pusher" are some of my favorite toys at school. I also like the kid-sized couches. Yesterday my teacher Sandy was a little concerned about me because I spent a long time laying on the couch listening to music on headphones. Mommy wasn't a bit surprised and reassured her that it was just something I like to do. It's sure nice of Sandy to notice, though. She's a really great teacher. I also love Janie and am glad that I get to have her for a teacher again, too.

The flower girl and ringbearer

I'm done getting new aunts and uncles for a while now. Uncle Joe married Aunt Kathy this weekend. I got to be the ring bearer and Eliana was the honorary flower girl. She slept through the ceremony, so it was a good thing it was an honorary position. The whole weekend was a lot of fun. From playing with Wall-e in the church at rehearsal to swiming at the hotel, the whole weekend was jam packed with fun!

Mommy and I went by ourselves to the rehearsal because Ellie had a cough. I brought Wall-e so Joe could see how he works, since he gave him to me for my birthday. But Joe was a little busy, so mostly Michael played with him while we waited for the rehearsal to start. Then we practiced the whole wedding. Afterward we went out to dinner at Major's. Michael and I were hungry so we helped ourselves to the veggie tray. Then they brought out some yummy pasta. Mommy and I didn't stay too long because we had to get home to bed. Mommy said it was a good thing we decided to sleep at home because Eliana slept through the night and we all got a good night's sleep before the big day!

The lovely bride getting ready

Saturday was wedding day. It started out with a drive to the cities stopping to pick up my tux. Then we had to change clothes and get pictures taken. It was hard to stand still, look, and smile for the camera - way harder than walking while carrying a pillow! After pictures we went downstairs for some cheese and crackers and wedding pop (which tastes just like trivia pop). When everyone was finally in their seats, it was showtime! Michael and I walked right up to the front of the church and stopped. Then someone reminded us to bow, so we did. Then Grandpa whispered to us to come sit down, so we did! Everyone said we did a very good job. Mommy did a good job walking with Uncle Tommy and doing the reading, too. And Joe and Kathy said all the right stuff and they got married! Grandpa Lanz sang a beautiful song with Kathy's dad on guitar while Joe and Kathy lit the unity candle. The whole thing was pretty special. There was only one little moment of confusion, when the priest prayed for Grandpa Larry... no one remembers a Larry. Soon it was time to walk back down the aisle. With a little shove to get us out of the pew, Michael and I found our way back to the basement all by ourselves!

Whoa! Look at those fish.

After a few more pictures, it was time to go check into the hotel. Daddy, Eliana and I hung out in the room for a while, watched some cartoons and had some down time before the reception at the MN zoo. Dinner was going to be late, so we walked next door to the Dairy Queen and had some ice cream and french fries to tide us over until dinner. Mommy had gone ahead to the zoo with Cory, Joe and Kathy to get some pictures taken. And boy, did they take pictures! Mommy said that arriving with the bride and groom was like arriving to the paparazzi. When we got there, she met us and we walked around the Tropics Trail. Then Daddy and I went off down the dark MN trail while Mommy and Ellie visited with relatives. I had to finish the trail with Pam and Russ because Daddy had to run get food from the car for Ellie. That was an adventure. Russ took the whole group of little boys in the men's room by himself. He was brave! But it went well and I got all washed up for dinner. I got my own special dinner of chicken strips and fruit while the grownups had stuffed chicken and vegetables. There was also an option of pasta for Kathy and other vegetarians. I liked the swedish fish party favors at the tables. I ate several people's. The cake was good, too - especially the chocolate!

Look at those moves!

Then it was time for the dance! Daddy took Eliana back to the hotel to put her to bed, even though she was having a great time dancing with Ivy. She would've been happy to stay and party because she's a real party girl. But she fell right to sleep in her carseat, so she was tired! Mommy asked if I wanted to go or stay and dance. I said I wanted to stay and watch her dance, which was mostly what I did. I danced a little in the beginning before there were too many people on the dance floor. But then the DJ did all sorts of fun dances like the Chicken Dance, Electric Slide and YMCA and I got a little overwhelmed. Lots of people started dancing and I didn't know any of the moves. So then I just watched for a long time (except for the one time Mommy bribed me to do the dollar dance with Aunt Kathy) until the DJ said "last call." I realized it was my last chance to dance. He started playing some cool "guy" music that the big guys were all dancing to. So I got into my "safe box," the rectangle at the edge of the dance floor that was mostly empty of people, and started to pull out my cool dance moves. Before long it was midnight and the bus was leaving for the hotel. The music stopped and we went back to our room. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Gift opening - no home is complete without gnomes

