Will meets his new baby sister, Zoe Attabelle

...and is not entirely sure what to make of her. But he was thoroughly pleased to see that she had gotten him a present of some trucks! So they started off on the right foot. (Thanks to Stephanie and Julie for the big brother present!)

Some pre-Zoe catch-up

William likes to make a little "nest" out of the comforter in the playroom - very cozy!

William also enjoys driving his friend Jason around in an ice cream truck. Jason is a good sport about this and lets Will drive, despite his lack of license or permit to do so.

WILL's first day of preschool! Part two: Pick up

Dad arrives at noon to pick up Will - teacher Lauren spots him before William does.

"Hey Will, look who's here!"

"Dada?"
"DADAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Dad got a big hug. And also a report from Lauren - Will did well in general but had a little trouble following directions and relinquishing his sippy cup when it was requested... oops. Mom and Will are working on "giving up the cup" drills now... more "give it" and less "WILLIAM GRAB IT" is the aim.

Will's first day of preschool! Part one: Drop off

On Tuesday, 9/1, Will started preschool! He felt pretty serious about the whole thing, but was optimistic and also very much looking forward to playing with all the toys in the playroom.

Will's preschool is at the JCC in Los Gatos - his classroom is aptly named Dubonim (the Little Bears). His teachers are Lauren and Smadar. They are both quite nice and very professional.

Here's a photo montage of the drop-off process:

Stoicism in the car on the way to the JCC.

Time to get out of the car!

Saying goodbye to Dad at Will's cubby.

Mom snags a goodbye kiss.

The patented Will Kraus smile re-appears as he begins to play with the farm set in the classroom!

Once he got started with the cow and the horse, he barely noticed us saying our final goodbyes! Mark and I left and went to get some breakfast at Sweet Pea's cafe, sans toddler - a strange experience, but not entirely unpleasant...

We are proud of Will for being a big kid who goes to school!

Helping Grumpy

Grumpy was not so into the au naturel gardening, so Will put on some clothes to help him feel more comfortable. Luckily there were plenty of watering cans to go around.

Watering au naturel

Warning: nudity.

We made it to Cape Cod after a few days' visit at PLP, and William immediately found his inner gardener. His inner gardener really digs watering cans. Clothes? Not so much.

PLP (Pocono Lake Preserve)

In mid-July, we headed to Pocono Lake Preserve to see Pop Pop, Minette, Margaret, and Cousin Owen. We also got to see Tom and Sheila, an unexpected but wonderful surprise!

Here are some handsome young men in their "dock suits"...

We also made it to the Baby Beach, where William enthusiastically played with some other kids' (clearly marked) trucks. We were slightly gleeful to be co-opting these trucks for our own uses...

The only down side of the trip was a car accident - ten minutes away from arriving at PLP, a car suddenly pulled out in front of us on highway 940 and both cars were badly impacted; ours was totaled. Luckily everyone was fine, if a bit frightened! Poor Gram had to say goodbye to her dear friend the 1999 Forester... she's car shopping now so feel free to email her with car related advice.

Sorry to be so long away from the blog, but we'll do a bit of catch-up now - thanks to all our blog fans for keeping up with Our Hero and his devoted entourage.