...In Case You Were Wondering Why They Call It "Child's Pose"

Let's Go Ride a Bike!

Taking advantage of the 65 degree weather yesterday, we decided to head out to the Tiburon bike path to have a scoot on Will's Y-Bike. After assessing the road ahead, he rocked it out, even taking it off-road at the end on our way to the parking lot. Yes, Daddy, mountain biking may be in his future.

































It's hard to appreciate how clear the day was from the pictures, but in this photo, you can even see the San Francisco skyline on the left. If you click on it to enlarge, you'll also see that Will has mastered "the wink." Look out, girlfriends!

The ABC Song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Will also almost always sings himself to sleep and sings when he wakes up in the morning, belting out favorites including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in addition to The Hello Song and bedtime reprisals of The ABC Song (which, as an aside if you didn't know already, is the same tune as Twinkle Twinkle and Baa Baa Black Sheep). It's surprisingly difficult to catch him on the video monitor, as he somehow seems to know when we start recording him even though we're all the way across the house!

Here's what it sounds like when he's waking up:



And here's what it sounds like when he's falling asleep:

A Visit from Aunt Linnie and Uncle Larry

We were thrilled to have Aunt Linnie and Uncle Larry come visit in early January. In addition to visiting, they treated Mom and Dad to a night and day away! Thanks, guys!

Lin and Will seemed to start the conversation right where they left off after her visit in October:


















Will also had fun jumping on their sofabed (we somehow missed getting a photo of this) and learned how to do a proper "fistbump," as well as the answer to the question, "What does a cowboy say?" ("Giddyup!") And, heeding our challenge to use as many track pieces as possible to create a fully connected train layout, Uncle Larry set upon a build, finishing just in the nick of time before Will woke up from his nap. We were impressed with the results, as was Will!

For the Birds

My aunt (Will's Great-Aunt), an avid birder who lives in Lancaster County, PA, recently reported back on the Christmas Bird Count. She served as an Area Leader this past year, the Count Area having a 15-mile radius and her specific area being one of nine sections. Her team of eight, plus additional "bird feeder watchers," identified 43 species in their section.

I thought it was amazing that there were 43 species. In part, because there are probably that many or more in our area, and I just haven't been looking carefully enough, despite Will's best efforts. It's a good reminder to take in the world a little more slowly. Will is helpful with that, too. For example, this holiday season, he could point out every single house in our neighborhood that had a wreath on the door or a Christmas tree in the window, many in anticipation, from memory. This was after completing the same "survey" for pumpkins during Halloween. While not in our neighborhood, he observed and deemed the tree at left "The Red Tree," for obvious reasons. I have never seen a tree with this many lights on it. It was located across the street from Jason's office, and he said that they worked on it for at least a week!

You can tell that Will is a bit disappointed that there aren't any more holidays with neighborhood-wide decorations coming up now that the Christmas lights are dwindling. Perhaps we'll have to look for more birds.