Month 22

This month, when people asked me how old Wesley was, I found myself saying, "he'll be two in July". Which I think means it's coming right up. 22 months certainly sounds close to 24 months. He's certainly becoming a more capable little guy.

It seems like we did a lot this month, and time passed more slowly than it has been lately which is kind of nice. Wesley went through a lot of separate, intense, passionate phases of interest this month.

For the Love of Slides
We hadn't frequented the playground for months and months. We mostly went to the park a block from our house and explored under the trees. Partially it was because Wesley had so been enjoying gathering nature items, partially convenience, and largely because during the winter months every child at the playground seems to be hacking up a lung and then wanting to come borrow Wesley's shovel. So I tend to steer clear of the busy parks during sick winter months.

However, when we did go one day with Staci and Louis, Wesley rediscovered slides in a whole new way. When he was younger he had always wanted us to go down the slides with him, which seemed reasonable, but now he goes solo and loves it. Oh how he loves it. Especially the tunnel slides.

For the Love of Cutting
The last time I offered Wesley scissors, I promptly confiscated them with serious concern for eyeballs and fingers. This month, though, when the scissors came out, it was a huge success.

Nearly a year ago I bought cute scissors in Japantown. They were in a sweet little case and clearly for kids, but I couldn't actually see the entirety of the scissors. I was surprised when I first discovered that despite the plastic character-embellished scissors case, the actual scissors were all metal with not-so-blunt ends.

Wes did great with them, though. He was so careful. He would repeat safety protocol about fingers, about setting the scissors down before he jumped up and ran around in joy, etc.

The first day I got them out he probably cut up magazines for three hours straight. It was one of those amazing parenting moments where you witness perfect engagement for a developmental stage. No frustration, just intense concentration interspersed with pure happiness and excitement. And progress is always quick during such sessions.

Wesley started holding a handle in each hand and I would spin the magazine to try and get the page at the right angle. By the time the first day ended, he had a system wherein he could hold his own page to cut it. He'd take the scissors, open them using both hands, transfer them to one hand, squeeze with his fingers outside the holes (on the outside of the scissors), and then repeat. It was slow going. He could only make little one-snip cuts on the edge of the magazine, but he was able to cut.

Then I bought him some beginner's scissors with "lift assist". They spring back open automatically after he squeezes them together. This was a game-changer. Now he can cut continuously without having to open them back up. They are awesome starter scissors.

So instead of having us cut out pictures for collages and then Wes snipping the edges to add flair, he can actually cut things out on his own! He is learning to anticipate scissor positioning so as not to cut the desired object in half, how to cut excess away and get "just" the object of choice. He still often holds the scissors upside down which can make the scissors less effective. He puts his thumb in the hole about 60% of the time, but often keeps all fingers on the outer edge of the scissors. Depending upon the paper and format, he sometimes likes for us to help hold he page taught, and sometimes he says "self". For having cut for the first time less than a week ago, I'm impressed with his progress and happy it brings him so much joy and focus.

For the Love of Legos
Wesley went through a serious Lego phase this month, too. He took his legos off the shelf for the first time in months and was hooked. He went from wobbly at first to easily getting the blocks together in order to build trucks and boats.

He has a great design sense. The way he puts together his vehicles impresses me. He'll start to put something together and shake his head, say "no no no", take it apart, and remake it "there". He really concentrates on his work. He likes to play with others, however, not alone, despite often independently designing his own structures. Casey is an excellent Lego builder, and Wesley picked up some of his building techniques.

Oma (Norma) Time
We spent an afternoon and evening at Norma's house. It was basically paradise. She has an amazing garden which is where we spent much of the afternoon. We drank iced beverages in the shade, ate yummy food, and Wes played in the kiddie pool

He took it upon himself to start watering all of Norma's  plants. She was grateful to have them watered in the 90 degree weather.

Aunt Lisa Time

We wished a very Happy Birthday to Aunt Lisa this month.

Wesley helped her prep for the party by washing off chairs.

