14 1/2 Months old

Big W is the busiest bee around. His new thing is throwing things. He'll throw food off his tray, toys out of his carseat, rocks and utensils off the balcony, anything he can get his hands on to throw in the toilet, and the latest was his passport into his bathwater. I didn't realize until hours after his bath. That was not so funny since he nearly ruined it. Once he throws everything down, out, off, or in, he'll say, "Uh Oh". I think he likes the reaction, the control he has, and saying those words.

His latest word yesterday was, "No!" That really made me laugh and smile, especially since I don't really know where he picked this one up. We barely ever tell him no since it's a negative word that one can get carried away with. We always say things like, "Find something better to do." Or, "that's not the best thing to be doing," Or "How about this, Will..." and hand him something else. I obviously have been saying it enough for him to pick up though.

He knows where 'eyes' are and will often point at my eye and say "eye". Likewise, he can say 'Hi' and 'bye' followed by a wave. They all have that 'I' sound. He was even saying 'ayi' the other day. It's really cute when he says it. He tries really hard and is really precise and his bottom jaw will stick out a little bit when the 'I' part comes.

He also started saying, 'night, night'. I tell him that when he naps or goes to bed. Those two words will always make him cry since he knows what that means. He most often does not like to go down.

He finally got his full molar in. It started last month and is finally here. His other side is also getting a molar in. You can only see the first side of the tooth though. Last month was a little hard at nights with that tooth.

He has been noticing when we have family prayer at night that we bow our heads, fold our arms, and speak to Heavenly Father. The other day I was sitting in my bed with him, and he folded his arms and started speaking jibberish. His first prayer. I was so impressed. It's a good reminder to me as a mother that he is always learning and observing, and that I need to set a good example for him. I was so happy, and then I walked into the bathroom and found his wet, sopping passport in his tub.

He can climb on the table, and does so with a dance. A little jig, he does, every time he sees himself on the table (there's a mirror right across that he looks into). He does this same jig when we get in the elevator, when he stands on the couch or bed, or chairs, etc. It's a little quick step and he gets this really happy, naughty grin on his face.

He throws tantrums too. If I take something away he'll throw himself on the ground, sitting, and then lay down and pout. It's really quite hilarious. We don't really acknowledge that behavior, so hoping it won't last long, but he isn't two yet!

He loves to play with friends--those who don't bully him. He found a friend in the indoor playground the other day. She was a swedish girl with jet black hair and held his hand and dragged him around. He finally couldn't take it anymore. Another time some older girls were being mean to him and one even went up to him and hit him gently on the head after scolding him. He kept smiling. He didn't understand. I did though, and gave that little girl a piece of my mind. That little scoundrel gave a piece of her mind rght back to me!!!

We are going home for Christmas! I am so excited to be able to spend christmas eve with my family, and christmas morning with the Prices. It hasn't begun to get super cold yet here at home, so we are thankful for that.

Price & Howland Boys

The boys just playing around having fun.

On the Bund with views of the Huangpu River and the Shanghai, Pudong skyline.

2nd Generation

Here is Will and his buddy Stockton playing in the childrens market in Shanghai.  Will loved having his friend to visit.

I'll post more pictures later, they are taking too long right now.

New Post

The first year we moved to China we were invited to a Halloween Party. We had only been in China a short while and had fun getting to know the people in the branch.


Last year at the branch Halloween Party Will was Santa Clause, me and Taylor his elfs. I stood outside practically the entire party holding my little Santa Clause who couldn't calm down. He was fussy every night, it seemed, for the first 4-5 months of his life (A lesson I learned from that: he's tired! Put him to bed!).

This Halloween Taylor will be in the U.S. :( We are sad he won't be here.

Ty and Sarah came and visited us here this past week! We are so happy they could come. W. sure liked waking up to a friend every morning. He loved having a partner in crime. They would stand out on the balcony every day and scream to the people below doing their morning tai chi, and get into the flower pots. We enjoyed our fair amount of massages--out and at home, shopping, shopping,...and more shopping.

I was able to download some summer photos from their camera. We celebrated our 3rd anniversary this summer with them and Seth and Meagan. We went waterskiing at Jordanelle, and then to a quaint Bed and Breakfast in Midway. We are thankful to have such great friends. I don't know if it's normal to celebrate wedding anniversaries with friends, but we always have, and it's a blast.
Tay, you're the greatest husband and Dad ever, and I love you. Cheers to 3 years of marriage!

pictures to follow.

Bali - Bangkok

WB and I were able to accompany TP on his business trip to Bali and Bangkok these past two days. He asked if we wanted to come along...I didn't have to take a moment to think about that one!
We spent our days hanging out on the beach while TP worked. He had one full free day where we all sat on the beach. We listened to the waves and the water ebb and tide, the sky a perfect shade of beach blue with white clouds passing slowly...and we chased Will around as he tried to eat sand and swim alone in the ocean. Since this trip came up sudden I forgot to pack W's swim gear and summer hat...He sure looks cute in his new gear.
TP had a business dinner on the beach to his favorite type of meal--seafood. I'm not sad I missed out on that one.

Bangkok is a cool city. I am most impressed with a nearby park where we ran. It was a fairly large park with a lake in the middle, similar to some back in our hometown, but this park was filled with runners, groups of people doing yoga, tai-chi, badminton, and most impressive of all were the groups of people doing step aerobics with loud stero systems. It made me happy that so many people were enjoying exercise.
And, they have the best mango sticky rice here, naturally. And they don't skimp on the rice. SO TASTY! More than a couple times we had to take second glances at some "women" who had man hands and features.  Thailand is the world's capital for 'ladyboys'.  Nastsy. We also experienced a tuk tuk - little taxi type thing.

