He still continues to improve despite the hesitancy on Wednesday.

Wednesday overall was an interesting day. William was a little fussy but calmed down during an outing to the grocery story. We tried Publix which has the carts with the kid seats up where you push the buggy. You can see and talk to your kids. A plus and a minus as it means your four-year old can see the stuffed penguin with the baby on the counter. I don’t have one of those. No you don’t. I want it. That’s nice, today we are buying food. But… you got brother something! Brother had a .99 package of SpongeBob mac and cheese mix. I kind of doubted the penguin was on sale for 99 cents but I admit to not looking. NO! I did some sort of distraction tap dance and the issue was avoided. She did point it out again at checkout without fussing.

We came home and unloaded. I was needed at the library that afternoon so I called Greg. While he was seeing if he could come home, I put William in a warm bath which he really loved. I tried to get him down for nap but he was clingy, not going to sleep enough for me to get away. Greg came in and said he could work from home for a bit so I was able to get ready to go to the library. I put a show on for the kids and made lunches before leaving.

I was gone 3 hours and came back to the kids playing around the kitchen table while Greg worked. I was out longer than expected but they seemed okay. Greg told me that William had been kind of fussy. I took them for a walk to give Greg a break although he did come out and join us. MaryVic was hungry after a block or so and we headed back.

William started to melt down while he and MaryVic ate and I started cooking dinner. I don’t know what triggered it or if it was a culmination of the day with him being fussy and suddenly maxing out. He cried non-stop and wouldn’t really eat. He wanted to be held by momma. There was a slight break during the wild rabbit chase but I couldn’t put him down. I tried to get him to take a little nap even though it was late but again he didn’t want me to leave him. I finally got him to watch a show with sister while Greg and I ate dinner. He was just miserable.

After dinner, I put him in another warm bath. I gave him some pain medicine afterwards. I don’t know if it was the pain medicine or just the day but he had night terror symptoms twice before falling asleep for the evening. He went down between 8 and 8:30. I thought good, he was just exhausted, no real nap. Then he woke up at 9:30 and 10:30 thrashing around and screaming. He’d cry for Momma but not seem to recognize me while I talked to him. I sat up reading and watching him until 12:30 making sure he didn’t have another episode.

Thankfully Thursday was a better day for him. He crawled around most of the morning. He played ball with me while I cleaned up in the kitchen. We ran a few errands which included stopping at and joining the County Parks and Recreation Center in Franklin. It was suggested to me by co-workers as the indoor pool might be good for William’s legs and fun. We had 4 other stops total which included a hunt for MaryVic a swimsuit and trekking the Big K-Mart for swimmies and water wings. We have some from last summer but who knows where they were stored in the fall?

William fell asleep on the way home so he got a good nap in. After lunch and nap / quiet time, the whole family trekked to the Rec Center indoor pool. MaryVic got her water wings and was in the pool and halfway across it between the time I got the last one on her and started working on William’s water wings. Greg worked from the bleachers for a while before getting in.

William would not wear his water wings at first. He didn’t want to get in and refused to let go of me. He did like sitting on the side and before long was kicking up a storm in the water. I alternated between letting him do that and then pulling him in and floating him around. He eventually did put on his water wings and got to liking the water some.

After an hour in the water, we headed home. Greg ordered a pizza and cheese sticks for dinner. The funny thing is he ordered it via his laptop as we were leaving the Rec Center. There was just enough time for me to run a warm bath for the kids and get them in, when the pizza arrived. MaryVic cleaned up and was out to eat with Daddy. William stayed in the tub for 30 minutes playing.

We had a nice dinner and played the Wii afterwards before bedtime. No bedtime issues last night, just the storms that came through early Friday morning.

There were 4 times that William pushed himself up to lean on a counter, table or the bathtub edge using his left leg. He would push some with the right foot. The first time was when taking my id picture at the rec center. I looked down and he was up, with his nose on the counter looking at me. He had to do it twice in the tub and the Wii golf game was so interesting that he got up and leaned on the coffee table to watch.

I did stretch his legs out after the bath and compare the lengths. The bone at the inside of the left ankle kind of fits under the one on the inside of is right ankle. It isn’t really much or noticeable as he crawls around. I’ve had a few people tell me about other adults who had similar accidents so I know he’ll be alright. It was just a little sad to see. If I can get him to be still long enough, I’ll post a picture one day. Maybe it won’t take that many growth spurts to even out though!

I think the rec center membership is good at all the county facilities so the plan is to take the kids to the Brentwood facility which has a larger indoor pool with a connected ‘shallow water lap / teaching pool.’ The only concern is MaryVic taking off in the big pool. She knows no fear as long as she had water wings on.

And now it’s waffle time!

First, some pictures of William getting out of his chair.

The first step is saying hello! Momma: Say hello William! William: Hi GranMomma!!

He tried to put his foot down for a few seconds but then pulled it back up.

Came down on his knees.

And he’s down to attack Momma.

