Meadowbrook Pumpkin Farm

My little pumpkin!

We went to the Meadowbrook Pumpkin Farm with the Mom's Club. It was a warmer 50 degree day, which has been a nice change from the cold rainy 40 degrees we have been having lately.

Will with his special friend Ashley.

This is what Will did most of the time we were there. Last year, all he wanted to do was push around a wagon, but this year was all about running up and down the aisles.
I did get him to sit on the pumpkins a few times, but he lost his shoe pretty much everytime he did. It kept getting wedged in between the pumpkins!

We got to watch some chickens, roosters, ducks, sheep, donkies, bunnies, and llamas. Will especially liked rattling the fence.

Watching the man come with corn for the animals...It's a feeding frenzy!

The whole group of kids who came. Notice Will is facing forward and looking right at the camera? SO much better of a picture than the Halloween group!

Somewhat of a smile...

Will running to the tractor. It was too expensize to go on it this time :(

Raking helper!

While we were busy doing fall yard work, Will was being a super big helper!

He not only stayed in our yard (!!!!), but he also raked the mulch and irises!

What a great helper!

Score!

We have officially converted Will's nursery into a little boy room. We went with the sport themed decor vs cars and trucks. I went back and forth about it for a few months, but we really like some of the sport themed decor we found! Our favorite thing was Will's new bank. You put coins on either of the two uprights on the goal post and they jiggle down to the football. Will LOVES putting money in here. We emptied out our favorite scarecrow bank (from the Wizard of Oz...each of my siblings got one from my wonderful Aunt Diane) just so Will could have some coins! I almost need a few dollars of coins everyday for him with how often he brings me his bank to play. I can tell he'll take after Uncle Kevin already!

I just love that I got so many smiling ones with great eye contact!

Will's first sucker!

We haven't really given Will a lot of candy. He has tried M&Ms Peanut Butter (both of our favorite), licorice and Kit Kats (dislikes both probably from the texture alone). That is the extent of the candy! Will got to try one of the free suckers I always get from the bank. Turned out he really liked it!

They seems to only give the grape flavor. We have received about 5 suckers, all grape. Does anyone else get a different flavor? Will and I don't really like grape flavored things, like medicine, popsicles or juice. I was hesitant to even give it to him, but he wouldn't take it out of his mouth!

That meant grape drool....

and sticky grape-scented toys!

Mom's Club Halloween Party

Will is my little pumpkin this year. This was my back-up Halloween costume. I actually bought it to resell it for more money since I bought it on clearence for $3, originally costed $25. I thought it was for an infant, but upon rechecking the size after realizing this year's cowboy costume was too big, I realized it was perfect. When I tried it on Will, it melted my heart! He even left the hat on!

A few attempts at a group shot. All but one kid made the picture. We have a lion, chicken, witch, elephant, pumpkin, princess, wizard, eyeore and an escaped fedex man.

Perhaps one of my favorite pictures ever. Totally Will. I am thinking about an 8x10 for the scrapbook!
The party was a lot of fun: balloon, toys, coloring books, yummy treats and candy, hidden ghosts, pass the pumpkin, and of course, Will's favorite activity of open/close the doors. We had no less than five timeouts when he wouldn't stop going outside or in the chapel and threw a tantrum. A personal record! Overall, I think he enjoyed it. We are having fun giving him the goodies from his treat bag to see what he'll eat!

Cookie Decorating

Last week we decorated sugar cookies with the Mom's club. The kids had a great time and did very well! The moms also enjoyed some of the cookies ;)

Will had a little help decorating and only did one cookie. My little guy would rather play with toys than sit and play with cookies! I love the leisure outfit he has on! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Mazur! He looks sooooo cute in blue!

Tasting a cookie. He didn't like it. Must be the texture of the crumbs. He also hated a bite of a Kit Kat bar we tried to give him. With both treats, Will shook his head,tried removing all the crumbs in his mouth with his fingers, and looked at me with disgust and horror as if to say, "Why Mom? Why would you do this to me?" At least he isn't going to grow up obese eating cookies and candy, right?

This week...

This week was a nice recouperation week for me! After our fiasco with the acrylic paint last week and general sassiness every day that Jordan was out of town for, Will really wore me out! I don't think I ever missed Jordan so much!
Luckily, it is the little things Will does everyday that helps me fall back in love with him and overlook my complete exhaustion! This week, we ate Mac a few times since Will loves it so much! He is also getting better at using the fork. He is so proud of himself when he has success stabbing his food. Oh, and yes, he does eat this much Mac. At least 1/2 a box.

Isn't he just adorable here?
Blue paint? What blue paint? Only nine hours of sleep each night and defiance when it is naptime? Who cares!

We also had art class again. Will painted a little pumpkin and attempted to decorate a picture frame with fake leaves from a garland strand using only Elmer's glue. When the second project flopped since the glue didn't hold the leaves, we went to jump around on mats, walk on balance beams, and crawl through tunnels in the playroom. Will liked this much better than the art class. I am going to have to find more little movers classes for this boy! On the plus side of art class, Will actually really focused on painting his pumpkin.

Here is Will in action.

We also had our Mom's club Halloween Party. Stay tuned for a few pictures. We also hosted the playgroup at our house, which turned out pretty well. I was nervous we wouldn't have enough stuff to keep almost 10 kids entertained for a few hours and that Will wouldn't share his trains, but overall everyone did great!

