Food!

Bret and I have decided that we may need to take on more work to supplement what will be our grocery bill in our near & far future with William! When he eats, he eats a full adult-sized meal and almost always finishes everything on his plate. And you better give him yogurt bites for dessert or you will hear about it! The other day at daycare, for breakfast, he had FOUR pieces of toast and sausage :)

He knows when it's time to eat and will point to the table or his chair if it's getting a little past that time. We can say, "Time to eat, go to your chair!" and he will run over to his chair, ready to be picked up and food to be in front of time.

Hey there, got any snacks?!?

Table Fun!

Will got this activity table from his Nana & Papa and it has been a staple of fun during his play time ever since! He uses like a normal activity table should be used: pushing the buttons and making it make noise. Many times he slams other toys or his sippy cups on it (because, why not?!).

  

table being used to support his belly after eating too much food ;)

But, recently, William has learned that he is strong enough to push the table and move it all around his room, wherever his little heart desires!

'What?! I can even flip the table over?? How fun, mama!' - what William is thinking

Did you know that tables also make good chairs?

Family Night Out to SeaLife & Lego Land

Tonight, the Kansas City SeaLife Aquarium & Lego Land had a free teachers' night to get information out about their field trip opportunities. I'm not sure about other teachers, but I just can't say no to FREE! Plus, I was able to bring Bret & Will along on the visit. With Bret's crazy work schedule, we don't get to go on many family events. This event was on a Thursday so we said 'yes, please'!!

Will loved the fish swimming all around and kept pointing to them, making sure we were seeing them as well. He ran around and looked at everything. The place is super child-friendly which is awesome! When we go to California sometime, we will have to check out the Long Beach Aquarium!

Lego Land was fun, too. Slightly too old of things to play on/with for William, but he had a good time with the duplos (large Legos).

Hey parents, we could get a dog, right??

How cool are these Lego structures? They all had lights built into them as well!

Wonderful World of Oz!

Successful night = nap on the way home!

End of an Era: Stopping Nursing

Yesterday was my final time breastfeeding. By Thanksgiving, I had weaned Will off both of his daytime nursings. A benefit for me with that is not having to pump at work any longer! I was happy to be able to not leave my classroom & instruction time. I continued to nurse Will in the morning before work/daycare & in the evening before bed. 

With Will turning 1 on December 17th and my having two and a half weeks of winter break, I thought it would be a good time to wean him from nursing & bottles during our time off and a more relaxed schedule. A week ago, I dropped his morning nursing session and instead gave him a 360 sippy cup of formula. Since day 1, Will has not shown a big preference or dislike between breastmilk and formula, which I am so happy about! It took a day or two of adjusting, but Will is doing great! 

Our new morning routine is: wake up, diaper & clothing change, then Will sits on my lap with his sippy of milk and we sing, read books, and take silly pictures while he drinks. He does pretty well at this. Once he's had most of it, I let him off my lap to play and finish his milk. Because he's over 1 year, he isn't quite as dependent on the milk for his basic nutrients. This makes me a little more lax about making sure he finishes his milk.

Tonight, instead of me nursing him just before bed, Bret had a sippy of breastmilk for him. I was sure to do breastmilk instead of formula as that is what he's used to (calming?) having before his night sleep. Bret gave him the sippy and read a couple of books to him as I sat in our room across the hall, weepy & sad. I know that it had to come to an end at some point and I will always be his mama, but it's sad to see that bonding time go away. Each day will make it a bit easier for both of us!

Some fun facts about how breastfeeding for a year has benefited William:

• stronger immune system
• more likely to have a better social adjustment
• lower risk of becoming overweight later in life 
• lower risk of heart disease
• more alert & brain/body development

Benefit for us:

• saved lots of moolah on 12 months of formula

Christmas 2016

Although this is actually William's second Christmas, this was the first Christmas he wasn't newborn sleeping through all the fun. He was aware of everything going on and liked to watch presents being opened and see the toys be received light up. Like any good baby/toddler, he was more interested in the paper & boxes than what was inside ;)

This was Christmas Day morning after Bret got home from work:

 

 

 

Mom & Dad's presents: new silicone wedding ring for Bret & a thin blue line bracelet with Bret's badge number stamped inside. And new high ball/wine glasses.

Here are some of our other Christmas celebrations this year:

Dinkel Family Christmas

Christmas Eve service at Olathe Bible Church

Saying goodnight to dada as he went to work on Christmas Eve

Family outing to KC's Union Station

A lil' snapchat fun

Celebrating Christmas at daycare (look how long his hair was!!)

Christmas with Nana & Papa

Christmas with Grandparents Brown