Itsy Bitsy Spider

Will is ready to work the crowd with this rendition, complete with a few bows at the end. Encore! Encore!

Evening Serenade

Buenos Dias, Brother John!

The Electric Slide

Will's first lesson about static electricity:

A Window into Little Wonders Preschool

Will started his preschool program in January at Little Wonders in the Outer Sunset. As our trip follows the N-Judah streetcar line, he loves to watch for trains on our way there and home. And since it's near the beach, now that the days are getting longer, we can stop by and see the ocean for a few minutes on the way home. His teachers, Mr. Michael, Miss Vicky, Miss Jackie and Miss Veronica, sent us this Mother's Day e-postcard with a glimpse of all the fun they've been having this spring!

Mother's Day 2011

For Mother's Day, we put on our windbreakers and headed to Crab Cove Park in Alameda. 

There was another family there, too!

Will and Mama headed into the muddy tidal flat to do some exploring.

Back on the beach, Daddy showed Will how to make a tower with a bucket.

First, you fill the bucket and pack down the sand.

Next, you have to turn the bucket over quickly, but carefully.

Lift up the bucket with a swift motion and you have yourself a tower! As they say, it's all in the wrist.

At the Market

We stopped in at Trader Joe's this morning. I was getting the "Wow, how do you get him to eat that," looks of admiration from all the other parents as we cruised through the aisles with Will announcing (not in his inside voice, I might add), "Broccoli, Mama - we need to find the broccoli!" I, of course, beamed and took all the credit for being an A+ parent whose kid eats every vegetable imaginable.

Later, when we were checking out, Will helpfully handed items from the cart to the checkout lady. When he got to the asparagus he said, "That's asparagus. I am not a fan."

Postscript: Video - I Am Not a Fan (of Asparagus)

Let's Get Cooking!

We recently retired Will's high chair to his friend Baby Carly, leaving us with newfound space in our kitchen that we forgot we even had. Never one to let a spare inch go unutilized, Mom quickly filled it in with a Learning Tower. While this piece of todder equipment is unimaginably, yes, even bigger than the high chair, the utility factor makes up for it. Most exciting is that Will can now cook with us!

We started healthy, with a Lentil Soup.


















We had some delicious ingredients assembled, including baby carrots, red onion, ham hock (from the Castro Farmers' Market), cauliflower, celery, bay leaves and chicken stock. Will had fun "dumptrucking" them all in the pot. He also had his milk cup handy, the toddler equivalent of enjoying a nice glass of red wine while cooking.


















Mama was going to help him pour in the stock, but as most almost-2 1/2-year-olds are inclined to say, Will wanted to "do it myself." So, he did!


















Any chef worth his salt has to sample along the way.












Now that's some delicious soup!













For his foray into desserts, Will hit the jackpot when Mom received some Sprinkles cupcake mix as a gift - his first homemade cupcakes wouldn't just be any cupcakes, but Sprinkles lemon cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes! (Note to fellow parents: when baking cupcakes with toddlers, stick with white, lemon or yellow. Not red velvet. Save those for yourself!)


















There was no way that Will wasn't going to try at least a little icing!


















After tasting the icing, Will took frosting very seriously.












Time for sprinkles!
























Our happy baker!

It's the Pop Goes the Weasel Song!

Will likes to get his morning started with a pop!

Shirtless

This is how I found Will this morning when he woke up. The jig is up - he can in fact take off his own shirt!

He decided that he'd show me how he knows how to put a shirt on, too. Well, onto Kitty, that is.

















Nice duds, Kitty!