We Love Trucks!

Can you believe that next week this guy will be three? Yep, three. Not four or five. Three. In fact, I struggle most times to remember that he is only two and not already three. He has been the size of a three year old for quite some time. When he plays with Lila, it is easy to think that they are my "older" kids. But in reality, Wyatt is closer in age to Piper. I asked Lila once if she remembered Wyatt being born. She didn't. Life has never existed for her without Wyatt. I feel that way too. Has it been only three years since this little guy came into our lives? It feels like longer. 

Wyatt has had a fascination with construction vehicles, fire trucks, garbage trucks, etc. for a while. And he loves to play outside in the dirt, so it's natural that those two things would go together.

Here he is filling his little dump truck with dirt to empty into his big dump truck.

In the past month, he has discovered Bob the Builder and LOVES the Bob videos. So now we know construction vehicles by their Bob names... Scoop (backhoe), Dizzy (cement truck), Lofty (crane)... you get the idea. 

Lucky for him, I didn't try to plant any new flowers this spring in my flower boxes. (Lucky for me too - they probably wouldn't have survived our extreme temps and drought this year.)

Dumping the dirt.

Getting more dirt.

Then I suggested he move his big dump truck closer.

Yes, this will go faster now :)

What prompted me to go outside with my camera in the first place was I saw him sitting on the window ledge. But of course, by the time I got out there he had moved on. So I had to convince him to sit back down for me and then I had to coax a smile. Here are the outtakes :)

Perhaps you remember Wyatt's cute mispronunciation of pancakes? Well, he says that word correctly now, but he still has a few things he doesn't say quite right. Like the restaurant Which Wich - he says Switch Wich :)

He loves to watch the garbage trucks go down our street, and he loves to help me pull up the trash cans once they are empty.

He also loves to help me in the kitchen and will pull over a chair to "help". He also likes to help with the dishes (which usually just involves dumping water from one cup to another -- and ends when he gets water on the floor or all down his shirt).

His favorite word to say is "duck". He says it frequently and randomly. He laughs whenever he says it. When Ben was in Germany and we made a little video to send him, I asked the kids if they wanted to tell Daddy anything. Lila said "I love you Daddy." Wyatt said "duck!" Then he laughed.

And here's another photo to put in the "embarrassing wedding photos" stockpile. He likes to put on Lila's socks and shoes.

With him about to turn three, I have begun to think about potty training. But, he still shows no interest in using the toilet. And we have had some issues with him not wanting to go #2, even in his diaper. I don't get very excited about this venture right now. Two things I don't understand... why wouldn't you want to go in the toilet and why wouldn't you want to take a nap?? :)

Usually, he is my sweet, but loud, little guy. However, if he gets overly tired, we have learned he becomes a crazed maniac. By that I mean, he won't make up his mind but then gets upset about it, screams and yells and kicks. It isn't pretty. The other night I had to hold him down while I changed his diaper and then put him to bed. It doesn't happen very often fortunately. During those moments I have no problem remembering how old he is though :) 

Times Have Changed

This was taken (on my phone) in July of 2009, a little over two years ago.

Now, those two look like this. Where did my babies go???

Back then, he was the baby.

Now we have a new baby in the picture.

I have no idea what Piper was looking at. The other two were laughing at Ben, who was trying to get them to smile.

And just for fun... what a happy little guy :)

9 Months and Thriving

When I took Piper in for her 9 month check up, everything looked great. She was hitting all the milestones... babbling, crawling, standing. She had grown an inch. BUT, she had only gained 1 ounce since she was 6 months. The doctor was concerned and perplexed as to why she hadn't gained more weight. She never acted hungry, but maybe I wasn't feeding her enough?? I mean, she really is a happy baby 95% of the time. It was the second time I have heard the phrase "failure to thrive" concerning her. (I also heard that when I was pregnant and measuring small.) The doctor wanted to do a urine test to see if that gave any answers. So while we were waiting for my sweet girl to tinkle, the doctor also ordered an EKG.

