Notes About Declan

This page is an attempt to document a few things that distinct to Declan Robert Williams and our love for him.

Fourth Trimester (zero to three months after birth)

• Tried to stand up before he even understood that crawling was an option.

• Serious swaddle buster. He developed some great upper body strength by freaking us out at night with an arm or two sticking up next to his face.

• While co-sleeping on our king bed, he made noises at night that were like a ghost dancing with a pole cat. He also used to break out into laughter in his sleep.

• Smiled a lot, which he still does

• Liked to play

• Books are good - we started a tradition of reading before every nap and bedtime

• First 'long' trip was in a car with Jen Williams playing the role of 'Jauntie'. We drove to Tahoe for Alison's wedding. We met Laurie and Ivan at a AirBnb and we loved the whole experience. Such a nice weekend...thanks you guys.

4 months to 7 months

· On walks, Declan is always eager to help prune the neighborhood shrubbery - which we never get yelled at for. He grabs leaves, tears them up, tries to eat them. We regularly take him on walks to the park and back. He's been on a swing three times, on his own.

· A fascination with tags - instead of enjoying a fabric or soft toy for it's colors or shapes, he goes straight for the tag. They taste better than the toy, he's told us.

· Buttons and TV remotes are a big draw, along with our cell phones. We can't understand why he likes cell phones so much, as we Google on our phones why toddlers like cell phones. Very meta...

· Declan rolled over for the first time in October of 2019. We were both shocked. We had our first play dates at Little Wonders and he decided he was behind the curve when he saw all those charming little girls and boys around his age scooting and having lots of tummy time.

· First dip in a pool was in August of 2019. There are photos - just sayin'.

· First wedding (actual attendance, not relaxing while Laura and I went to a wedding) was Mike and Mike's lovely soiree up in the hills of Marin. We were nervous and enjoyed the experience but as new parents we left early for no good reason.

· First lighting storm party extravaganza was in Poultney, VT. Bob and Ann Williams helped us through the farm-to-table experience while it poured rain and we freaked out.

· Likes to chew on laces and strings. If he sits in your lap and you have a hoodie with a string, please offer it to him. You can always wash your hoodie later.

· LOVES THE JOLLY JUMPER

· Enjoys watching videos of himself - and he laughs at himself when he sees himself laughing.

· For many evenings at dinner, Declan sat and stared at Ken while he and Laura shared an evening meal. He often opened his mouth wondering if he could taste what we were having. At six months, we scraped a banana onto his gums and he seemed to like it. That started a big change in him - he eats everything.

We have now fed Declan these foods (48 items) and he has not spat any of them out:

8 months to 12 months

Declan started 'army crawling' right around Christmas 2019. He's a scooter.

He still enjoys being held up so that he can 'walk' using support.

On the subject of food, he started being able to feed himself certain foods about the same time as his teeth came in. Bottom teeth came in around December 15th. Top teeth came in around January 4th. He has an exceptionally sharp bite, believe us.

Declan enjoys the concept of things both inside, and outside of containers. If the thing is in a container, throw it out. If there are things in the container that should not be there, dump it over. If the container is empty, complain. According out our toddler teacher, this is 'cause and effect' behavior. Go figure.

Stacking is our biggest activity. We even bought an additional toy that has a number of nesting cups that can be stacked high into the sky. Best way to knock them over is to do a supported walk and grab 'just the top one'.

Second favorite toy at this point is a 'Wubble' which is a very strange ball made of super stretchy, long polymer plastic that can be blown up quite large with straw, and is crazily hard to control. He already put a hole in one by biting it hard. Video on the video page.

Declan knows when photos are happening and will likely ham it up. He laughs at Jen Williams when on a video call, which we find hilarious.

He knows his name. We proved it.

January 13, 2019: He is just beginning to get the 'mama' and 'dada' concept. He says things like 'mahberbler' and we believe he'll be a linguist someday. Today's date is January 13, 2019.

Declan now hides and waits for you to find him. He holds a cloth in front of his face and, by all estimates, disappears for a few moments. With a good amount of calling his name, he can appear again, and everyone thanks the lord and relaxes...until he disappears seconds later.

Monday, Feb 12, 2020: He crawled today, officially. Witnessed by Jennifer Williams, Laura Williams and Ken White.

9 month stats: Declan is 19.15 pounds (50th percentile), 43 cm diameter head (98th percentile) and 29.7 inches in length (87th percentile)

12 month stats: Declan is 30.1 inches in length (down to 50th percentile), 21.5 lbs (50th percentile) and 18.8 inch diameter head (91st percentile)

May 12th 2020: On Mother's day this year (May 10th) Declan walked eight steps unsupported. He has been brave - pulling himself up to standing position using a variety of walls and furniture then launching himself forward for a few steps. We take him out to the park which has luxuriously thick grass to fall on and let him do his thing.

