Watch it!

Will just counted to 119 and then 120 and 120 AGAIN and we STILL weren't there.

I told him, "We need to get you a watch, it'll save you a lot of counting."

He responded, "yeah, I need a watch. And it has to be one I can understand, not one with all those lines."

As we arrived he said, "oh, I can see the Fun-ness inside!"

Like father ...

This is a mini version of his dad, right down to the wrapped blanket and the barely-used stack of pillows behind his head.

Is it too obvious to call him "Scott Tappa Jr.?"

Or, perhaps it should be "Ken Tappa III."

A great conversation

I was in Cincinnati for a day earlier this week, and carried on the following text message conversation with Will (with Jana typing for Will, who thankfully is not old enough to do it himself yet).

Will: Hope u have a good juice box night. And don't forget to have scissors for dinner.

Daddy: Thanks! I wish you a purple night and sandals for dessert.

Will: Have a good nap in your bamboo skin and don't forget to have a street light for dinner.

Daddy: Sleep in pizza and have sweet bread rolls.

Did you follow? You did? Great, tell me what we were talking about.

Recently seen on Facebook

Some recent child-related Facebook status updates, for those of you on MySpace or Friendster.

10/24
Thought I could tire Will out by giving him a sledgehammer (or in his words "sludgehammer") and letting him destroy an old computer desk. Instead, he informs me he is now "energied up" and that his muscles feel bigger.

10/18
Had a nice day on the Iola Ice Age Trail experiencing, as Will put it, "Nature's Mother."

10/17
Will requested we delay going into Target so we could listen to the end of Bohemian Rhapsody, which he then labeled a "weird" song. Yeah, if by weird you mean awesome!

Not sure why, but we're attempting to take both boys to see Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. We may clear the theater if they see us coming.

10/15
Three games, three TD runs for Will, style points again. And we won tonight! Last-second goal line stand helped by darkness and Tanner from the other team losing a tooth. The Tooth Fairy was our outside linebacker.

Halloween in Scandinavia

Coin folders

Here are some shots of Will and Grandpa looking at one of our new Warman's coin folders, a great holiday gift idea from Krause Publications!

(I can hear you: "Boooo, you're using your blog to promote your company's products! Boooo! You're exploiting your son and your dad! Boooo!" Well, get over it. We need to sell these things to put food on Will's plate.)

Seriously, Will has enjoyed doing things with coins, and as someone whose livelihood depends on the hobby, scenes like this (not staged, of course), make us smile.

Giggles

Not much description needed here, it's just fun to watch Charlie giggle.

Goes down easy

Look at how fast Charlie gets down the stairs. This isn't as fast as he can go.

Burp

Just had a nice moment with Charlie. After reading him several books (a pleasant new development) and feeding him a bottle, I put him on my shoulder and gave him three pats on his back to speed along the burp process.

Then Charlie patted me on the back three times. It was nice.

Practice makes perfect

Yesterday we had a flag football game, and we showed up 15 minutes early. Will and I munched on apples while we watched a handful of kids practice running simple pass routes, it was cool. As I watched Will, he seemed to be very interested in what was going on. Then he saw his friend Devin.

"Hey Devin!" he yelled. "Let's practice!"

If only it had ended there. What Will actually yelled was:

"Hey Devin! Let's practice jumping and bumping chests!"

Yes, this is definitely what Will needs to be practicing. As it turns out, they weren't very good at it, so the practice will help. Then their friend Jayden, who appears to be about a foot shorter than Will, joined in, at which point they began practicing jumping, bumping chests, and falling down.

And we had a game. Rough start for young William, who recorded a run 20 yards the wrong way, then bumped heads with Logan, leaving them both in tears. But he rebounded to have a really nice flag-grab and an equally nice touchdown run in which he allowed the defender to overrun the play to the outside before he cut back inside.

Too perfect

Will is going through a phase right now where he is, shall we say, more exacting than usual. Things need to be just right for this kid, or there's gonna be hell to pay. It's fun to be around. Really.