Here she is: 9 months old getting an EKG. The hardest part was keeping Piper from pulling all those cords off. I haven't heard anything about the EKG results, so I can only assume it came back normal. Since that day, we have doubled (possibly tripled) what we were feeding her. Included in that is some Pediasure which the doctor prescribed. She has eaten it all. I feel badly that I obviously wasn't feeding her enough, but at the same time, I am hoping that is the only problem. I take her back to the doctor in 2 weeks for a weight check.

Here she is before her doctor's appointment, happy as a clam. She was particularly excited about touching that dishwasher thingy (that's the untechnical term). Also, she loves to carry something in her hand. She crawls everywhere holding something in one or both hands. That little tubular lego? Her favorite.

She does try to put it in her mouth and chew on it sometimes. Then she gets told "no-no".

The face I got when I took it away.

She makes a really cute pouty face, I must say :)

I took her outside later that day to try and get a new picture for my living room. I have a frame that holds the kids' three pictures and I wanted to update Piper's pic.

She was fascinated by the dead grass.

I thought maybe she would be upset about sitting in the straw-like grass, but she didn't mind at all!

Then one morning, I decided I'd better take some pictures of her to document nine months. Here she is with the turtle.

Get used to these types of hugs, Piper. I see many of them in your future.

She often sits on her knees... easier to keep going that way!

Wyatt laughing at something she was doing.

She was laughing because I kept gently pushing her backward when she'd try to sit up.

Happy girl.

Happy hungry girl.

A picture of her hair swirl on the back of her head.

I believe it was at this point I started thinking, "Hmm. She IS 9 months old. She should have a doctor's appt. coming up." I went and looked at the calendar. Yikes! It was that day at 10 a.m. The time? 9:40 a.m. We ran out the door and made it on time. Little did I know I would be there for two hours waiting on things like an EKG.

She stands up all the time now. Notice the blocks in her hand.

Current eye color: gray?

She likes to stand up by the window and look out.

I thought I should document bath time now. She holds things in the tub too.

She LOVES bath time!

She holds on to the toys when she gets out of the tub too. You can kind of see all of her teeth in this picture. She has two on bottom and three on top.

Where's Piper?

So sweet.

Friends of ours got this towel for Piper when she was born.

I love hooded towels.

Oh, that tongue. And the dimple. So cute!

Different day, same block.

What do you think? Does she look like she's gained weight? She really is a happy baby. Loves to babble and investigate everything. She eats really well... has only gagged at a few things :) And she loves to snuggle. I'm sure if I wanted to, I could hold her all day long and she wouldn't complain. When I pick her up, she gets really excited and starts bouncing up and down in my arms. It is an instant mood booster :)

Feeding the Ducks?

These pictures are from a month ago. September was cooler... still hot in the afternoons but definitely cooler in the morning and evenings. On this particular evening, we decided to walk down to our local park to feed the ducks. I had a few bread "ends" that were old and dry saved up for just this purpose.

Lila and Wyatt rode in the jogging stroller, but once we got to the park they wanted out.

Here Ben is trying to show Wyatt how to throw smaller pieces I think.

Aunt Janina came up for supper that night, so she joined us on our romp to the park. She wasn't thrilled I took her picture :)

A walk after supper for a baby is equivalent to a lecture after lunch for a college student... nap time, every time!

Lila had plenty of ducks to feed.

Wyatt just threw his bread, can you tell?

Then I saw something that left me flabbergasted. Yes, that's Lila EATING the bread. The old, dry bread. Um, yuck?

A picture with Daddy

More bread eating. I just don't get it.

Happy boy

I promise we DID eat dinner right before this.

Wyatt about to throw more bread to the ducks??

Nope, he was eating the bread too. I was baffled. I tried to tell them "don't eat that" but other than being kind of dry, it was ok to eat.

So once the ducks - I mean kids - had eaten all the bread, we were done. It was time to go back home. And apparently, next time we eat dinner, I need to offer some dry bread for dessert!