Wesley had his one year check up last week. He’s perfectly healthy, and at 19 pounds, went from 5th percentile to 7th percentile. You go, butter-and-greek-yogurt-eater boy!
But luckily, Wesley got to have a another check up. Dr. Piper wanted to give us a second opinion.
In my effort to reign in the chaos, months ago I took about 90% of the books out of Kyla’s room. I had planned to switch out about 10 books every week or so. Ha! Best laid plans of mice and moms…and all that.
So I brought in the huge box of dozens and dozens of books. Her face lit up and she poured through the box for over an hour. This was almost as good as Christmas.
Kyla and Piper went fishin’ so we’d could have a good supper. Using Daddy’s gigantic shoehorn and the toy broom, they cast off over the foyer for the biggest fish. They caught buckets and buckets.
Nothing thrills this boy more than finding the refrigerator open. Between this and the tupperware/pot & pan cupboard, Wesley can make quite the mess.
Oh! For me?
Hey, Mom, this chocolate stuff is good! I now know why you are always sneaking away to eat some.
Hard to believe that Piper has two years eating experience on Wesley…
We celebrated his birthday a day early, as we had to pick up the girls from my parents’. It was a holiday Monday, but not really for anyone in my family who isn’t already retired (or a stay-at-home), so the party was rather small, but just the right size for a one-year-old.
The girls loved Wesley’s presents!
My dad has made this animal train for all the grandkids on their first birthday. What a great toy!
For each child, I have created a song just for them to the tune “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”
Kyla’s is
Wiggle, giggle little girl
How you threw us in a whirl!
One month early you were born,
Now our nursery you adorn.
Wiggle, giggle Kyla Paige,
Our affections you engage.
For Piper:
Wiggle, giggle Piper Rose
That’s the name your mother chose.
You were born on Valentine’s,
A sweetheart one and all opines
Wiggle, giggle Piper Rose
Hug your belly, kiss your nose.
For Wesley:
Wiggle, giggle
little boylittle Wes,our son Wes*blah, blah.
blah
blah
Wiggle, giggle Wesley Scott
Blah
* I’m not sold on this either
That’s as far as I’ve gotten. I need help. Do you have any suggestions?
A few facts that could be woven in—his in utero nickname was Omega, he was born on MLK day, he sucks his two fingers, Dwayne chose his first name and his middle name (Scott) is from a good friend of ours who passed away 3 1/2 years ago. He’s a bit of a runt according to the pediatric charts, and appears to follow his sisters in his fearlessness and climber’s spirit.
Dwayne and I took Wesley (ahem, for his birthday, if he ever asks) to CA for a very special wedding. Congratulations again, Karla & Warren!
(The ears are just for the reception. They are taking a few days at Disneyland before a Hawaiian honeymoon. Kinda cute, though!)
Dick & Darlene, Dwayne’s parents, have eight grandchildren. Unless one of their 4 children adopts, that will be all the grandchildren they have.
This weekend, we flew down to California for a wedding and as a bonus, were able to meet up with Debi, Dwayne’s only sister. She is 7 years older than Dwayne and had children young. We started having children at not-so-young of an age. The combination puts 21 years between Aaron, the oldest grandchild, and Wesley, the youngest.
Here’s the Alpha & Omega together. Pretty cute guys, huh, Grandma!
It was a rainy morning, so we spent almost 2 hours at the Zoomazium. It doesn’t have too much in the way of real animals, but Piper likes ones she can hug and cuddle and drag around better anyway.
Here, Piper is nesting.
I have a really hard time getting good pictures of Kyla as she is often a blur running around. Here, she is driving the tractor with her friend, Amalie.
Wesley is getting difficult to take to the zoo. He (and I) love the Zoomazium where he can crawl around, but he doesn’t want to stay in the stroller or my arms when we start to explore the exhibits. He did manage to wriggle out of the stroller head-first only once this time.
The very definition of phobia includes “irrational”. And I don’t know that a healthy fear of snakes is truly irrational, but I had a well-developed snake phobia for about for my first 33 or 34 years on earth. (I’m 36 now.) Gardner snakes, while the most harmless, are the most terrifying. The slithering still sends chills down my spine. Emily Dickonson’s phrase “zero at the bone” describes probably a common reaction to these horrible creatures.
A narrow Fellow in the Grass
Occasionally rides--
You may have met Him--
did you not
His notice sudden is--
The Grass divides as with a Comb--
A spotted shaft is seen--
And then it closes at your feet
And opens further on--
He likes a Boggy Acre
A Floor too cool for Corn--
Yet when a Boy, and Barefoot--
I more than once at Noon
Have passed, I thought, a Whip lash
Unbraiding in the Sun
When stooping to secure it
It wrinkled, and was gone--
Several of Nature's People
I know, and they know me--
I feel for them a transport
Of cordiality--
But never met this Fellow
Attended, or alone
Without a tighter breathing
And Zero at the Bone--
But when Kyla turned one or so, and I realized that I did not want to pass on to her my snake phobia. I decided to buck up and pretend I wasn’t scared of snakes. And it has really worked…at the zoo. I don’t know how high I will jump next time I nearly run over a squiggling reptile with the lawn mower, but if they are behind a thick glass and don’t move around too much, I can excitedly point out the beautiful colors of this snake or how well that snake blends in with his surroundings.
Here’s how I know I’ve succeeded at least in this:
And that’s no zoon lens I’m using!!
And this is just cute. Kyla and Piper are waiting in line to tickle the boa. Piper just wanted to stand there hugging Kyla.
First of all, I’m still gaga over my kitchen floor. So shiny. So easy to clean. Um, so slippery.
I kid you not. Kyla slipped and fell on the banana peel she dropped on the kitchen floor. I call this “natural consequences.”
And to drive the point home before she picked up the peels, I had her recreate her accident so that I could photograph it.
No children were harmed during this public service announcement. Notice she is still calmly eating her banana.
Now that my sister-in-law has a fabulous camera that takes instant, focused pictures that correctly exposed, I mope around taking bad pictures of my kids cursing my little camera that has been dropped numerous times by said children.
Luckily, Wesley takes good pictures even with bad cameras.
Wesley’s exciting news on the cusp of his first birthday is that for a few weeks now, he has been walking. I mean that is the loosest sense. A few times a day he stands up and stumbles two steps—no less, no more—toward me before falling on his darling little bottom and crawling the rest of the way. In between times, he uses toys, chairs, and the recycling can as his personal walker. 