Declan knows who is mama and who is dada. He has yet to speak, but he gets the idea that we have those names.

Teeth Count - 4 now on the top and two on the bottom.

May 15th 2020: Teeth count - 4 on top and three on the bottom

July 25th 2020: Teeth count - 4 and 4 fronts (top / bottom) and 4 molars (early!)

Favorite Things

• The Sweet Hour - Declan often wakes around 4 or 5am and we bring him into our bed. He will sleep between us and Ken will hold his tiny hand. Laura will often nestle with him and he will lightly smack her lovely face.

• Grunting is how Declan laughs, and you can hear it on the video page. We have fallen in love with his laugh which is heard around the house a lot these days.

• One of our favorite things was having Jennifer Williams at the birth with us. We love you forever for all your help, clarity and shared joy.

• A quick memory: The evening before Declan's birth, Ken ran out to grab cheeseburgers for a quick meal and Jen was heard to have asked the night nurse - "can she have this?"

• Jen Williams is also our personal shopper. She spends a good deal of time at Carters, Target and more...and we love it.

• As to first words, Declan's got a few. According to Jen, his first word was actually 'scuse', following a three sneeze moment (he always sneezes three times). According to Laura, he hasn't said a first word yet, but a lot of his 'bah bah' and 'mah mah' can be attributed to needing a quick snort of formula. I've been trying to get him to say 'papa' to me, and it hasn't worked yet.

12 Months to 18 Months

We are currently in month 14 and Declan is walking all over the place. He likes a group dance, where Laura, Jen and I stomp in front of him. He will stomp along as best he can whether we have a song playing or we're just making up a tune.

Declan has finally learned to be 'gentle' when he pets Lola. He still scares the heck out of Blackjack, though. When Jack appears, he will chase the cat as best he can. Only on one or two occasions have we all been in bed together and Declan has gotten a chance to interact with Jack in a not-so-gentle fashion.

In terms of personality, he's definitely growing into a boy, with likes and wants and 'why shouldn't I touch this cord going into this electrical outlet?' Because it's not for babies, that's why. My favorite time of the day is the morning, getting him out of bed. We take him into our king bed which is comfy and full of pillows and we bang around for a bit. He's often very cuddly and wants to be on us. He's recently taken to sitting on us in kind of a 'I"m the king of this castle' way and smiling when he does so. Very endearing but also kind of smelly first thing in the AM, as he has a pretty full diaper.

When we wake and get down to the living room, he's pretty joyful on the whole. He likes to play 'Where's Declan' and hide in various places. I also chase him around by crawling after him. Laura is the 'reader' and he brings books up to her to read when she's sitting on the couch. He's very fun to be with, and only occasionally bangs his head.

He's getting to know Grams (Ann Williams) and Grampa (Bob Williams) pretty well. He absolutely adores Jen Williams, Aunt Jenny, and races to her when she shows up at the back door.

Two more molars (maybe four) have come in. He won't let us look in his mouth.

For the most part, he has stopped popping stones into his mouth when we walk.

18 Months to 24 Months

Our lives have changed for the better. Declan is talking - A LOT. He understands more and more each day and is pretty good at maneuvering the intricacies of speech ('a hole is one thing, and a whole lot is another'). Our daycare provider has said he's pretty verbal, more so than most of the boys that they've cared for. We like talking with him, and encourage the growth in his knowledge of both the inner world (feelings) and outer (that coffee tastes good or bad?)

3 years old

This week is the first week of June, 2022. Last week the daycare was closed for the holiday (memorial day) and we had Declan at home for four days, starting on a Friday.

We had planned to make this potty training weekend, but lost steam as we approached the holiday and ended up not doing that. However, Declan then surprised us by asking if he could sleep in his new twin bed.

Wow. We settled him in, turned out the light and he slept very well, only waking us up once or twice through the video monitor.

He hasn't been back to his crib since.

We'd be wondering how to transition him from one to the other. He's a 'big boy' now, we said to ourselves, and doesn't fit in a travel crib very well, and we have some travel coming up. So, dear Declan took care of it and now sleeps in a twin bed. He has to have a particular yellow blanket on his head, and be covered completely by a blanket that Sodie made for him, but other than that, he's been sleeping soundly.

And yesterday, he went pee for the very first time in the potty at daycare. Our provider, Katie, had said a day before that when we picked him up, that she didn't know if he was ready for potty training. Turns out he was.

He got up this morning and peed in his personal tiny potty in the livingroom while watching some toddler videos. We couldn't believe it. We are still a bit shocked that in the space of one week he's now sleeping on a real bed and using a toilet.

Thanks, Declan! You are the sweetest kid.

3 year old stats

Weight: 39 lbs
Height: 38.5 inches
Head Size: still big