Feeding the Ducks

We took a trip to Essex this weekend to visit my Auntie Carol and Uncle GT. The last time we visited, Will was only 7 or 8 months old so it had been a while since they last saw him. The first visit, Will was content to sit on the rug and play with his toys. This time he was all over the place..wanting to see and touch everything. His favorite was the washer/dryer because he could see his reflection in it. To keep him occupied, we took a walk down to the water to feed the ducks. Will actually walked all the way from the house to the water on his own. It was a long walk for a little guy but he was determined to make it all the way on his own. We gave him a few pieces of food to feed the ducks and he understood that he need to throw the food on the ground but didn't quite have the throwing part down. Instead, he would just drop it at his feet. Here are some pictures from our day.





This looks easy...I can feed the ducks!

Here ducky, ducky...

Uh oh..mommy?

Catching up on Will

Wow..I didn't realize it had been so long since my last blog! The past few weeks have been flying by and we have been so busy trying to finalize our move back to MA, find a house, vacation, etc. Will is going on 14 months this week and has had so many accomplishments the past two months. He is one active little boy! If he is not sleeping, he is constantly moving around the house. He is getting pretty quick on his feet and I think he is going to be running (dear lord help us) very soon. He now has 10 teeth and eats just about everything.

His new thing to do is to either bring us a book or food and then turn himself around and back himself up and plop down in your lap. It is too funny. He understands when we tell him to sit down and when we ask if he wants milk. He still doesn't have a large vocabulary but has started to say "this" a lot. Everything he points at is "this".

Oh..I finally finished Will's first year book. Will officially has his very own 180 page coffee table book. It was soooo worth all the time I put into it because it came out adorable. I'm so excited to have such a great record of his first year.

I don't have many random pictures from the past couple months but will be catching up my blog with some things we have been doing over the past few weeks.

Easter

We had a fun Easter weekend in MA. It started on Friday when we headed to Needham. We spent the day trying to find a new daycare for Will for when we move back. That evening we hung out with our friends Jamie, Jay and Jack (cute pictures to come). Saturday my parents threw a Jack & Jill shower for family friends and then Sunday we spent Easter at Eric's parents house along with cousins, brothers and my parents.

Last year, Will was only 10 days old so we had a very low key Easter. This year was craziness because the boy does NOT stop. Now that he is walking, he is everywhere so we can't take our eyes off him for a second. Seriously, I have no idea how he has so much energy to keep going and going. But I'm not complaining, Will was so good even with so many people around. He was more than happy to go off and play with his cousins not even paying attention to where we were. Here are some pictures from Easter and of Will in his cute Easter outfit.





Will was helping Papi stock the cooler. He is in the stage where if he sees you doing something, he wants to do the same thing. It definitely slows the process down a little but it is so cute to watch him really get into it and try to help. Here you go Papi!




We had a mini Easter egg hunt for Will and Jakob. I really thought he would have enjoyed walking around and picking up the eggs. Instead, I think I picked up all the eggs and he was distracted by everything else except the eggs.


They did enjoy playing with the eggs once they were in the basket though.






Family photo session!!

Two Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

New Tricks

It's been pretty quiet in the Dugas household so I've been a little slow in my blogs entries. I'm working on putting together Will's first year blog book which has been taking up a lot of my time. I have been working on it for a month now and it is almost ready to be printed. Yeah! However, ever since Will turned 1, he has been on the fast track to toddlerhood. He has learned so much in the past couple of weeks it is amazing. It seems like almost everyday he is doing something new. I took him to his 12 month appointment last week and he is 29 1/2 inches tall and weighs 23 lbs 6.5 ounces. Here are some highlights from the past couple of weeks:

- Will finally started to clap! Yes..most babies have already mastered this but Will was holding out on us. Now he will clap if we clap with him and he gets so excited when he does it.


- Will is a walking everywhere. He rarely crawls and even if he falls, he gets himself back on his feet and continues on his way. His favorite thing to do is chase Lucy around the house even though he will never catch her. Every once in a while she will sit still for a minute and allow Will to pet her. He is suprisingly gentle with her and just rubs her hair. If he is standing, he will bend down and try to look Lucy in the eyes...it is too cute.


- Will's favorite new game is to climb the stairs. When we start following him up the stairs..he looks back at us and smiles and then puts it into high gear. It's too funny..he thinks we are chasing him. He is able to crawl down the stairs too. After a couple weeks of showing him how to turn around and go backwards, he finally started doing it on his own.

- He carries everything up by his ear. I'm not sure why but whenever he picks up the remotes or bottle of shampoo, he always carries it on his shoulder by his ear. I wonder if he thinks it is like a phone?






- He will no longer eat if I try to feed him. He will turn his head as soon as I bring the spoon to his mouth. However, if I put the same food on his tray, he will gladly pick it up and feed himself. I guess he is starting to exert his independence. He also likes to hold onto his fork when he eats even trys to use it. He can't quite seem to get the food on the fork himself, but when I help him out he seems to know exactly what to do with the fork once there is food on it.

Spring has sprung...

Despite the brief snow shower we had this morning, we did get to enjoy a bit of spring weather this past week. Will and I took advantage of the nice weather and spent some time playing outside. Now that Will is walking around, he enjoyed exploring the yard and playing with the sticks. I can't wait for summer to start! Here are a few pictures:

Happy Birthday...Again?

Yes...Will had one final birthday celebration this weekend. This time we celebrated with our family and friends. It was such a beautiful day out..perfect for a 1st birthday party. We were even able to go outside for a little while and enjoy the weather.




Will wasn't too interested in opening the gifts himself...but he did enjoy playing with them afterwards. He got some great outdoor toys that are will be perfect in our our big new yard...a fun water sink..a tricycle..a big ride in car. His nana also made him a beautiful quilt.






Will was in awe when we brought him a cupcake with all the candles lit. At first he wasn't quite sure what to do and begin by sticking one finger at a time into the frosting. Once he realized that he liked it, there was no stopping him. In a matter of moments, he had the cupcake down to crumbs and he went into overdrive. Even though his nana tried to tell us that sugar was a depressant, for the next hour, Will was bouncing off the walls. It was actually quite entertaining.











Thanks to everyone for celebrating Will's first birthday with us! We are looking forward to next year!