Will's first joke

Will: Knock Knock
Katherine: Who's there?
Will: Lyla
Katherine: Lyla who?
Will: (pause)
(pause)
(pause)

BOO!

Potty Power!!

Well, I admit we were quite surprised when Will suddenly expressed interest in going potty AND actually went (both #1 and #2) when we put him on there.

For the past week he had been saying "Potty" to us and pointing at his diaper so we would put him on the toilet and he would go a little bit. Then five minutes later (after getting him down and putting a new diaper on him) he would "soil" that diaper.

So this weekend, when he pointed and said "potty" I decided to put him on the toilet and let him sit there for a bit. I even offered to give him some privacy by leaving and closing the door (which he enthusiastically agreed to).

The result: two successful poops on the potty and the enjoyment of Will's hilarity whilst on the potty... which I decided to video and share with you all.

Enjoy!

*Special thanks to our friend Eliana for introducing us to the phrase of Potty Power.

But Mom....

We spent the holiday weekend at my(Katherine's) parents house, and on Friday night my mom spiced things up a little bit by making a turkey biryani for dinner. Although Lyla had eaten a similar dish earlier in the week, when she took the first bite of this one it came right back out into her lap as she yelled "It's not tasty!"

Katherine

Summer Fun with CRAAAAZZZZYYYYY Kids

Seriously. Emily, Ally, Lyla, Will, and Chloe are crazy. So much fun to have them all together in one place. A bit overwhelming at times but fun nonetheless.

Crazy Lyla!! (You can see the remnants of her poison ivy on her arms)

Photojournalist Emily capturing the craziness on film.

Will... uh, sure used to drool a lot.

Ok, so maybe Chloe didn't participate in the craziness as much as everyone else.

Woo woo! Super Ally!

Cheese!!!!

Love the combination of his shaggy hair, tired eyes, super smile, and dirty shirt. Pretty much sums up Will.

There wasn't a surface in this house that these kids didn't climb up on to play.

So much fun.

Breaking News!!

Not really. But the only other title I could think of didn't seem appropriate.

Putting Lyla in her carseat to go to Ms. Linda's house (the kid's daycare provider), Lyla gave her "Oh no! Something mildly catastrophic is happening to me!" whine. Thinking I'd pinched her with the buckle or something like that I asked, "Are you okay? Did I get your leg in the buckle."

Her response, "No. My butt hurts."

Kind of flustered and trying to stifle my laughter as NOT to encourage such talk, I asked the only follow up I could think of. "Do you need me to kiss it?"

Luckily, she said, "No."

Little Willy Is Growin' Up

Little Will is not so little anymore. In the past month he's learned to crawl and has gotten a lot more interactive. He's personality has really developed and, well, the kid is loud. Seems like he is always making noise, hollering or whining or crying if you leave the room or grunting or laughing. He even whistles (which is pretty neat).

The best is definitely the laughing. He does it so much more now and we don't even have to instigate. Sometimes he'll just look over and see Lyla and start cracking up. It's the best.

That's my boy, good ol' Will.

Will's foray into real food

Though we are strong supporters of breast-milk for babies, we also have decided with our children to start introducing other foods after four months and start incorporating them regularly after six months. So these were taken some time in the past two months (the exact dates are fuzzy but so is everything that has happened recently).

As you can see, solid food is the WORST thing that has ever happened to Will (watch for his reaction at 0:11):

It's been like that with everything we've tried (rice cereal, bananas, carrots). Kind of funny but frustrating because we'd like to start incorporating solids every day. Plus Will's weight is trending down (he's gone from 50th to 40th to - most recently - the 25th percentile of weight. Note: this is not bad, especially given who he gets his genes from, but still we want him to eat).

Other funny pictures of Will with food on his face:

Buddies for Life

Wanted to get this up before we head off tomorrow for our 9 day adventure to Missouri. First, I love Lyla as a big sister. She's so good at. She very clearly loves Will and is always looking out for him. At the same time, it's funny how kind of rough she is around him. It's like she's only 18 months old and doesn't fully comprehend the nuances of Will's fragility. That being said, she has never done anything that has given us any concern... except maybe that time she bit his finger... but if I remember correctly Katherine was egging her on...

Anyway, I digress. The o9ther neat thing is that Will is beginning to recognize us. He's all smiles all the time when he sees us. And I just love the looks he gets on his face when he sees Lyla or she's all up in his grill. Sometimes it's a huge, beaming smile. Other times it's a look of serious "oh my, this isn't good" concern.

