We Need a Spoonful of Sugar

Wesley has a sinus infection and is currently taking an antibiotic. Yesterday I literally had to wrestle him to give him the medicine. While struggling to pin my son I said (as I often do when he absolutely HAS to do something), "Wesley, this is not a choice!"

After swallowing the medicine, Wesley stood up and told me, "I don't like 'not a choice!' "

Now I Know My ABCs

I was so proud when Wesley learned the alphabet. I still am, but little did I know how much 26 letters could drive me nuts. It's his favorite song to sing, his favorite puzzle to do, his favorite magnets to play with, his favorite kind of book to read. He even likes to sit at the keyboard of the computer and find all the letters. Oh! And he reads the signs when we are out an about "T...A...R...G...E...T"

This morning Wesley was in bed with me. I was not ready to get up, but he was wide awake. Wesley covered me up with a blanket, started petting my hair and saying, "A for apple, B for bird, C for cat, D for duck, E for elephant," and so on and so forth through the entire alphabet!!! Maybe I should buy him some Alphabits cereal at the store.

You Know You're the Parent of a 2 Year Old When

1. ...your son runs away from you in a store and you call "Here Puppy!" to get him to come back.
2. ...you have learned to translate most of your son's barks into English.
3. ...you know there is a partially eaten butterscotch sucker somewhere on the floor of your car (and you don't care enough to go look for it before morning)
4. ...most of your clothes have dried boogers on them.
5. ...you sit on the floor in the middle of the store to sing the ABC song while looking at a puzzle.
6. ...you actually encourage your child to dip his green beans and cheese in ketchup because at least then he eats them instead of yelling, 'No! I don't want to eat!" like he has for the last 4 days.
7. ...you are exhausted and want to fall asleep on the couch by 8:00.

Special Delivery

I got the rest of the Christmas decorations out tonight. Wesley didn't really care about the ornaments or the stuffed gingerbread men, but he sat up and took notice when I got his Little People nativity scene out. He promptly put the baby Jesus in the back of the donkey's cart and proceeded to tell me that the donkey and baby were going to the North Pole to take cookies to Santa. Of course, the other animals from the stable must have smelled the delicious cookies, because they soon followed the donkey and Jesus all the way across the kitchen.

Christmas Crazy

Wesley is in full blown Christmas frenzy and it isn't even December. While I was at work today, Duane put up the tree as a surprise for me. I walked in tonight to a dark house, lit only by the lights of the tree. As soon as Wesley saw me he said "Merry Christmas," and it's been all about Christmas ever since. He keeps giving things to the little 2 foot Santa we have - pizza, books, toys - you name it. He's been playing with the Christmas music box and singing along. Why do I feel I may be Christmased out by time the actual day rolls around?

The Countdown Begins

No, I'm not talking about the Christmas season. I'm talking about the fact that I only have 37 work hours until I am on vacation for 10 days!!!!! My former manager always said that she could look at my accrued vacation hours and know when I was ready for time off. I'm past the magic number and sooooo ready for some time off - especially since Duane will be off that week too.

So what will the W. family be doing with all their time off work? Way too much! There are 3 craft shows I want to go to next weekend (I'm hoping Duane and Wesley will want to hang out together), we're going to bake cookies, decorate the house for Christmas, try to finish our Christmas shopping, see a movie, I'll go to the annual holiday tea with Grandma H., have breakfast with Santa and go to my library's holiday party. Yes, it sounds like a lot, but I'm looking forward to every second of it!

I forgot the other thing we're going to do while we're on vacation. I think we're going to go buy some Diego underpants. Wesley saw them at Target and now he really wants them, so we're going to let him practice while we're at home. Yes, I understand it will require us sitting him on the potty every half hour, but we'll see how it goes.

37 work hours to go!!!!!!!!!!!

Elmo Friday

Unlike most of the world, we did not go shopping to celebrate Black Friday. Well, maybe that's not exactly true, Wesley and I did go to the grocery store, but that hardly counts as Christmas shopping.