Morning came quickly. We got up and out to the lobby for breakfast by 10:00. We wore our swimsuits so we could go right to the pool. The whole family went swimming in the nice, warm pool. Eliana liked it a lot. It was a short swim, though, because we had to go get packed up. The gift opening was at Kathy's parents' house at noon. I didn't see them open any gifts, though, because I was busy playing pool with Michael. I've only seen the pictures.

On our way home we stopped to drop off my tux and visit Ellie's birth family in Maple Grove. Eliana got to show off her other new tooth - she has two now! And she showed how well she can crawl and stand up next to stuff. We almost left without me getting any magic tricks, but as we were walking out the door I remembered to ask Grandpa Skip to do magic with my smooshed penny that I got at the zoo. He made it go right through Dani's head! I said, "Wow."

Then we were off to Grandpa Ron and Grandma Barb's house to get Belle. She had slept overnight with them while we were gone. We got there kind of late because of all the traffic. It was nice of them to hold dinner for us. But unfortunately there wasn't a lot of time to stay and visit. We had to get home to bed! It was a long weekend.

We were woken up this morning to more banging. The workers have been putting up our new siding on our house. Hopefully tomorrow is the last day. The new color is green, my favorite. We escaped the banging for a while and went to the new library! Mommy and I brought Ellie this time. We didn't get to take any pictures, but it was pretty cool. I liked the new bookshelves. I could see all the covers of the books and CDs. I instantly found a couple CDs I wanted and then a bunch of books right in the Bs. It wasn't long before Mommy said that was enough books and we went to see the toy area. It was smaller, but very nice. My favorite toys were still there. We also looked in the bathrooms. They were big and had little toilets for kids. There was even a nursing room for mommies with babies. I really wanted to go up all those granite stairs, so we walked around upstairs a little. Everything was very light because of all the tall windows Mommy said not to put fingerprints on. The only bad thing about the new library was all the waiting. Hopefully it will get better. But there was a line at the book drop because it's an automatic conveyor that you're supposed to put the books on one at a time. Good thing we didn't bring ALL our books back today! And then there was a line to check out. They librarians have to demagnetize every book now and they don't have a much desk space, so it's tricky for them. Hopefully the wrinkles will get worked out and things will go more quickly soon because Mommy tends to get impatient and crabby when we have to wait in line.

Bye-bye!

Tonight Grandma Barb came over for a little bit because Mommy taught her first class. She said it went well. It's going to be different having Mommy working now. I'm sure we'll all get used to it.

Tomorrow I have my first day of school, too. So I'll have lots of good school stories to come. But that was my busy weekend, plus a day. I hope you enjoyed it half as much as I did!

We are back from our annual family trip to Arkansas over Labor Day weekend. It was lots of fun to see John, Leah, Abi, Faith and Parker. I even liked riding in the car. We got up really early, while it was still dark, on Friday and drove until dinnertime to get there. I slept, played, colored, watched videos, and ate in the car. Eliana didn't like the car ride as much, but she still did really well. Mommy sat in the back most of the time to play with her and Daddy drove.

William and Abi swimming

When we were at John and Leah's, we had a lot of fun playing together. I liked riding bikes, watching and playing Brother Bear, and playing play-doh. We went to the swimming pool on Sunday. There was a big slide there and a shallow wading pool. It was a nice, hot day for swimming!

Petting a kangaroo

Then on Monday we went to a drive-thru safari. They also had a petting zoo where we got to pet goats, kangaroos, monkeys and even a tiger cub! After we finished the walking tour, we all hopped in John and Leah's van and drove around the 5 mile safari. There were emus, camels, zebras, and other animals that would come right up to the car. There were also cages with more monkeys, lions and tigers. The thing I was most interested in while we were driving was Faith's Leapster. Mommy said I couldn't play it during the safari, so Leah let me try it out when we were driving back to their house. Eliana loved the animals on the safari, especially when they would come right up to her window. She also liked it when I made faces at her from the backseat.

