23 Month Wessers

 Wessers is almost two! And he is certainly embracing his little two-year-old self and bossing everyone around left and right. He has a whole bunch of words now, but very few consonants. Most of his words are all vowels (very accurate vowels!), especially at the beginning, with the exception of important words like "nano" (popcorn), "bipey" (diaper), and "new dues" (new shoes). Everything else kind of sounds like this: "Ahm, Uke, ya-ya, ach ows nano ereo owl?" (Mom, Luke Derek watch shows popcorn cereal bowl?) But we usually get it. 

One of his favorite new things to do is "it ya-ya" (hit Derek) and then say he's sorry. He comes in and gives a nice big hug and kiss and then makes a sad noise, kind of like "awwwww". And then gets a little gleam in his eye and a little smirk on his face and goes right back at it. Biting has also become more commonplace than we prefer. Poor Luke and Ya-ya. 

The poor little guy wants so badly to be like his older brothers! He crashes all of their soccer practices and messes with all of their toys and steals all of their balls and water bottles and food and for the most part the two handle it quite well! It's so fun watching the three of them learn how to get along and be brothers. My favorites (Ken's least favorites) are their noisy dog piles and wrestling matches. 

He'll grow up soon enough! 

22 Month Wessers

 The little stinker Wessers has so many words! Some of my recent favorites include essential ones like let go ("et go!"), mine ("my"), and peas in a bowl ("eas bowl"). And if he can't figure out the words he needs, he can always try singing! The little songbird has been copying songs right and left, both tunes and some simpler lyrics. He asks for music at most meals and every time we hop in the car, and its always fun to see his eyes light up when he hears a new song for the first time. And to see his hilarious little baby hips dancing. 

Wesley really enjoyed the holidays and all of the family members he got to boss around. Though he initially hated presents (how dare you try to make me enjoy myself??) he got the hang of it as Christmas wore on and now is so adept at ripping paper that he is taking it out on all of our books. 

Wesley's interests lie pretty much along the same lines as his brothers'--he loves balls, sports (football!), dice, game pieces, Star Wars, books, music, being outside, sticks, rocks, running ("run!"), showers and tubs, water, making noise, dirt, and i'meem (ice cream). Which makes for some intense football games on the carpet and plenty of squawks from stealing the same coveted toys. 

Wes has certainly trained his brothers, though, to respond quickly and efficiently to all of his squawking demands. He has also learned the crucial phrases to use just in case they don't immediately comply, such as the aforementioned "et go!", "ow. OWWWW!", "awp!" (stop), and if those all fail, "AHHHM!" (mom)

Every once and I while I can't help but think, what if our kids just keep getting louder?

21 Month Wessers

 Wessers just loves to communicate with everyone he can. He waves to strangers, he jabbers to animals (real and stuffed), he bosses his brothers around with ease, and we give in to his every demand. Thanks to his mini-mentors he has mastered projecting his voice and can even made himself heard over the dinnertime din. Ken also no longer has to set an alarm since we are regularly woken up with ear-piercing renditions of "I.O.I.O gee gees" (I.O.I.O. by the BeeGees). 

Wes also tends to make a scene wherever he goes! At church he likes to loudly call and wave to his dad on the stands (and won't quit until he gets some sort of a response) and his dance moves are hilariously hypnotic. At Luke's school Christmas concert he took a walk with Derek and returned covered head to toe in mud, then insisted on removing his clothes a few minutes later because he was so uncomfortable. Recently at the park he spotted a mom (a complete stranger, mind you) handing out snacks to her children. Wes marched right up to her, standing in between her and her kids, and held out his hand, saying "aaaah..."

He is our sunny little guy! 

20 Month Wessers

Wesley is almost 21 months, but we have snuck it in just in time.