This week, we also started Will's formal neuropsycological testing. Jordan and I talked to his doctor for a few hours without Will about typical behaviors and abilities Will does/doesn't portray. We go back the next two Mondays (except this coming Monday) with Will for observation and testing and the fourth Monday without Will again to discuss results. This is a little bit nerve-racking since we are anxious to see if he qualifies for any other special needs program other than the Sensory Processing Disorder. While Will is getting a little better, he is still mostly non-verbal. He has major frustration from not being able to communicate his needs and wants. We feel the SPD doesn't completely cover his lack of communication and other unusual behaviors. We'll keep updating as we learn more!

New Loves of Will

Bubbles from Gymboree.

He has liked them since our music class in the spring, but brings them to me all the time now. He used to kind of run from them, but now he stands in the middle of a huge amount of bubbles without putting his arms over his head and he actually even tries to pop them! He tries to blow them too, but he hasn't figured out how to blow out yet.

"Pop"

Will has never liked really cold things in his mouth, especially popsicles or ice cream. Lately, though, he has really enjoyed our Motts Pops. He loves to suck out the icy juice and then hands it back to us so we can eat the flavorless leftover chuck of ice. Then we have to push up more so he can do it again until it is gone. However, Daddy gets the best part of the melted juice at the end. What Will doesn't know doesn't hurt, right, Jordan?

Being Chased
One of Will's new words is "Ga ga ga gaa ga ga ga ga" which translates to "Getcha Getcha Getcha." He loves having someone chase him, whether or not they even are. He places himself in front of someone, turns around to look at them and shrieks in laughter. It is as though he intices them to chase him! Hey, it works for us!

Swimming

Okay, it is not new, but the swim class is! Will LOVES water and especially the songs we sing towards the end of class.

Playdoh

Will used to hate it and would barely even touch it to throw it off his tray, but now he likes to stick stuff in it and rip it to shreds.

Swings

It used to be all about the slides, but now Will runs right for the swing and continues to want to swing every ten minutes or so! I wish he would run around a little more and expel some of the energy he now comes home with!

Ashley!

He seems to have his first little girlfriend. He likes to be around her more than any other kid in the Mom's group, and frequently tries to give her kisses. It is no coincidence that they both have runny noses and coughs right now! Can you blame him? She is adorable!

My little Picasso! Or should I say Van Gogh during the blue period?

While looking at my calendar in the kitchen and chatting on the phone with my mother about certain days she would watch Will for us, I looked over to see my little guy covered in something dark with little blue "chalk" footprints behind him. I thought to myself, "What the heck?!? We don't have chalk...wait...it's paint...our paint is in the basement....we don't even have blue paint......................OH NO!! He found my newly purchased tube of blue craft paint!!!!" I immediately hung up on my mama, and swooped Will up, and followed the little bunny trail he so kindly left for me. It traced from our living where he came to get me, down the hallway, around the corner to the office and up to the window.

There were about 75 little marks like this on our carpet since he spilled the paint on his socks and walked through the house. Most were bigger, but I tried to get several in the same shot.

This is what I found in the office, plus the majority of the paint was dumped on the wood shelf above the radiator under the window. That is Will's favorite spot in the house. He sits there to watch the people and cars go by. He loves to open and close the windows while standing on it. He loves to take his favorite toys there to play. And now, he loves to unscrew sealed up paint caps there. He clearly opened it, and started to poor it out on the shelf. The paint was dripping down the wall. As soon as I had back up, I cleaned the shelf and didn't take this picture until after. I was too late anyway since there is still a fair amount of paint set in the wood shelf that won't come out :( The most saturated spot on the carpet was on the left. It had to be at least half the bottle right there. Oh, and did I mention Jordan is in Houston?!?

*Edited picture to keep the PG 13 rating! Gotta love Picasa's retouch feature!

Caught "blue" handed!
He had WAY more paint on his clothes, which didn't come out by the way. The underneath of his hands were completely blue. That meant everything he touched (me, the bathtub, toys, doorknobs from the office to the kitchen, soap dispenser, and sink) turned blue and required massive scrubbing. Keep in mind this is not a washable paint and mostly had to dry to be scraped away and then cleaned up.

Luckily for me, both Grandmas rushed right over to help! My mom tubbied Will while Pam and I started treating the carpet, and cleaning the wood and walls. Then my mom special treated the wood with some "restore" solution and it looked pretty nice after that, minus the remaining blue, of course! Three hours and a pruned little boy from a VERY long tubby later, we mostly removed the painted bunny trail, scheduled a professional to come finish the job and tackle the worst spot, and mostly cleaned the wood and walls.

This is the best it is going to get! Syl's carpet cleaning came and tried everything they had. Two hours later, this was the result.

There is still blue paint. We are going to remove the heating vent when Jordan comes home and see if we can do anything more, but doubtful! Some of my carpet fibers came out due to the forth chemical, which is the toughest on the carpet and they prefer to never really use it, and it even turned the carpet slightly white. They said if I tried Oxy Clean or Resolve, it'll just whiten more and probably pull out more fibers. :(

Thanks Grammy Pammy, Grandma and Grandpa Mazur for all your help!