Tuesday morning we piled back into the van and headed home. It was a long day of driving made longer when we stopped in Garner, Iowa to visit Auntie Dawn, Tiernan, Caedmon and Brayan. But it was worth the extra trip. I got to play with the kids for a little bit at their apartment.

The whole crew

And then we all went to the Pizza Ranch. We had quite a crew of kids there! It was a fun time with good food. Their buffet had something for everyone. Eliana even got a taste of some mashed potatoes! Then it was time to head back to the road for the last few hours of the drive. We finally made it home at 10:00.

It's official! I'm four! We celebrated with a trip to Cold Stone for my free birthday ice cream, ToysRUs to spend my birthday certificate, and then to the pet store to pick out a fish for my tank. At Cold Stone I got Blueberry Muffin Batter ice cream with M&Ms, sprinkles and gummy bears - it was delicious! At ToysRUs I was looking at some really sweet HotWheels race tracks, but Daddy reminded me that my bat was broken, so I decided to get a new bat and ball instead. Then we went to the pet store.

Royal (with scuba bee in the foreground)

It was tricky to pick a fish because there were so many! I wanted to get a catfish, but Mommy thought they were a little big for my tank and the sign said they like to live in groups. So instead a picked a really pretty red betta. I named him Royal. I got some black rocks with colorful neon ones mixed in and a scuba diving bee to decorate the tank. Daddy helped me make Royal at home in his new tank for the night. It looks like he likes it!

Yesterday I visited my new doctor. She is very nice. And she works with the same nurse as my old doctor, so that was nice. The nurse measured me and said I'm very tall. I was 42 1/4 inches (89%) and 41 pounds (86%). I didn't have to have any shots. I was glad for that! I did have my hearing and eyes checked which was fun. I got Star Wars stickers for doing a good job! And my doctor's nurse gave me a new book! It's a fun one called "Maybe a Bear Ate It." I could read a lot of it all by myself. Mommy found a SORT reading test in some of her teaching stuff and had me read some words because she was curious. My reading level was .8 (almost first grade). It was fun to see how many words I could read. And then I asked Mommy to read the rest of the words to me. They got really hard!

If you ask me how old I am, I'll tell you I'm three. But we had my 4th birthday party yesterday with my grandparents and Uncle Michael. I can't wait until my actual birthday on the 20th when I turn four and I get bigger. We're also going to go get my fish that day. I got a new fish tank from Mommy and Daddy for my birthday, but I don't get the fish until my real birthday. The fish tank makes a great night light for my room. Mommy and Daddy also gave me the new Tag Reading System from LeapFrog. We love it! I've already taught Daddy what a compound word is - I learned that from my Diego book. The other thing I got from Mommy and Daddy was new swim goggles. My dollar swim goggles didn't last long because I've been playing Olympic swimmer so much lately. I break world records swimming across the blue blanket on my living room floor, just like Michael Phelps. Or I set up goals and play water polo. I also do lots of flips on the blue blanket when it becomes a gymnastics mat. That's why Mommy made me an Olympic cake.

William's been playing Olympics, so he had an Olympic birthday cake

I sat and watched her put all the rings on the cake and do all the decorating. It took a long time, but it was worth it because I got to taste all the frosting colors. And then everybody came over on Sunday to help eat it. Grandma and Grandpa Lanz and Michael came and brought me some Hotwheels race track and cars. I can make the cars do lots of cool stunts with all that track! Grandpa Ron and Grandma Barb brought my present in a bag with pictures of money all over it - that was cool! And inside was a Twins' helmet and a Mauer jersey! It helps me play really great baseball (and the jeans from Grandma Lanz help, too). Tomorrow I get to go to the doctor to see how I'm growing. Then the 20th will be my real birthday and we can go to ToysRUs to use my certificate and the pet store to get my fish!

Getting ready for the pool

Today was a hot day, so we tried out my new swim goggles at the wading pool this afternoon. Eliana got to try swimming, too. She's feeling better now. But she didn't like swimming too much. Mommy thinks she would have liked it better if Mommy and been wearing her swim suit so she could get in the water and hold Ellie close. I said that next time I could hold her. Mommy thought that was a nice idea.

