My Little Man is Growing Up!

Wyatt has always been his own little person.

He has always been very careful; Wyatt doesn't try anything before he is certain that he can accomplish the feat. This includes everything from climbing out of his crib (which resulted in a broken wrist), to learning to ride his bike (this goal was reached at age 7).

He picks up academic subjects with lightening speed (reading at age 4, math a little later), he loves to read (non-fiction please), constantly learning new and exciting information that he rushes to share with anyone who is willing to listen.

Wyatt can also become obsessive about the things that interest him. When he was roughly 18 – 24 months old, he could point out (if not name) every vehicle that every member of the family drove – this included extended family (aunts, uncles, grandparents). Hot wheels were a big favorite at this time.

For his second birthday he was given a wooden train set, nothing special, just a generic little track with a few trains. This sparked a long love affair with trains in general, Thomas specifically.

I give Thomas a lot of credit for Wyatt's education. Wyatt learned everything from his alphabet, colors, letters, etc from Thomas and his railroad friends. Paul and I learned the difference between Gordon, Percy, James and Toby.

Thomas the Train and his friends have captured the heart and mind of my son for the past six years. Trains, tracks and stations have become a common sight in our house (Wyatt's bedroom, the living room, the basement, etc), however Wyatt has recently informed me that he is ready to put them all away.

"Put them away?" I asked, a little shocked.
"Yes, they take up too much space in my bedroom."
"Umm, ok. Sure. We can do that."
"Can we move my train table too?"

Really, the train table too…I was genuinely surprised by that. That table has gotten lots of use over the years, it has been a portal to the Island of Sodor, to prehistoric dinosaur times, a raceway for cars…now he wants it gone.

Hmmm. He really is growing up.

Growing up

Josie just celebrated her 6th birthday. She is getting so big - sometimes too big, I think.

As she was in the process of blowing out her colorful, wavy candles which decorated her "Cinderella and Prince Charming" cake, we reminded her to make a wish.

When we asked her what she wished for - we expected to hear the normal "a pony, a puppy, or even I can't tell you, it won't come true"

What we got was a surprise to say the least.... "Wishes aren't real...they don't come true". I was torn between how big she was getting and how incredibly sad I was to hear that come from someone so young.

But neither of the kids are ones to be caught up in make belive or fantasy. I'm not sure why...

Even at a very young age Wyatt "acts" out scenes more than he pretends when he plays with his cars, trains or dinosaurs. Josie doesn't play with her baby dolls, they spend thier time tossed in a corner of her room next to their clothes, play bottles and little strollers.

It gets to the point where there doesn't seem to be a reason to buy toys...they don't play with them. Then all of a sudden out of no where - they will decide to play with something or another and I will think "there, its finally clicked" only to have that toy too, tossed in a corner amid the other play things that are consistantly ignored.

Get On Your Bikes And RIDE!

We have made a strong effort to have a family fun day of some sort every weekend.
This started out being board games and pizza on Saturday. The kids absolutley love this time that they spend with us all together, as do we.

It is fun to watch them figure things out, wether its Wyatt learning the game of Clue and to not shout out all of the information that he has figured out...or watching Josie beam with pride at winning Disney Bingo because she has watched Hercules more times that I previously thought humanly possible.

This past weekend we decided to get them up and moving outside. It was BEAUTIFUL, sunny, warm; the trees were beginning to turn to fall colors - fabulous!
We took them to the trail by the Thornapple River.

Josie rode her bike while Paul, Wyatt and I walked. We had fun seeing everyones spooking Halloween decorations - in the safety of the day...exploring the trail, seeing swans, herons, bugs, etc.

I think the best part though was what happened on our way home.

Josie had gotten tired of riding her bike and Wyatt was walking it for her (a new sense of chivalry creeping into my son)...when Paul suggested that he try riding it.

Now, up to this point, Wyatt balked everytime we even thought about him learning to ride a bike without training wheels...he would literally break down into crying, whining and an annoying chorus of "I CAN'Ts).

This time, however, he decided to give it a shot....and after a couple of tries was off riding! RIDING WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS! He was so proud of himself...we were so proud of him. Even Josie joined in the cheering.