The big news from today, is that Wesley and I went to see Elmo Live with Grandma and Grandpa P. Wesley did really well considering he has a nasty cough and that he's two. Before the show started we got some snacks (a sno cone, cotton candy and popcorn). I ended up eating the cotton candy. Wesley licked the sno cone and drank a little of the juice from it, but the big hit was the popcorn. He's never had popcorn before, and I wasn't planning on giving him any today, but once he saw it, it's all he wanted. In fact, he got downright vicious if anyone tried to take some popcorn from "his" box.


Thankfully, all thoughts of popcorn disappeared when the show started. Wesley didn't so much as blink through the first act. He was completely enthralled. The second act was a little harder to get through, but he really seemed to like it. He smiled huge during the ABC song and at the end, he was waving and saying bye to his favorite characters. I know he had a good time because as we were walking to the car Wesley said, "Grandpa, I liked this!" YAY!!


We all had dinner together (or at least the adults did, I don't think Wesley ate more than two bites) then Duane and I headed home with the boy for another dose of cough medicine and bedtime. Of course, Wesley was able to con some coloring time out of me. Coloring with Wesley is an interesting experience. Basically, you do all the coloring, and you have to color cats. He wants one of every color and you aren't allowed to repeat a color until all the other ones have been used. I can usually get him to color a little bit before I'll draw, but it's more of art time for Mommy than for Wesley.


He also charmed Mommy into letting him watch a quick Snoopy clip on YouTube. Wesley watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special the other night and fell in love with Snoopy, so every time I'm on the computer he asks to see Snoopy. And really, could you resist this face?

Happy Thanksgiving

The holiday been so busy that I feel like I should have a TON to write! But does anyone really want to hear about all the food we ate, how little Wesley ate, and how we are trying not to be stressed about Christmas now? NO! So, I'll just give you the photo highlights instead.

Here's Wesley about to go over the river and across the highway to Grandma W.'s. Wesley was certain that Santa needed a pumpkin, so we took one from the back step with us.

Here is Wesley puppy hiding behind the chair at Grandma W.'s.

Puppy Wesley also likes to do puzzles. Unfortunately, the pieces tend to get a little soggy when Wesley puppy is on the scene.

Wesley helped set the table at Grandma W.'s. Too bad he didn't stick around at the table long enough to eat anything besides cheese.

When we got to Uncle Stacey and Aunt Paula's, Grandma and Grandpa P. had this cute little musical puppy for Wesley. I am about done with hearing barking "Jingle Bells," but Wesley loves the dog so much that it went to bed with him. He says the dog is on a jet ski and is going to save Santa.

So that was our Thanksgiving in a nutshell. Thank you to all our family and friends who made the day so special. We are blessed beyond belief.

A Present for Santa

Wesley has a present that he is dying to give Santa Claus. I suppose I should back up just a little bit. Wesley and I were coloring this morning. When I got the pad of paper out, an old Baby Einstein thank you card fell out. It was totally blank inside, so I let Wesley color in it. I asked if it was a picture for someone. "Yes! It's a coloring book for Santa! Santa will be so happy."

Of course, now the issue becomes how we will deliver Santa's special present to him. Wesley wanted to get in the car and drive to the North Pole right away! Since I was making my sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, I was in no hurry to drive across several continents to deliver Santa's present, I told Wesley that I didn't know how to get to Santa's house. Silly me, forgot that Wesley is a HUGE Dora fan and has already seen "Dora's Christmas." He looked at me and said "Snowy mountain, icy river, North Pole. That's how we get to Santa's house."

I told Wesley that we were not going to Santa's house today. But telling a toddler and having him believe you are two different things - especially when you do have to leave the house for a quick trip to a store. Santa's coloring book had to come with us (of course) and when we got out of the car, Wesley said,"This isn't Santa's house." So once again, I had to tell him that we weren't going to Santa's house today.

