Happy (or mostly happy) Easter!

Will enjoyed his 2nd Easter. Last Easter he was just over a week old. I don't have any pictures to post of him in his Easter outfit (why wouldn't I think to take a picture?). We spent Easter down in Centerville at Uncle Floyd and Aunt Kathy's with the family. The highlight of the day (for me anyway - probably the low-light of Will's day) was Will's first "big boy" haircut. Andrea (my cousin's wife) brought all her gear and experience to take on the big task. At first Will had no clue anything was going on. When you take a look at the pictures you'll see the point when he realized "something strange" was happening to him. The Easter Bunny treated Will well once again this year!

At 13 months old, he isn't walking yet, but is crawling everywhere with great speed! He seems to be a like a sponge, learning new things all the time. He is also learning how to get in trouble - as he crawls towards something he's not supposed to get into (dog's water bowl, wine glass cabinet, space heater) he looks back and says "na, na, na (aka - no). His latest favorites are the Elmo shape sorter, Fisher Price barn and balls!

First Birthday Fun!!

It has been 2 weeks since Will's birthday and I think we've all needed that long to recover. It was a fun, fun day! We think Will enjoyed his special day. He definitely is a grandma and grandpa boy. He spent a good portion of the party going between Grandma Peterson and Grandpa Tatge. He LOVES balloons, too! While opening presents he became quite overwhelmed and wanted to crawl away [Mommy was pretty overwhelmed, too]. As you an see from the pictures Will wasn't too interested in getting "into" his cake -- does this mean he's going to be a neat and tidy boy??? Thank you to everyone who was able to share this special milestone with us. Will has had so much fun playing with his new toys, riding his new fleet of vehicles and can't wait to wear his new summer clothes. A big thank you to Suzie for being our "official" photographer during the party!!!

Happy, Happy 1st Birthday!

Today is Will's first birthday!

I can hardly believe a whole year has passed since I was laying nervous in a hospital bed anxiously awaiting his birth. Chris and I woke Will this morning with the birthday song and got him all ready to go see his friends at daycare. He appeased his mother and wore all the gear to have his picture taken. We are having a birthday party for him tomorrow afternoon so I will post more pictures later. Tonight we are celebrating Grandma's birthday since it is her day today, too! We just are amazed at how richly God has blessed us with Will Christopher!

Musical Prodigy

Will has decided to take up the kazoo! I can't even play the thing and if I finally get a sound out of it, I get light-headed. I wonder if they have a place for the kazoo in marching band or maybe he has a future in a washtub band! Take a peek at his first performance in the video below!

First Haircut!

Since Will was starting to sport a baby mullet, we decided it was time for a trim. On Wednesday night Grandma Peterson (a.k.a. Rock-a-bye Grandma) gave Will his first haircut. She just took a little bit off the back of his head and above his ears. I don't think Will even knew what was going on. Good thing Grandma has quick scissor hands! He's looking good now - no more hair hanging over his collar or 80's mullet

Double Digits!

Tomorrow Will will be 10-months old -- oh my goodness, double digits already! As my good friend, Sarah, told me today Will is starting to lose that baby look. He has turned into quite the "big boy" around here. He has recently been working on using a sippy cup. The first trial was more like "Hey, look at this new percussion instrument I can hold with two hands and bang on my highchair. The harder I hit it, the louder the noise I can make!" I'm glad to report that things are going much better now. We started putting juice in the cup and he really likes that. Sometimes he gets interested in the texture found on the bottom of the cup (thank you whomever invented the valve that keeps it from leaking)! He still has trouble getting it tipped far enough back to get the juice out. Tonight he used his problem solving skills and laid right back in my lap so he could get the juice to flow to the spout (see photo below). He continues to jabber a lot. There are times when we think he's really chewing us out about something - it is funny. He still isn't too interested in learning to crawl, but we are seeing some improvement. He seems to be motivated to move towards Sadie's (our dog) toys.

Will with his friend, Sophia Creviston. They are just 2 months apart.

He tried to pull her hair, but it isn't long enough yet.

Christmas Eve!

Will survived his first Christmas Eve! He wasn't sure about all the commotion, but being the curious little man he is, took every bit of the celebration in. We spent the late afternoon/early evening with Chris's family. He just loved the singing/dancing Elmo from his Rock-a-bye Grandma and Grandpa and the Curious George from Great-Grandma.

Later in the evening we went to my aunt and uncle's home in Sioux Falls. Will was just mesmorized watching the wound up kids (Alicia's cousins' kids). A new tradition was started this year to have one of the kids read "The Night Before Christmas". We were all surprised to see that it had been rewritten to include a bunch of "characters" from the Tatge clan. Tayler did a great job being the first to read the story. Will paid close attention (his mom and dad are glad they are a few years away from his turn to read). I'll tell you this little 9-month-old didn't go unspoiled. He came home with lots of new clothes, books, toys and a beautiful handmade stocking from his Great-aunt Susan.