As we walked home with him, he began planning all of the things he could do with his new found sense of freedom...thankfully this lasted long enough for him to see that he can ride his own bike without training wheels. He got on and took off down the sidewalk with a look of pure joy on his face.

It is amazing to watch them grow in times like that.

Toddler Dictonary

When Wyatt was a toddler, around 18-24 months (give or take), he had his own little language. I know that most kids do, but Wyatt is mine...so therefore, his lanuage was special. :)

I don't remember exactly when we noticed that his babbling was more than that, that he really was talking.
It most likely was when we noticed that he was calling his Grandparents "mooma" and "poopa". Actually, at that time, any old(er) person was classified this way.

He had more words in his little dictionary too:

Deetoe = downstairs
Beetoe = teady bear
Teekoe = truck

I know there were more made up words with thier own meanings, but these were my absolute favorite.

When we realized what these words really were and what they really meant, we (of course) corrected his speech. The funny thing is that as he started to use them less and less the more I noticed that he was growing and changing.

I began to miss the baby that I used to have - even while loving the little boy and young man that he is becoming

Shyans New Do

What started as 'no big deal', soon ended in 'what were you thinking?'.

She asked if she could go downstairs (the basement) to play with Shyan (the cat). "Sure", I said.

About 15 minutes later or so, I went down to switch out laundry. Nothing abnormal here, Josie was petting Shyan - all was right with the world.

Then, out of nowhere, she says "Mommy, Shyan was stuck in pokey sharp things and has bruises all over him".

"What?" I asked, not having paid complete attention to her statement.

She repeated...hmm that doesn't seem quite right. While the basement isn't clean and open, it certainly isn't dangerous...and how exactly do you see bruises on a cat????

I called Shyan over looking for bumps (seemed like a reasonable explanation for the "bruises"), I wasn't finding any, but noticed that his fur was all tufted - like he was pet going in the wrong direction.

As I attempted to pet his fur in the correct direction to get it to lie down...something wasn't right. I didn't put my finger on it at first. Then there was a light bulb that was all too bright....

I looked at her and asked "Do you have sissors down here????"
She looks down "yes"
"Did you cut his hair?" My question was answered by the little yellow pieces of hair on the basement floor.
Again looking down "yes"
"Why would you do that?" I honestly could not figure out the answer to this question. But at this point another alarm was going off in my head. DING! DING! DING! She just made up a story and LIED to me. LIED to me... Because up to this point, I was having a genuinenly hard time not laughing at the whole site.

"You just LIED to me???"
Alittle shocked at getting caught... "Yes"
"Why? Why would you do that?" Then as an after thought "go to your room while I decide your punishment" I used to hate that as a kid and it was all I could come up with.

While the act of cutting the cats' hair was odd to say the least - that didn't really bother me... the cat looks a tad funny, but apparently didn't mind the attention and thankfully she was using blunt tipped sissors.
The lieing about it is what through me for a complete loop, the cover-up....

In case you are wondering, she was sufficiently punished... but we won't go into that here.

Memories

Every one keeps telling me that I should keep a journal of some sort of the things that the kids do so that as time goes by, I don't forget.

I have decided that they are absolutely correct. I have found that as the kids get older it is harder and harder to remember some of the cute, random, off-the-wall things that they come up with.

For instance, Wyatt had his own vocabulary when he was a toddler...I miss that...even though we are constantly telling him "not to talk like a baby" now. I miss the ramblings of a child learning to talk, learning to express themselves.

Or how Josie used to climb out of her crib at 15 months, making it a necessity to put her in a "big girl bed" at 18 months.
How she used to climb the chain-link fence at 2 and refuse to answer us (or maybe to even hear us) as she busily explored every nook and cranny under neighbors deck - while we frantically looked for her with horrible visions in our heads, tears in our eyes and our hearts in our throats.

I do not want to forget these times.

I don't want to forget the first time Josie told me that she wanted to grow up to be a mommy and me thinking that I must be doing something right.

Or how Wyatt’s love of nature and animals seems almost too consuming.

I know these moments won't last forever...but I want to remember them just the same.

This is my journal and these are my memories.