WB makes so many people smile. He can now wave on command when I say, "Shuo Ni hao" (say hello). Or if I say "gei wo" (give me) he'll hand over whatever it is he has. He is very smart and picks up on so much lately. He can say 'Baba' (it means Dad, in chinese). He can also say 'Dadda', and 'Momma'. 'Baba' and 'dada' are the favorite. 'Momma' only when he's hungry, but it's super darling. When I say, "chew your food" he chomps his mouth. I am so impressed he can understand me. He seriously brings so much happiness into our lives. Oh, lest I forget, he can also throw a pretty good tantrum. He's doing it right now. We are so proud of him :)




seafood dinner.

bangkok taxi.



I look so great here, but the sun was in my eyes :)



on a tuk tuk. Look at W's face. Shocked.



6 pearly whites, and a cute smile.

Japan...Again & Happy Birthday Will

I'm in Japan again this week so I can do a blog post again.  A week ago today was Will's first birthday.  We had a birthday party with another boy in the ward that has the same birthday as WB (Wild Bill).  The other boy is the same age but he is about half the size of Will.  A few other friends came over to join in the fun.  We got some sand toys to play in the sandbox outside and he love them.  I gave him his first pair of running shoes.  See the pic below of WB standing tall in his new Nike running shoes.  The other little boy had a bunch of gifts to open that were all wrapped up.  Fortunately WB was sidetracked enough with a soccer ball to realize that this other kid got a lot more presents that he did.  Jen and I felt like bad parents for about a two seconds but those feelings didn't really last - it's his first birthday after all.  He may not have many toys but for his first b-day I got him a 529 college savings account.  (does that sound like a Price thing to do or what?)

This is a picture of Will hanging out in his crib in the old house.  Will broke my iphone so I don't have a camera to take pictures anymore.  So this old picture will have to do.

This is the fam on WB's birthday.  Jen was having a bad hair week but agreed to let me post the picture anyway.

We have officially been found out and are switching branches this week.  The cool thing is that we found out that there are seven other families from the new branch that are in our new complex.  How cool is that!  The play group and a bunch of other activities are in the complex.  Jen is really excited about that.  The bad thing is that our old branch asked us if we would speak this Sunday and you know that the new branch is going to ask us to speak soon.  Double wammy.  

Japan

Nagoya is a very quiet and clean city. I imagine the rest of Japan is just as great. The people are very polite here and bow all the time as a form of respect. It's a bit funny to see, actually. I had to chuckle when we first arrived at the hotel and the lady helping us with our luggage kept bowing low. All the taxis are very clean and neat. All the taxi drivers wear suits. All the cars are waxed and shiny. All the cars stop when the light is red and people only cross the streets when the green man says 'GO'. Very orderly and refreshing.
TP had meetings the first part of our time here and then we were able to see a few sites, eat some great Japanese food, and do a little shopping. The guy who works with TP here in Japan took us to a historical castle--I imagined something like a castle in England, but of course, it was more like an Asian temple...and to his home. He lives up in the mountains of Japan and I kept forgetting we were in Asia while we were up there. It looked like good ol' C. County. His home is an actual tree house in the mountains that he designed himself, actually elevated off the ground.
In TP's meeting on Monday Gary Stevenson from the first quorum of the seventy was able to attend. Gary is one of the owners of TP's company and is now serving as the Asia Area President in Japan. It was very neat to meet him. If you all remember he spoke in General Conference 2008 about looking toward the temple and used the Logan Temple as his example. Will was very honored to meet him as well.


We return home this evening and get to put our house together since we moved the day before we came here. Yes, we will have to switch branches, unfortunately, but I am also looking forward to living closer to members. There are a few families that I have heard of that live in our same complex. We love being in our current branch and were going to keep our move a secret so we could continue to attend, but alas, our secret has leaked. We thought it would be easy to keep a secret since only a few friends of ours have actually been to the house (we live the farthest from anyone), and there were a few key people that we decided couldn't know because of their calling (Elders Quorum, clerk, and Branch President) since they might be obligated to tell us to switch. One of those key people was buying our treadmill from us and was coming to pick it up the day we were moving. The treadmill movers came and moved the Incline Trainer to our new location and moved the other to the lobby so this key person could pick it up easily, but it worked out that he came early and asked to come up to the apartment...Since all of our belongings were packed up I had to brief him in the elevator and he ends with "I'll keep your secret." ! Wow! Really?! Too cool, I thought. Since no one knew about the move we couldn't really ask for help so we did it all ourselves, and it took all day long. By nightfall we were in our new apartment and I get a phone call from my friend who is the Primary President and whose husband is in the branch presidency. "Did you move to Pudong?" She asks... and our secret is blown. :)

In WB news: He is running all over the place and getting into everything. While I was unpacking a few things the morning before we left WB was running all over and getting into everything. After a moment I couldn't hear him and found him in the storage room sitting amongst our vitamins and calcium pills with a multivitamin in his mouth, him in the middle trying to get all the caps off (he can now unscrew lids of things, like toothpaste, and vitamins). In our new apt. the landlord has a big statue of Buddha about the same size as WB that she hasn't removed yet and and W will often stand in front of this statue and have a conversation with it. He sure has a lot to say.