He also helped her open her presents and wanted to be in on all the action. He is so lucky to have Aunt Lisa in his life, as are we all.

We also visited the farm as Aunt Lisa planted her flowers for her brand new flower business. She was sweet enough to let Wesley help, which he loved.

Language

Wesley has so many words. In full sentences except still lacking all the connector words. The words now have multiple syllables and are more fleshed out versions of there previous indicators.

Tenses

Wesley has started self-correcting tenses and using the past tense regularly. He'll say things like "Find!" then correct to "Found" and then continue to properly use the past tense version. Eat/ate, came/come, dig/dug, and more. He's also started using -ing verbs like "sitting", "sliding", etc.

Some not quite right words that I love.

"Fowler"=flower

"gad-ren"=garden
"leg pit" = the back crease of your leg. I totally understand this Wesleyism
"pinker fingy" = pinky finger

Riding with Teddy

Possessives
Wesley has started using possessives, too. He'll say "Frog's" or "Bunny's" or "Wesley's".

He's retaining concepts and putting them into language quickly now. One day we were out on a walk looking at flowers and I identified a poppy for him. The next day we were walking on a different route and he said "Pop!" and pointed at a poppy. He also knows lillies, roses, rosemary ("mary"), and always asks the names of plants we see. Often times I have to say that we have to look it up at home. He has started to saying "look up. home" when I say I'm unsure of a name.

Expressions
Wes has picked up some expressions, both from us and from his books.
"My my my"
"My goodness"
"Hit the road"

Some other favorites:
I love how when Wes is hoping for something and we tell him that it may not come true, that he always says "maybe" in the sweetest voice. Can he ride a horse in town? "maybe". Will he see a bulldozer on our walk "maybe". Do we have bananas at home to eat (no)? "maybe".

Our little optimist.

"self" as in "i'll do that myself, thank you".

"Daddy" instead of "Dada". For some reason this transition really pulls at my heartstrings. I think the way he says Daddy is so sweet and singsongy it gets me every time.

"Mommy" and "Mother" appear as names for me, though "Mama" is still the most frequent. "Mother" came from two books we're currently loving, Are You My Mother? and Little Bear.

Writing

Wes is enjoying practicing writing and reading words. He gobbles up new words and adds them to his vocab. He loves seeing new words written and he enjoys them, too. His writing definitely looks different than his drawing or coloring. Most of it still looks unintelligible.

A page of Wesley's words

One day he was sitting by himself at his table with his marker and paper as I was preparing to sit down with my writing materials. I heard him talking to himself making the phonics sound for "c". Then I heard him make the sound for "a". Then I looked at what he was very conscientiously writing and I was shocked to see it looked like this...

I really don't think it's just because I'm his mother. I swear that looks an awful lot like c-a, given that that's the letters he was intending to write. Then we told him that if he made a "t" it would spell "cat". I think it's a pretty good "t", too...

He still needs to develop finer motor skills in order to exactly execute many of the things he tries to write, but his control is improving.

He has spent a lot of time this month circling objects and letters. He can finally stop his circles almost at one rotation (as opposed to circling about five times in ever-expanding circles). This shows increased control.

Word Cave

After playing cave for hours a day under the sleeping bag, I somehow got the idea to make him a cave in the little cubby in the kitchen. Then it became Wesley's Word Cave. He looooves it. We think up and write all the words together (see his writing above), hang them, and then read them. We tell stories using the words, which is good fun.

We have been talking about Africa quite a bit (his little guys like to visit the African animals on their car rides), so some pics of Africa (along with a collage we made) made it in with the African words.

I have been switching the words out every few days because he seems to get bored of them after that amount of time.

Expressions of Emotion
Wesley frequently expresses his emotions through language. He often says mad, sad, happy. By the end of the month he can say "I'm mad", and frequently does when he's frustrated.

If he's having a good time, he'll say "happy!" which is so sweet to hear.

