kaki's graduation

will had a fantastic time in boston this weekend for auntie kaki's graduation from bc law school.  

he prepared for the celebration by putting stickers all over his body.

during the ceremony, we were very busy.
one thing i never fully appreciated during my years at bc were all of the stairs.
oh, the stairs.  

here, he spots them.

he makes a run for it.

he begins the climb.

success!

afterward, will and kaki had a lot to celebrate 

(her degree, his scaling of the stairs), 

so they toasted to the special occasions.

looks like one of them had too much champagne.

all of will's dreams came true the next day when cousin danny came to play.

we got to see baby patrick and uncle andy and auntie erin and grammy and grampy, too.  

will's head almost exploded with joy.

thanks, boston.  thanks, fun elevators.  thanks, ketchup.  thanks, too-yah.
thanks, nice jet blue flight attendant. 

not only did we survive our trip, but we had a pretty good time, too.

oh what a weekend

my, were we busy this weekend, and we've got the photos to prove it.

uncle bobbo came to visit in the middle of last week, and we did lots of things with him. 
we went to the zoo, played at the park, ran around the square, and read books at bedtime. 
uncle bobbo is so fun!
(bean loves uncle bobbo, too.)

on saturday morning, we went to the montrose harbor children's kite festival.

later that afternoon, will and i headed to lake forest to spend the night at nana and papa's house (it's been confirmed that my dad is "papa," but "nana" is still a little up for grabs).  it was a warm day so we got out the pool, and will went so far as to dip his tummy in it for a moment.  mainly he enjoyed moving his cups from the pool to the doorstep and back to the pool again.  

makes sense to me. 

we ate dinner at will's new favorite restaurant - the lantern.  he munched on chicken fingers and watched in awe as a choo choo train puffed around the perimeter of the ceiling.  

i foresee many years of exciting dinners with nana and papa at the lantern.  

on our way out the door, will yelled, "bye bye, choo choo!" 

and it was one of the cutest things i ever heard.

on sunday morning, after a sleepless sleepover in lake forest (shocking, i know), 

we walked to raise money for lupus awareness and research.  

also, will got a cool t-shirt.

the excitement of this past weekend will be easily matched by our trip to 

boston on thursday for auntie katie's law school graduation.   

will and i get to party in a hotel room for three straight nights just the two of us.  

can you tell i'm a little scared?  

just a little.

well, maybe a lot.

highs and lows

life with a toddler is full of highs and lows.

for example,

will follows me around the condo yelling most late afternoons.  yelling for too-yah, yelling for pirate's booty, yelling for cheese, and yelling just to yell.  however, sometimes he'll stop his yelling just to give me a round of applause.  yesterday he paused his angry chirping to clap for me as i put away a pot. it felt pretty darn good.

will has learned to announce his poops.  he walks around the condo chanting "poop, poop" when he's in the act.  this is a high because it's incredibly hilarious to watch.  it's a low because i then have to change a stinky diaper.

when i ask will to say "i love you," he very matter-of-factly says, "nuh."  but, he's been wanting to nurse about eleven times a day, and he likes to hang out with me all night long, so i'm thinking he must like me a little bit.

in the last week, i've had a stiff neck, a sinus infection, and sores all over my throat.  however, will ate four chicken nuggets last night, and he put a blueberry in his mouth today.  he took it out moments later, but still.  this is real progress.

we've decided that we may need to part ways with our sleep training frenemy, ferber, and get to know a certain dr. weissbluth, who is also known as the sleep nazi.  i've been avoiding weissbluth for months.  in theory, this begins tonight.  i guess i don't really see a high here, unless it actually works, which is very, very unlikely.

and here is the ultimate high among highs.  that face.  oh, that face.