The lego table

Yesterday Mommy and I took one last trip to the old St. Cloud Public Library. Eliana was napping at home with Daddy, which was nice because she's too little to remember this library. But our weekly visits have been one of my favorite activities since I've been able to walk. And now they're going to tear it down. So Mommy brought the camera and we took some pictures of the old children's room with the red carpet everywhere. The same red carpet I peed on a couple times and that Mommy played on when she was a little girl. In a few weeks they will open the new library. I've been watching them build it for a long time and I'm excited that I will soon be able to go inside. I wonder if they'll hide Remy (a stuffed rat from Ratitoulle) in the new children's room. Yesterday I got to find him hiding and pick a prize. The librarians are always thinking of fun new games for the kids. I also wonder if they'll bring the legos and the train table to the new library. Those are some of my favorite toys. Or maybe they'll have new toys! I'll let you know when they open it in September!

Swimming lessons and Bam Bam ball are finished for the summer and I can't say that I'm sad. I really had a lot of fun at Bam Bam ball, but I was ready for it to be finished. I loved the last day. They had dilly bars after the game, and a picnic with hotdogs and chips and even a dunk tank! I got to throw the ball at the target three times and then I got to go up and push the button to make the coach fall in the water. I played dunk tank at home for a good solid week afterward.

Last week we only had swimming lessons, so it was much more relaxing. Mommy figured out that I needed to be there ahead of the coaches like we were doing in the beginning, so we went and played at the park for a while one day. Then the last two days the coaches were actually really early so we didn't beat them either time. I still did okay warming up, though. Especially the last day when I was so excited to show the toy I got to bring. I brought my new wind-up scuba diver. I didn't understand why everyone kept calling him "Scuba Steve" even though I kept telling them that he didn't have a name.

William teaching Ellie to play goalie

This week we haven't had anywhere we had to go during the day. We did a library trip on Tuesday and otherwise we've been enjoying the lazy summer. Mommy's been coughing like crazy all week, so that's kept us at home more. But I keep myself busy inventing new games or playing baseball, soccer, and football in the house. Ellie is getting big enough now that I'm allowed. And she can even play, too! Did you see the pictures of her playing goalie? It's not really good to kick the ball at her head, but she's a tough baby.

Today was an eventful day for me. Swimming lessons was cancelled due to the weather, so we thought we were just going to have a lazy day at home for a change. Then Mommy's friend Tonya called and asked if we wanted to go out to lunch. So it was a good thing that swimming lessons was cancelled because otherwise I'd be climbing out of the pool sopping wet at 12:25. Instead we met Tonya and Andy at Bravo Burrito and I got to have my first burrito! I had to learn to peel it (but not too much) and bite it. It was good. I got the kiddo burrito and it was still big enough for me for lunch and dinner and to share some with Mommy and Daddy! Maybe part of the reason why I had so much left was because Andy and I were so busy playing at lunch. We get along really well and we sure can get silly together. Just like Tonya and Mommy did before they grew up to be Mommies. We stopped at the play area at the mall to get all our wiggles out after lunch. Eliana liked watching us run around and climb. And she got to play with a baby girl who was a little older than her. It was funny to watch her sit and chew on that baby's dress. Despite the rain, it turned out to be a fun day.

What a fun day we had! We went to Beaver Lake where I swam, went tubing, swam, played in the water, and swam until I was so cold and shivery that Mommy made me get out of the lake and into dry clothes. I did take one break from swimming to eat snacks, which is why I didn't eat very much dinner. I ate all my barbequed chicken and corn on the cob, though - they were delicious! After dinner I jumped on the trampoline while Mommy and Daddy finished eating and packed our stuff up. It was a bummer to leave before the party was over, but Mommy wanted to go to the big fireworks in town. We went to her friend Denise's house where we parked the van. Then we walked to Hester Park to join Denise's family and watch the fireworks. They were very loud! Just when I got up the nerve to uncover my ears, the finale started and I had to cover them again quick! The fireworks were cool! Eliana liked them, too. She didn't cry at all and even had her ears uncovered more than I did. I think Mommy and Daddy's favorite part was being home by 10:35. That's already way passed my bedtime and I was beat from all that swimming and jumping on the trampoline.