 

Wessers is really enjoying being able to communicate more and more with everyone. He loves all of his new words--favorites being "buh-ball" (football) and buh-bo (bubbles)--and can usually get his point across otherwise with little baby movements and squawking. For example, when he climbs in the car and wants to listen to music, he says "Ahm! Dis (this)..." and then he sticks up his fist and dances around to let me know that he wants me to turn on some music. He also LOVES his books. Stacks and stacks and stacks of books. Especially ones about football. And cars. And animals.

Wesley still loves his animals, especially dogs. He will approach any dog he sees and is very friendly, squealing and giggling and giving loves and kisses and covering himself in all of the dog saliva and hair he can. He also loves squirrels and will chase them up into trees and then wait at the trunk for them to come back down. He can imitate bird noises spot-on.

It's also a lot of fun to see Wes learning how to play with his brothers. Favorites include playing all sorts of ball (though buh-ball is the usual), jumping (and being jumped on) on the couch, sword fighting, train-building, and playing with Star Wars guys. It's also fun to see some of their less-desirable tendencies being picked up by Wes. Some favorites include hair-pulling, hitting, pouting, yelling, toy-grabbing, and destroying. 

Just look at that face. It would never cause any mischief. 

19 Month Wessers

 Wes has lots and lots of baby words now, though we are probably the only people who can really understand him. He has words for ice cream or any general treat (I-meem), cars (eee), quesadilla and/or pizza (dia), and is even forming some little sentences, such as "Wan' that" (I want that). His brothers have recently upped their potty talk (Derek especially), so he is also using the word poopoo a lot, such as yelling "AHM! Ha' poopoo!" (mom! I have a poopoo) in the middle of the night to try to get me to come and pick him up (to date, he has never actually had a mid-night poopy diaper). Wes is also joining in the potty talk humor; his favorite joke is saying someone's name and then saying poopoo. His favorite name to use is Dada, as in "Dada poopoo", after which he will giggle and then repeat, over and over.

Wes is unfortunately very aware of everything that drives people crazy--he loves whacking his brothers on the head or pulling their hair or grabbing their skin with his little baby claws, and will smile the entire time he does it, then squawk as you pull him away. He loves to wreck towers and meticulously laid train tracks and knock over action figures and steal balls from the crucial last moments of football games. He also likes to suck on his candy/treats/gummies, passing them to his hand and back into his mouth over and over until everything is sticky (mom made this one worse by reacting so strongly--now he makes sure that I know that he's doing it and then runs away as I try to intervene). 

Wes is still nursing, finally falling asleep easily and sleeping through the night, and slimming down as he refuses to stop moving and is now a bit too busy to sit still for long enough to eat. 

He's quite the spunky little stinker! 

Raiding the Prison Ship

Happy Halloween! 

From:

Mayfield

"I wonder what you look like under there. Maybe he's a Gungan."

Xi'an

"A lady never tells."

Mando

"I told you that was a bad idea." 

Burg

"Little mouse..."

and The Child.

As you can imagine, Baby Yoda got a lot of love, followed closely by Mando. I think out of the entire night, one or two groups of people figured out the whole crew.

We know who the real fans are. 

18 Month Wessers

 Wes is right in the middle of my absolute favorite age. Still a baby (still nursing, though dada asks him daily when he's going to be done), but with so much personality and hilarity. Wesley is so very talkative. Best of all, he is spot-on with all of his verbal intonations and expressions--for example, he has already mastered yelling at Luke for his attention, in exactly the same tones that the rest of us use. And though I didn't think it was possible to increase our general decibel level, I'm now quite certain that Wesley is our loudest child. 

Wes loves to be involved in everything, loves to snuggle, wrestle, be outside, loves to run and dance and wiggle, loves music and singing and pretending to play the piano. He loves food and seems to have inherited a massive sweet tooth from his dad. He loves books and reading (though is our most vigorous book-ripper to date) and gets very excited when everyone is watching football. 

Wes dislikes being restrained (mostly by his brothers), having his toys snatched, being told no, and when his brothers get attention from mama. 

He brings such fun to our lives!