They're great together and both Katherine and I are looking forward to watching them grow together. Having two kids 15 months apart has definitely been hard but one thing we told ourselves going into it was that our kids would be good friends. It's such a blessing to see that coming true this early. See for yourselves:

A pretty typical morning in the Ring household

Shoes and poop.

Lyla's fascination with technology

This started a few weeks ago when I decided to make Lyla's bed-time routine a little more engaging so that 1) she'd "know" better when the routine was starting and 2) she'd "like" the process better and thus would be more likely to go to be no problem.

So how did I achieve it? Letting her watch as we heat up her bottle (we still give her a bottle of milk before bed to ensure she gets enough dairy and to help soothe her). She really likes the whole process: pushing the numbers, running away from the microwave to watch from a safe distance (radiation!!!), counting down with the microwave, yelling "beep beep beep". It's all fun. It even is helping her counting because she hears the numbers counting down from ten. Anyway, here's the video.

This next video is a video of Lyla and me watching the first video. This is our third time watching it in a row. She loves looking at pictures and videos on the computer (which she affectionately calls "Pooter"). She usually signifies that she wants to look by pointing at the computer and saying "Will" (her favorite person to see pictures/videos of, Emily and Ally - her cousins - are her second favorite). Anyway, I love how big her smile gets watching and how she recognizes people in the videos. It kind of freaks me out that she's quickly become as (if not more) tech-savvy than I am, but it is inevitable so I might was well enjoy it... and take advantage of it by having her do all the tech stuff for my business. Anyway, enjoy the video.

Will's fist doctor visit

Last Tuesday we took Will to his 2-week doctor's appointment. It was quite the adventure for the little guy as he hasn't really done much other than sleep, eat, get his diaper changed, and lie around. He has continued to impress us with how calm and good-natured he is. I'm sure there are going to be plenty of circumstances in the future where he and his sister will have us pulling our hair out, but I must say that Katherine and I both are amazed and appreciative of what a calm baby he is. Especially given all the things we've had to deal with in the past three weeks.

Given how good of a baby and now toddler Lyla has been, we were expecting (and our friends were secretly wishing) that Will would be more difficult. If anything, he's better than even Lyla was. I'm not sure why we're so lucky, we definitely don't deserve it but we also not complaining. It's just one more thing on a long list of wonderful attributes of our beautiful children.

Here are the pictures from the visit to the doctor's.

Getting ready to go... Will sure doesn't like being put in his carseat.
LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!! LET ME... (tuck him in with a fuzzy blanket) ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..............

He awakens in a strange place... hmm, this can't be good.

Hey, Beardy! What's going on? Where am I? Where's Lyla?

What the deuce?!?! That thing is freezing! Where are my clothes?

Oh, mom's finger! Excellent, I'll use this to call Lyla. She's come rescue me!

Seriously, Bearded Guy. What the heck is going on here. p.s. Do you have your tickets?... To the GUN SHOW? POW POW!!

Okay, that wasn't so bad. I got my shirt and socks back. I guess we'll go home soon, nothing else is going to happen to me.... wait, why does that guy have a needle?

Ow. That really hurt. Do you not see how scrawny my legs are? Why would you give me a shot in one? And I don't even get a Snoopy band-aid. What the heck!

Mom, you and the Bearded Guy better take me back to Lyla. I'm so over this place.

According to the measurements, Will has already grown an inch and a half and gained about a pound and a half. Surprise, surprise he's going to be tall. Who knew?

Trying to take a family photo

Three of the four Rings were cooperating as we tried to take a family portrait. I'll let you guess which one wasn't having any of it.

Don't forget Lyla!!

She's a super star!!... I honestly don't know how she got up on that counter.



Refusing to walk (though she is fully capable) in the cutest way possible.

Stairs? No problem

We're working on it.

Please don't call CPS on me!

Lyla photos

Since we're rapidly approaching the birth of my son, and this blog is only going to become that much more neglected when we add taking care of another child to our list of responsibilities. I thought I'd put up a bunch of recent photos of Lyla for y'all to enjoy.

I know they're not as good as the real thing, and Lyla's been especially awesome the past few weeks. But I hope they put a smile on your face.

Pudding!!

Rocking Cow!!

Um, Red Overalls and Striped Hat!!!

Mall Playground!!!

No Pants!!!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

Lyla says, "Happy Birthday, Grandpa Ring! What what!?!"

Ah, memories... Happy Birthday, Dad.

Love,
Kevin, Katherine, Lyla, and your grandson