One of the sweetest things he does now is he spontaneously says "love", as in "I love you". He'll say it and then come and give the biggest hugs. Sometimes he'll be thinking about someone and say "love". He's expressed his love for Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jesse in their absence, without any prompting.

Niceties
Wesley regularly says "thanks" and "thank you" at appropriate times. If he gives something to one of us, he'll often say "thanks" to remind us that we should be saying thanks.

He also knows that saying "please" holds more weight than not saying it, so he appeals with the magic word quite frequently. It's interesting to watch him use it with his friends. It does not always have the same effect.

He's started saying "no thanks" a lot, too. "Wesley, I see you need a diaper change, can I please help you with that?" "No thanks", etc.

Patience
Wesley is still doing well with waiting and taking turns. He really gets the concept and is often, though certainly not always, willing to wait his turn. When at the playground, he always stands way back and says "wait" while another kid finishes his/her turn at the slide.

He is not, however, always patient with us. He will wait for food, but has a difficult time waiting for someone to play with him. Such things go in waves, and we're definitely in a phase where solo playtime is low right now.

San Francisco Day

We visited Marlene in San Francisco. It was great fun. Casey and Wes hung out at the park while Marlene and I drank tea and chatted for hours. I think it was the first extended period of time that I've had socializing without Wesley. My brain functioned much better than when I'm also watching him. It was very relaxing and great to catch up.

Toddler Fun

Japanese training chopsticks. A huge hit.

I love the focus. I remember this shape matching ball from my childhood. He sometimes loses interest before he completes all the shapes (there are a lot of them). He struggles with the hexagon, the trapezoid, and the pentagon--generally the last 3 shapes left. He sometimes gets some of them, but often quits with at least some of those three incomplete.

And then we hung a balloon from the ceiling...

And we painted a ladybug. Wes painted, used a glue stick to glue the spots on, and he taped the antennae onto the bug after we wrapped the pipe cleaner around his tiny little fingers. We love finding ladybugs...

Current Artwall...

Found! at Bodega

Family nature trips are wonderful. I feel replenished, we have great family together time, and each time I am reminded of the natural beauty that surrounds us. Also, Wesley is usually happy and curious and enjoying himself, which always feels good.

We went on a wonderful hike to Bodega Headlands. It was a non-windy morning in Bodega, not too cold, but just fine for a beautiful coastal cliff walk.

There were dozens of docents and people milling around hoping to spot whales. We were delighted to find wildlife of a different kind. Furry Caterpillars.

There were Furry Caterpillars everywhere! Wesley ran around yelling "Found! Another!". It was one of the first times I heard him correct his language to properly use the past tense. First he said, "Find!" then he said "Find! Found" and thereafter he'd say "Find" when he was looking for the caterpillar and then exclaim"Found" when he spotted another one. He had so much fun. 

I remember as a kid I was always so excited to find furry caterpillars. They were rare and amazing to me. How many insects are so soft and bushy? I remember always being delighted to see them. I am still thrilled to see them.

Wesley was content to ride in the backpack some, so we were able to hike a little way. Casey hesitates to call such outings "hikes", but I have lower standards, and anything over a mile in nature now qualifies as a hike. For the record, this one was probably at least two or three miles and involved a little incline.

Outings like this one are family time at its best.

Month 21

Our Midwest trip was by far the biggest event of the month. A huge adventure.


Humor
Wesley told his first jokes this month. We bought an ABC book for the plane ride in which "J" features Elmo telling a joke. It goes like this...

Elmo: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
Elmo: Boo
Me: Boo Who?
Elmo: Please don't cry

I first read this joke to Wes as we drove through the Illinois countryside. He thought it was hysterical. As in, leg kicking, belly-laughing, "again again" funny. He'd say "Joke Joke" which meant to tell the joke again.

