17 months old

Today Will is officially 17 months old. He's had a good August so far. This week he mastered the slide at his daycare. He can climb up the steps and go down the slide all by himself. Coincidentally, it has also been a week and a half since our last accident report - so he's figuring that out as well. (We have to sign an accident report every time he gets a noticeable bump, scratch or scarp while at daycare. Last week we signed 3.)

I've been a slacker with the camera lately but here's a picture of Will and his favorite new toy.

This John Deere machine was given to him by the Omaha Pauleys - it was Ben and Alena's but they have grown out of it and they generously gave it to their cousin. The bottom line is that Will absolutely loves this thing. We brought it up to Vedauwoo and he spent the entire afternoon climbing out, climbing back in, sitting down, climbing out . . . etc. He also loved it when Ben would drive him around in it. Right now it's staying with the Pauleys in Colorado until we have more storage space in Cheyenne. I'm rather thankful that it's not at our house, I don't think we would ever get Will to go to bed.

We have some exciting news to share (and I apologize for getting the word out in the blog) but we are expecting another Bronco Baby in February. Being pregnant with a toddler is an interesting experiment but I'm feeling better and finally out of the first trimester ickiness. We're all excited - well Will's probably not excited, Canyon's not either, but Glenn and I are! We hope to find out in October if the baby is a girl or boy. In the meantime - check out the survey on the right and help us narrow down names.

One other bit of news - we've grown some giant zucchini! Cheyenne had typhoon-like rains last week and we didn't out to get the garden much. When I checked it on Sunday, I pulled these two out of the garden.

I put the banana in the picture to try to give it some sort of size reference but I'm not even sure that does the zucchinis justice. They are giant! Anyone have any ideas for how to make them edible? Anyone need a canoe?

The importance of dental health

At the Pauley household, we are committed to maintaining excellent dental health. Well, one of us is committed. The other one brushes twice a day but not for the recommended two minutes and flosses only before her next dental appointment. With Will being ahead of the tooth curve (born with two bottom teeth!), we've tried to get him used to brushing teeth in the last few months. All of the credit for Will's dental health lies with Glenn. He even went to Target (by himself!!) and bought him this little electric toothbrush. Usually one of us helps Will but this morning I let him take a turn by himself. We need to work on his form. Lately, one of Will's favorite activities is to put on other people's shoes. He likes dad's tennis shoes, mom's mules and anything else in his path. Here he's modeling cousin Alana's crocs. He was actually able to walk in these and pretty darn proud of himself. Don't worry, Aunt Vicky, I won't be buying him his own pair. For those fellow croc haters - you might enjoy this article.