Today he is closer to 3 years old than 2. AHHH! Happy half-birthday, my dear Weston!
He might do a lot of things that other kids do, but he truly is one of a kind. He is challenging, but equally sweet. He is funny (even though we tell him otherwise), and he’s always up for an adventure—rarely scared of anything. He is silly, he is sweet, he is bright, he is curious. He is loud. He is talkative. He is a daredevil. He loves to scare us and be scared. He says the funniest things and plays jokes on us. He has a great imagination already, and is {too} persistent when he wants something. He still cuddles, is super affectionate and is a momma's boy, but daddy's buddy. He is well-behaved, but very high energy and likes to push our buttons.
For the most part, we get a kick out of his tantrums, because they tend to be hilarious or heartbreakingly amusing in nature (such as his meltdown because Kramer wouldn't "flay" with him...or because the boy wouldn't come inside to "flay with him...and by "boy," I mean Hispanic man working on the utility lines outside.)
To get out of trouble, he
makes his “SAY CHEESE!” face and then asks, “I’m funny?” When we say “No.” He
gently touches us and says, “I’m sorry! You happy now?” in a really cute voice
that immediately makes us cave in and forget why we were mad.
When he gets upset or very tired, he wants his blanket…and
specifically his “soft one,” which is any of his Aden & Anais bamboo
blankets, and he rubs it on his cheeks, just like he used to do when he was a
baby.
He continues to be SO easy to put to bed. He gets a snack,
then a bath, brushes his teeth and then we read him one or two books. If I’m
putting him to bed, I sing him his favorite song (THE ROSE) and the past few
weeks, he joins in and it’s sooooo cute, even when he botches words. He has
mastered the big-boy bed! He never gets out unless we tell him he can. After we
tuck him in, he plays “daycare” VERY LOUDLY with his stuffed animals in bed. He’ll
usually pass out by 9 p.m., and if he wakes up before we get him up in the
morning, he plays with his animals again.
Besides his stuffed animals, his most-used toys are his
matchbox cars, plastic horse figurines and his dinosaurs. He also loves books
and puzzles, and already has such a great imagination. He will ride a horse (a
step stool) to catch a dragon or monster, or have us put a towel in the back of
his pants as his “tail” so he can pretend he’s a cat. Speaking of animals, this
kid can do an AMAZING horse whinny. And he thinks cats say, “Nowwww!”
He might not eat a lot in terms of quantity, but we no
longer make him a separate dinner as he eats what we eat—even asparagus,
broccoli, zucchini and salads! But his go-to favorite snacks are Trail Mix, popcorn,
fruit snacks and granola bars.
He is very much a momma’s boy at this point, and sometimes
won’t let daddy do anything for him, like take him potty or put on his shoes.
But he is totally daddy’s buddy when it comes to doing chores outdoors. He loves
to assist with sweeping the deck, picking up sticks or fallen peaches or
watering the flowers. He has an athletic side to him as well; he’s pretty darn
good at kicking a soccer ball and hitting a ball off a tee. And the kid loves
to run in his “big shoes.” He continues to have a penchant for jumping—off of
stairs, off of tree stumps, off of anything that he can climb onto. And he
lands on his feet more often than not. He’s a bit obsessed with Band-Aids, and
wants to wear one even if he doesn’t have a boo-boo. He often asks me to have a
dance party (and boy do I love to watch him dance!!) or to put a dress on him
(wrap a blanket around his body) so he can be a princess.
He can dress himself if he has a little assistance with which side is front or back, or left or right. Some days after breakfast, when we have 5-10 minutes before he leaves for school, he comes to me and asks if we can watch TV and cuddle. OMG. Ok. It might be one of my favorite things to do with him. I mean, it TOTALLY is. He's quite a lovely cuddler. And in the past 2 months, he also has latched on to something we did once, and clearly he enjoyed it so much...that he will ASK us at random times if he can eat Pockorn (Popcorn) and watch Bacher ({The bachelor!!!} Yep. My kid likes to watch the trashy show with me! I think he does it for the popcorn and cuddles though. ;)
He went on his first true vacation last week—to Branson. He
got to ride a boat, swim in a lake, go on rollercoasters and “drive” a go-cart
race car. We also discovered his love of floating on his back in a pool (while
wearing water wings!). He could do it for hours if we’d let him. He was an
angel during his first movie at a theater, as well as for his first dentist
appointment. He went to his first parade and collected candy… and became Bratty
McBratterson when we wouldn’t let him eat it all.
Some other random parts of who he is:
He has finally been okay going sock-less. He even sleeps bare foot now. THANK GOSH.