Then he started telling the joke. After some practice it sounded like this:

Wes: Knock
Me: Who's there?
Wes: Boo!
Me: Boo Who?
Wes: Cry (while shaking his head to mean the negation of the word)
All: ::laughter::

Within a day he was making up his own jokes which went like this:
Wes: Knock
Me: Who's there?
Wes: Grandma
Me: Grandma who?
Wes: Great! (as in Great Grandma whose house we just left)

punchline adaptations were: Grandma This! (meaning this grandma), Jesse This! (as in this Uncle Jesse)

Wesley also started realizing that he could joke about things. One of his favorite things to say is that he is going to eat something absurd (worms, a dump truck, a snail, etc) and then he pauses and laughs and says "joke joke".

It really tickles me to see his sense of humor develop.

Home
Wesley clearly has a strong sense of home. As we were standing on the walkbridge preparing to walk onto the airplane, he began saying "home" "home...take". He continued to pine for home in his tired or uncomfortable moments on the trip. He started to say "Miss...Kaira", "Miss...Louis".

When we arrived home he was so happy. He joyfully pulled out every single toy he owned. It was a gleeful reunion with familiarity, with that which is ours.

Names
This month most everyone's name started to be recognizable (not just because of familiarity with his sound). It was a little sad to see Uncle Jesse's name switch from "T" to "Jess". It was refreshing to have "Grandma" differentiated from "Mama" (this had caused some confusion from time to time regarding to whom Wesley was referring). Lisa, Kaira, and Staci are now recognizable out of context. And, he learned a lot of new names on his trip, which I am sure was a big help in advancing this skill.

He has also ditched the "you" and "me" challenge and now refers to himself as "Wes" which he never previously did.

I think there are only a couple animals/objects that are still named by their sound. Firetruck is "wrrrwrrr" like a siren. Bees are "bzzz" and chickens are "bock bock bock". The others have their proper names, which sometimes still comes as a surprise when he names them.

Visit to Uncle Jesse's Farm
We finally got to visit Uncle Jesse's new farm, conveniently located in Petaluma. We are so excited that it's right down the road!

"Dirt"

Wesley talks about Uncle Jesse a lot. He talks about Uncle Jesse's trucks and tractors a lot. He had not yet seen one of said tractors, but this trip was a game changer. He may become the coolest kid on the block with an uncle like this.

Not only did Wesley get to see the tractors, but he got to DRIVE a tractor. He was so happy.

It felt great to be out on the farm. Such open space full of possibilities. I'm looking forward to seeing all those fields full of veggies!

Midwest Extravaganza 2012

We just returned from our first big family trip. On said trip we realized that we'd never traveled more than an hour away from home since Wesley was born. All went very smoothly. We saw a huge number of family and friends. It felt so amazing to see everyone again, and to have them meet Wesley.

Prior to the trip I had no idea how Wesley would react to seeing so many people, including many other kids, in so many different places. He did really well. It was fun to see him being so social. With the kids he was very open and interested in them, which was not surprising to me. With the adults, he was smiley and talkative. He definitely wanted either Casey or myself within sight unless he was with my immediate family, but he was comfortable playing with other people if we were nearby.

He developed so much over the course of the week. His communication skills and language skills blossomed. He seemed to grow up a lot over the course of the trip. Perhaps big experiences which demand a lot of adaptation offer that opportunity.

Our generation has definitely started having babies in the Midwest. We saw a lot of other little kids.

First, we went to Iowa.

My parents rented a home and we stayed in one room, my brother and his family stayed in the other, and my sister slept on the pullout couch. My parents came over in the early morning, and then we went to my grandma's during the day.

Looking at chicks and riding a cow

My cousin and his family spent a lot of time with us. They have two daughters, my brother has two daughters, and we have Wesley.

Our generation's kids

Amish country

Horse trough fun

Claire was chasing Wesley around the yard trying to hold his hands. Eventually she caught him. Then they walked around together holding hands. He was a little unsure about her joy for holding his hands, but it was really funny and cute.

Trucks with Aunt Amanda

I can't express how special it was to have Wesley here. We left Iowa knowing I was pregnant, wondering when we'd return for a visit. I was so happy to have my grandma and my aunts meet Wesley. So sad that my grandpa wasn't there. So meaningful to be there with them and my family. 