Take this morning, for instance. After coaxing Will into the shower, he fidgeted with the temperature, trying to get it to his desired warmth. His repeated moans, grunts and sighs indicated he was having trouble finding the range.

After a minute or so, he really voiced his displeasure.

"The water is too perfect!" he complained.

I laughed. Apparently he wasn't joking. "It's not funny!" he admonished.

When I told Jana, she laughed, too. Because it sure beats the alternative.

Jana & Scott plus 3

Will's having his friend Mason sleep over tonight. Scott and I bought pizza, stuff for making cookies and we've got so many activities planned, we're fully expecting to fall asleep at 7 p.m. tomorrow night.

Despite the noise and chaos, I find my spirit gets buoyed exponentially with each additional child that enters are home ... especially when they're not ours.

Maybe it's because they're more likely to entertain themselves. Maybe it's because the noise reminds me of my house growing up. Maybe I just don't like quiet as much as I think I do.

Regardless, we're looking forward to tonight, even if Mason isn't completely sure that he's ready. He informed his mom the other night that she'll have to sleep on our couch.

Hanging with Mr. Cooper

This morning, I brought Charlie into daycare while Will stayed in the van. My friends Sharon and Tom were just bringing in Cooper as I was heading out.



After a quick hello to Cooper and a peek at his stylin' pumpkin sweatshirt, I got back in the van. Will excitedly told me that he'd seen Cooper and that Sharon had even waved to him.

He was so pumped up about it that I told Will he might get to see Cooper and Sharon again on Saturday, when we head to her house for a Thirty-One http://www.thirtyonegifts.com/ party.

"Wow. That's great!" Will said, "I think I'm going to invite Cooper to my party."

"What party?" I asked.



"What do you mean?" he said.

"You said you were going to invite Cooper to your party, are you planning a party?"



"I don't know what you're talking about Mommy. I hope that someday we can baby-sit Cooper."

"Me too. That would be pretty fun. You know, when you were about Cooper's age, Sharon and Tom baby-sat you."

"WHAT? They must have been just KIDS! We're they even old enough to be crossing guards?"

Well, now I know the criteria for baby-sitter approval. Sharon graciously said I could put these pictures of Cooper up with this post...as you can see, he's cute enough to star in his own blog :)

A couple of quick Will quips

Will and I were walking into Target on Sunday when he was explaining to me that he's so "incredibly" thirsty because his body is mostly made of water.

He holds one hand up to his rib cage and points the other at his toes and says, "This much of my body is water ... can you believe it? You wouldn't think that, would you? That's what makes it so fascinating and intriguing."

Then, that night while I was putting up a new shower curtain liner, Will was testing out his new toothbrush ... a Spiderman one that features a blinking timer. When the timer stops, you're done brushing.

Will started out well, bobbing his head and smiling, then he started giving me a look like his arm might fall off while he waited for that brush to stop blinking.

Finally, he gave a decisive spit into that sink and informs me, "We must be in Overtime. I'm done."

Pumpkin patch

Flagged

Last night we had our first flag football game. It was a lot of fun. Will scored a touchdown on a sort of nifty run, although after the game I asked him about it and he didn't seem to know he had scored a touchdown. He also forgot several times that it's flag football, not tackle football.

After the game one of our player's parents came over to me and the other coach for volunteering our time to coach the kids. It was one of those nice moments.

Then, the dad says "Hey, are you guys going to start throwing the ball more?"

Tonight, every play for both team was a running play. If we're reasonable about things, every play this season for all three teams in our league comprised of 5-year-olds will be a running play. These kids don't yet know how to stand the right way at the start of the play, don't know which way to run with the ball, don't understand the concept of out of bounds, and don't understand that you shouldn't grab your own teammates' flags.

So yeah, once we get those things down pat we'll starting winging it around.

Having been near my dad as he coached youth sports for a number of years, I've come to expect that some parents will irritate you. And in this case, the guy was really nice and I'm sure not trying to pull a power play and become our offensive coordinator. But man, this sure seems early to be hearing stuff like this.