He notes when things match--like if Neil is wearing red, and I am too, he yells: Mommy! Daddy! You match!
For awhile, we couldn't get him to nap at all. One such day, I made him stay in his room, and he apparently thought he needed to act out...and proceeded to rip up nearly every page of a book--that was not ours. It was the library's. So that was a great $17 "nap" for mommy & daddy!!!
Oh yeah, and we moved. And Weston handled it like a champ. He seemed to understand the "new house" and "new school" thing. The first week of daycare was hard as he'd scream that he didn't want to go, but that he wanted to see Stephanie and Susie and Lyla and Parker and all his other old buddies. But the next week, he WANTED to go back to his new school. So, score.
His potty-training had been marvelous for 2.5 months, but when we got closer to the move, and his lil' friend at school (the old one) started getting potty-trained, he totally lost interest in peeing in the toilet. He still pooped in the toilet (thank god!) but we sorta let loose until we moved because we knew it was a stressful time for him, too. Once we were at the new school, 2 weeks later when they started their "training" (which just entails 3 weeks...one week of undies over the pull-up, one week of undies under the pull-up and one week undies only... he stopped wedding himself 1/2 way through week 2... including during naps. And still to this day, he's only had 2 accidents (usually due to our negligence and his super distraction)... but I haven't cleaned a poopy bottom since March. And he's dry when he wakes up at least 5 mornings a week. So all in all, the "process" took 4 months, and we don't really have any regrets since he was showing so many signs early on. I definitely wouldn't start a kid until he or she does show those signs, because I do think once you know they CAN hold it... it has to be up to them to actually do it.
Drank lots of milk, then dove head first off couch...a few times. And I asked him to stop cuz he was going to lose all the milk in his tummy. I turned away and looked back to find him with his shirt up, staring at his tummy. I said, "What are you doing?" and he said, "No milk on my tummy, mommy!"
He called Kramer a cutie pie. He yelled at me, "Darbi James, Come here!"
I always say, "Oh, Rooster!" when he does something especially cute or exasperating. He said it to me one day. Same with "Chill out." He yelled, "No! YOU chill out!"
He was going to bring a Kangaroo to school for their animal parade day. We were practicing what he was going to say. I told him to say: I have a Kangaroo. My mom calls me Roo, too!
He grabbed the stuffie and said, "My turm (Stet). This my kangaroo. I am Westie-roo." I thought it was so cute.
One morning, Weston was heading downstairs with me, about to step down on the first step when our cat, Kramer, whizzed by us, so fast, that Weston sat down to regain his balance. Then he started crying and he said: "Kramer fast. I no go fast. I no have lotsa legs."
We were cuddling on the couch, when suddenly, he leaned over and whispered in my ear: "Monsters are coming!" Needless to say, that creeped me out!
He was frustrating me, and I said, "Weston...you are so...." searching for a word to use that would be appropriate for him to hear. He said, "Cazy, mama?" Ha. Yes. Crazy. You are crazy.
He has a Batman figurine, that has become a favorite toy. He brought it in the car with us and he yelled at me: Wipe Batman mommy! Booger on batman head. Sure enough, Batman had a gross booger on his face. I cleaned it off with a baby wipe and asked how Batman got a booger. Weston pointed to his nose and said, "Batman go in my nose tunnel."
Also in the car, he was "reading" a book. Neil and I were talking. Then suddenly, he is yelling, "You no listen me! I put book away. You no listen." Which is exactly what I tell him when I read a book and he won't listen! hahaha
He stole a cloth napkin from a restaurant... he wouldn't give it back. He called it his towel. And when we got outside, he dropped to the pavement and started cleaning up a big wet spot on the cement!!!
A convo at dinner:
ME: Where does food go after you eat it?
WESTON: Daddy's pocket.
ME: Ok, but seriously, where does it go?
WESTON: My tummy, go round and round. Go in my penis.
Anytime he doesn't want to do something, he says, "No, I too little." And if I want to do something that he doesn't want me to do (like sit on a swing he wants to sit on, etc), he says, "You too big!" or "You no fit!" And sometimes, he combines both thoughts when talking about anything that doesn't fit... and he says, "You too fit!"
At the church "nursery"...it's 0-2-year-olds, the teacher that is there most every weekend is Cindy. We adore her. She's super adorable...a grandma type, but she wears Converse shoes and seems kinda hip. Well Weston LOVES her. He sometimes asks if we can go see her. And when we were going to church the other day, I said, "Now you need to do nice touches, and listen to your teacher." He say, "I no have teacher." I said, "Cindy's your teacher!" he said, "Cindy no teacher. Cindy a big kid!" hahaha
I think I mentioned previously, he likes to sit on a step ladder and pretend it's a horse. He will play on it for quite some time, naying and slaying dragons. Well the other day I was painting in the kitchen while he played with his Playmobil pool w/ slide, and he pointed to the red ladders in the pool and said, "this a ladder, this a ladder. .Two ladders." I was standing on the step ladder to get to the top of the walls, and said, "And mommy's standing on a ladder." He looked up at me and said, "No, that's a horse." And continued playing.