Wesley totally loved his Uncle Jason ("Jase"). It'd be the first thing he'd ask about when he woke up in the morning or from naps. He'd run out of the room to go find Uncle Jason. He always expressed his hope that Jason would be wherever Wes was going. It was really adorable how smitten he was with his Uncle.

We visited friends in Fairfield twice. We spent a day there which including one wonderful dinner and late evening. Then we stopped through on our way out of town. My heart warms so much around these amazing people...I unfortunately took very few pictures there...

Then we toured through Illinois, where Casey's Mom is from, and saw Casey's extended family.

The Lewis Family hosted us one night. They made us the most divine falafel feast. Yum. Wesley was over the moon happy to have a whole bin full of trucks, trains, and boats to play with all by himself.

Then we visited Great Uncle Harry's work at the Govenor's Mansion. The coy would come up and nibble our fingers, which of course Wes totally loved.

Surprisingly, he was brave enough to let the fish nibble his fingers a few times, too. He really didn't want to leave those fish. I was impressed with the grounds and interior of the mansion. What a great tour!

We headed South to Blue Mound and Decatur to see the rest of Casey's family. It was a beautiful day on the farm. Wesley enjoyed Casey's cousins' tree service trucks, the rooster, and the horses. We enjoyed the good company, plus all those things. We visited twice including a breakfast in which Wesley ate half an omelet plus five pancakes (growth spurt?!?).

It was great to visit with the Parrish Family including Casey's Aunt, Uncle, cousins and cousins' kids. A wonderful gathering.

Casey also got to visit with his uncle and his family, though it was past Wesley's bedtime, so he went solo and had a nice visit.

Then we headed to Indiana to visit my friends.

This is us at the mall...Wesley really wanted me to ride with him, though he did not want the ride to actually move.

We met my friend Kate and her family (husband and two kids with another due in August) and her Mom at Cracker Barrel. It was so nice to see them all and to catch up. I love how Wes is totally eyeing that awesome toy in this picture. Kate and I have been friends for over twenty years (!!!).

Then we drove to Indianapolis (where i went to middle school and high school). We stayed with my friend Nic. It was relaxing to drive around town, eat out, and just hang out together around town.

Among our Indy adventures, was a trip to Broadripple. We walked the Monon Trail. We had ice cream and then ate at the local brewpub.

We also visited my friend Erin and her family. She has three adorable children. Hal is just a month younger than Wes, and I so loved meeting him. 

They were pretty cute together.

We also visited my brother and his family briefly. My sister-in-law Christie snapped some of the most wonderful photos of Wesley (and myself). She runs Christie Marie Photography and is seriously talented. Wes is generally not easy to photograph (i.e. can't be bothered to stop his work or look up at you and can give some very serious looks, despite smiling a lot in natural life). She did an awesome job in about three minutes (the attention span of a toddler).

These are her pics...

When it came time to leave Indy, we went to the airport to fly out. Flights were way overbooked due to spring break. We took some airline deals and ended up staying two nights in a nice hotel with paid meals and four tickets totaling $1800 worth of flight vouchers. An awesome little bonus to the end the trip. It means we can look forward to more vacations in the future. It also means that we went to the airport on three separate occasions, waiting through boarding each time. Wesley was a total trooper.

It was Wesley's first hotel experience, and he didn't really love it. He didn't like being in the room, and hated the TV. So, we couldn't watch much TV which is one of the perks of hotels.

Hide n Seek with Daddy in closet

He did, however, love the pool. He splashed and paddled his arms and really wanted to practice blowing bubbles (with which he had zero success other than inhaling a lot of water). He was so ecstatically happy.  I hope we can go a lot this summer, after we invest in a life jacket or something. Squirmy toddlers are hard to handle in the pool! It was joyful to watch him swimming, though.

We made it home safe and sound. The flight home went smoothly.

I loved seeing everyone on the trip. It made me wish that we weren't so far away from such amazing family and friends. It was a special trip, and I'm so glad we took it. A resounding success.