We went to Toddler Time on Monday which was on one of his favorites, trains aka Things That Go! We were all able to sit on the floor for the first time. I kept him very close to keep anyone else from stepping on him. He and Mary colored trains for the craft.

We spent sometime at the library. MaryVic was disappointed that it was not in my office but happy to take the ‘secret’ (staff) elevator on the way out of the building. Since they were good while I worked, I offered to take them for milkshakes. MaryVic saw the ‘Big M’ though and that’s where we wound up. She did love the playground there.

She would climb up here and wave at us.

Where’s sister?

I had a nice salad actually but neither of them ate their Happy Meal. They were each happy with the toys but MaryVic had promised to eat her lunch if we stopped here so the ‘Big M’ is not on the list for future stop. They did taste the nuggets but I guess since it wasn’t the Tyson low fat nuggets… William did drink his chocolate milk.

Naptime then off to Pinkerton Park. We played in the sandboxes, ran over the bridge in Tinkerbell’s Castle, did some swinging, sliding, and played in general. MaryVic ran from one playground unit to the other. I was so busy chasing and carrying William that I only took a few pictures of him.

Pouting because Momma won’t carry him up the stairs to the slide. Just try to do it yourself little guy.

Okay. He couldn’t make it up the first step though so I took him to a different slide where there were no other children. It was wider so we could slide down together.

This train unit is pretty well-worn but loved.

Tuesday was a bit gloomy, overcast but warm. We went to the zoo early. A hidden source of fun is the stall doors in the ladies restroom. William had a ball as this door kept swinging open and he would shove it away.

The navigator consults the map.

Might as well be comfortable.

Meerkats are always popular.

Despite the warm weather, MaryVic loves the Unknown World exhibit so we go inside to see the fish, spiders, snakes, lizards, and creepy crawlies. Strollers are not allowed and William wanted down. These fish are near the end of the exhibit so I sat him down. He stood there and watched the fish. MaryVic took a turn keeping people from getting too close.

A zoo keeper was there feeding the fish and the lizards, frogs, and other critters that live in the tanks. I’ve always been so focused on the fish that I had not noticed the topside reptiles.

Snacktime!

And we are off to see the animals. Usually MaryVic wants to go to the playground. Walking around to the animals was fine with me though. There were 6 school buses in the parking lot so I knew the playground would be a madhouse.

Where are the alligators?

The Red Panda. The kids would all shriek as it passed by the window.

Watching it. Take a picture of it when it goes past me, Momma!

Momma tries…

William may have spent too much time looking at frogs.

There are the cats, Momma! Clouded leopards.

And the koi.

But I want to throw money in! First you have to have some and second it makes the water bad for the fish. Pleassse!

The cut through at the Bamboo exhibit is open now and it does look like the renovations will be nice. There is a new family restroom building. You still do have to pass the Critter Encounters exhibit. We went in with strict admonishments not to touch anything. ‘Momma, she’s petting it!!!’ Fine, you can brush the goat… They do have disinfectant gel right outside the exhibit.

William fell asleep on the way home. After nap / quiet time, I mentioned going to the pond and fishing. This entailed getting the wire, bobbin and a hook with very helpful children. We had to dig for worms and guess who got to bait the hook? She had some fun though talking non-stop the whole time. I lured the little fishes up with some bread. They ate the first worm off the hook but never touched the second worm although they looked at it a lot. Patience and being still long enough for a fish to bite is not a her thing yet. It wasn’t like fishing with Poppa and Daddy where the fish bite every 10 seconds.

It was fun despite not catching a fish and they enjoyed the outing. Two poles are really needed though. William kept trying to wiggle away from me to get at it and fish too.

Recovery notes: William passed out last night and has slept a little better on Monday and Tuesday nights. I gave him some prescription pain medicine Monday and yesterday he got regular tylenol at bedtime. Yesterday was more of a rest day with Mom carrying him around the zoo, riding in the car and wagon. He didn’t get much floor time until in the evening. After nap on Tuesday but before the fishing expedition, he was fussy. I asked him if he wanted a warm bath and he said yes (‘uh-huh’). We did that before heading out to the pond so he is still feeling achy.

High note: He put his left foot down on the bed while getting in his pull-up last night. He has not been putting his feet down. I was holding most of his weight but it is progress for him to have the confidence to put it down. He did keep the right foot up. He is crawling around pretty well. He crawled around a good bit Tuesday night chasing a battery operated Thomas the Tank Engine. It moves slowly enough that he can catch it.

I’m going to call the county recreation center today about membership. My co-workers told me that it has a heated pool so that would be great for him and entertaining for both of them. They have both been fussing about the pool house whenever we walk past it.

MaryVic called us Monday night to say good-night. We had pictures in the morning from Grandmomma showing that she was keeping them busy. She fell asleep on the way down and hit the ground running once they got home. Told her Poppa she had already done her quiet time and wanted to go to lunch at El Rancho.Playing ball with the PINK bat,

Decorating for Easter,

And playing ball again.