September 2009 Archives

As I noted on Friday, Will’s birthday was actually celebrated in three parts. Yesterday was the third and final installment. (There may be a fourth part, as Aunt Dena and Uncle Dennis were unable to make it yesterday. But we don’t have a set time to get together yet.)

So, Nana and Grampa were down to celebrate. And Nana’s cousin Pat and her husband Harry also joined us. Just a small gathering, but still lots of fun. Will’s dinner request was — homemade waffles, with all of the decorations! Will went with chocolate chips, whipped cream, and syrup. Most of the rest of us at least included some fruit in our decorations. Yes, I made a face out of mine. You can see more in the picture slide show below.

We also tried a couple of simple games after dinner — like bingo and a clothes pin drop. Fun stuff that kids and adults could all play. Some video of the clothes pin drop can be seen below.

We closed things out first with opening presents, then moving on to the ice cream cake. Will loved all of his gifts from everyone, and was really excited about the whole afternoon and evening. So now he is 7 years old, and getting taller every day. (He measured out at 52 inches at Busch Gardens.)

So, one last time — Happy Birthday, Will.

Today was part 2 of the birthday celebration, though it was his actual birthday. (Going to Busch Gardens last Saturday was his first “celebration.”) He’s already getting too big (52”). Seeing him sleeping in a regular twin bed is just astounding, as he takes up so much of it.

Today, he got donut holes for breakfast — and the birthday song sung to him. It’s a bit of a tradition, though usually it’s in bed. He got up too early today. I guess he was kind of excited.

At lunch, Kellie brought in cupcakes (store-bought — we’re not allowed to bring in home-baked items) for the class. After school, Kellie and I took him to see the movie Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. That’s a fun movie, and definitely worth the reviews being heaped on it. Good for the kids. Will really enjoyed it.

Dinner was out at Red Robin, after I picked up the twins. Nana and Grampa made it down from northern Virginia just after our dinners arrived, so they got to eat with us. Of course, Will got the birthday song/sundae treatment, too. Then it was home for a semi-relaxing wind down.

Tomorrow is the family birthday celebration. (I think the celebrations end after this.)

So, happy 7th birthday, Will. I’m sure the next year will offer all kinds of new and exciting experiences.

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve written something. So here’s a quick note to kick off the week.

First, we should note that Will started second grade this year. It was tough to get a picture of Will getting on his school bus because it was raining and pouring outside. It meant I stayed in my car with the twins, so that they could see the bus, while Kellie stood under an umbrella with Will. And holding an umbrella makes it difficult to take a photo while protecting said camera.

Ah well, we have pictures from last year. Not too different, other than the rain.

At least on Labor Day, we were able to be outside and play at the park. I think you can see that it was already getting overcast then, but it still made for some fun times playing there. It’s pretty much a free-for-all, as the kids can climb on almost everything provided — and they really have some neat stuff available. Ah, to have been a kid when the current generation of playground equipment is available. It might have also prevented me from crushing my fingernail that one time, too.

And yes, Daniel insists on playing football with a baseball glove on. All the better to catch with, I guess, though he will catch without it, too. He certainly loves his sports toys, including the batting tee. And you should see him run with a football — and fall down at the end of his run, like he had been tackled. (That reminds me — I have to get video of that some time.)

So, what does this have to do with the title of this post? Well, let’s just say that a certain set of training wheels came off today. Nothing to report yet — not even a little boo-boo. We didn’t get far enough for that, but we did experiment with understanding the need to put feet down when stopping. But there was supported forward, pedaled motion. Stay tuned.

Other stuff that will get greater detail later — Sean is almost potty-trained (at least at day care); Kellie, Will and I went to Busch Gardens yesterday for a birthday celebration; and Will will be joining Cub Scouts this year.

Just a quick note on this Labor Day weekend. It’s definitely the shoes — in this case, for Will. We’ve been working on getting Will to learn to tie his shoes this summer, and it looks like he’s finally gotten it. (No, no boring video of him trying to do it.) He’s actually been doing it independently for almost 2 weeks now, with very few requests for us to help any more. He still likes sliding his shoes off and on sometimes (his knots still aren’t super-tight yet), but more often then not, he’s actually tying his shoes when he puts them on.

Way to go, Will. So that’s swimming and tying shoes that you’ve mastered this summer.