Speaking of his horse named Ladder..... (that's not his name, as this story will show...) He said, "look, it's my horse!" I said, "What's his name?" He said, " Donkey!"
Lately, if I ask question and he doesn't know it... and I say answer, he says, "No! I tell you!" Then he wants me to ask again so he can answer it.
Some words h e still can't say correctly that make me smile:
Octopus---opposauce
School--slool
Tattoo--tattoot
Mosquito --Moseeko
Swim---fwim
Play--flay
Spray--flay
Hold--cold (which is weird, because he can say other H words.)
So on to the visuals....
He aced his first dentist appointment. Was seriously, soooo well-behaved. And no cavities!
Still a fan of the "tunnel".... wherever he might find them.
He is a CRAZY sleeper. The one on the right is actually at our new house, when he was just on his crib mattress, pre-big-boy-bed. It made me laugh.
His first day in his big-boy bed on the left. And his first day with his new monster bedding on the right.
His buddy. :)
His buddies that are his age... it was sad having to leave our daycare... and his besties, Lyla & PArker. We miss the teachers A LOT... but he's actually doing fairly well with his new school. And we still have playdates with Lyla & Parker.
Two others whom he adores so much.... his Geeby and Geema.
He claimed Kramer's cat bed as his own. And on the right, he got out ALL his toys and wanted to play with them.
Just being sweet... picked a flower for Geeby. And then moments after I took a pic, he ripped the dandelion head off and growled.
Two pics that prove he CAN sleep normal, too...and he's perfectly angelic when he does!
HIs first movie was HOW TO TRAIN A DRAGO. He did great! He kept shushing us though...because I had told him we have to be quiet or go home.
Summer fun...from slides to pool!
He loves putting on my big ugly tennis shoes and clomping around in them. I had left my bedroom and come back to see this before he knew I was there. My heart stopped. It's like a flash forward to the locker room.
Speaking of sports...he is really good at T-ball...now. But in these pics, it was his first night. He would pick up the tee and run with it after he'd make contact. I guess it's a victory dance.
4th of July!!!!
He and his girlfriend, Lyla!
He's always asking me to put a cape on him, or a dress. He thinks he's a princess when he's wearing a dress.
Like I said up above...he wants to help daddy with EVERYTHING. Even if he's more of a hindrance.
Him just being silly on the far left...and him sleeping in random spots on the middle and right.
Two tantrums: one because Kramer ran away from his attempts to play. And the other...he really really really wanted to play with the Playmobil pool w/ slide. He kept talking about it. So we ended up getting him it for his half bday ( we let him open the gift on Saturday. He LOVES it, though I hid a few of the tiny pieces.)
An attempt at normal pictures didn't go as planned.
He finally learned how to ride a trike 2 weeks ago, though he wasn't amazing at going forward. He at least can reach the pedals. We need to get him one that you can steer without changing the distance between the foot and pedal though.
From our fam vacation..to Branson. He loved Stella!
He got to do min-golf. It was kinda violent. In the end, we'd putt our balls and he'd run and get it and throw it in the hole for us.
They handed out pirate gear at the end of the mini golf course. He wouldn't let me put it on him...and then he wouldn't let me take it off.
SWIMMING!!!!
A fave pic of him ever on the left. He turned out to be quite the floater... so much so that later, he tried to do it inside.
At Silver Dollar City...helping navigate with Geeby..and then finally crashed with Geema.
His first boat ride! And let's talk about his excellent taste in hats! He picked it out. He could have picked a red one with fuzzy lobsters on it, but no, he chose this one and I was pumped because it's the cutest thing ever!
Last weekend at a bday party, we took him on his 2nd pony ride. (He got to do his first one with my parents...and that time, his pony's name was Darby!!!) This time, it was Annie.
At the park at the school by our house.
And here are some official portraits I took two nights ago. Totally unexpected, but thanks to the power of M&Ms, we were able to get some good ones!! I am so happy he cooperated.
And there you have it. I'll try to post another one soon with videos from the past few months. But for now... know that Weston is precious... and anyone who gets to know him well will fall in love with his antics. He's charming and flirtatious, clever and silly, and so freaking mine. And Neil's. ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Have something nice to say? Go for it!