Once we returned home, Wesley put a few finishing touches on Santa's present. He's carrying it all around the house now, talking about how we get to Santa's house and that we have to protect the present from Swiper the Sneaky Fox. If by some miracle that card can still be found when we go to breakfast with Santa on the 7th, we are so taking it with us!

Must Be in the Genes

This is probably only amusing if you know Grandma H., but since I know her quite well, I think it's darn funny!

Now the reason this is funny is that Grandma plays with her hair and has done so since she was a baby. There is a story in her family about when she was a baby and would sit in bed, run her thumb and pointer finger along a strand of hair and hum contentedly. She still plays with her hair sometimes and I think it's totally subconscious. But look at what her grandson is now doing! It's got to be hereditary!

BTW - Does anyone know how to get rid of red eye in flickr? I could do it with Yahoo Photos, but I haven't figured it out on flickr yet. I'm sick of Wesley looking possessed, so any advice would be appreciated.

No Clever Title

I really wanted a clever title for this post, but I have three totally random things to tell you about and they aren't related to each other at all. Hence, no clever title.


OK, so the first thing is I have to tell you is that I have completely lost my voice. It's totally gone. Yesterday I had a sultry, sexy voice going on, but it got up and went. Good thing I work in a library, huh?


The next thing has to do with Wesley's latest obsession - magic wands. Yep, thanks to Super Why, Wesley wants to "zap" things. His first wand of choice was a plastic toddler sized golf club. While he thought it was great, I was really worried about him causing injury to his parents and pets with that particular wand. So last night while I was at Target, I picked up another wand for him. Unfortunately, most wands are girly, so Wesley ended up with a purple, sparkly, feathered wand. Last night he wanted nothing to do with it, and it ended up being a Sadie (cat) toy. Tonight, he ran around with it for about 5 minutes before saying he didn't want it and that it was Sadie's wand. All I can say is, look at the picture. Does that look like a boy that hates his new wand??


The third unrelated thing I wanted to share today was Wesley's determination to give Uncle Kirk his bear. Whenever Kirk sees Wesley he says "Can I have my bear?" and Wesley always hands Stinky Bear right over. Today Wesley must have had a sixth sense that Uncle Kirk was going to the dentist and might need some comfort, because, according to Grandpa P, Wesley kept saying he had to take his bear to Uncle Kirk. When we got home tonight we called Kirk, and Wesley tried to put the bear through the phone! Luckily, Kirk said he'd see Wesley later this week and asked him to take care of the bear. What a great uncle!

Playing Possum

Isn't two years old a little young to be complaining about what time you have to get up? I dropped Wesley at Grandma and Grandpa H.'s for a couple of hours this morning, and he wasn't too keen about getting ready to go. Duane had Wesley dressed and sitting on the couch, but when I went in with his coat Wesley said, "Shhhhh. I'm sleeping."

"I know," I said. "Mommy's tired too."

His response? "Wesley's tired three!"

Toddler Comedy Club

Wesley made me laugh so much yesterday!!!! I love this age! Take a look at some of the conversations from yesterday.

Mommy: I have to finish getting ready for work.
Wesley: I don't want you go to work.
Mommy: I know, but I have to go to work. You are going to go see Aunt Melissa and Cyrus and help take cousin Mark to school.
Wesley: School!? I LOVE that place!

******************************************

While sitting at a stoplight....

Wesley: Go Mommy! Go Mommy! Go Mommy! Win the race!

*******************************************

As we were driving past the conservatory....

Mommy: That's where we're going to go have breakfast with Santa Claus in a couple weeks.

Wesley: NO!! I don't want to see Santa Claus! I want to see Ann Belissa (Aunt Melissa)

You know you rate as an Aunt when your nephew would rather see you than Santa.

*******************************************

Wesley: (reading letters from somewhere) S...E...M...L... Mom, what's that?

Mommy: I don't know what that spells.

Wesley: I don't know what that spells either!

Things That Sound Bad When a Toddler Says Them #2

Statement: We're going to the cat house!

Explanation: Wesley loves the Dora "Puppy Power" DVD we checked out from the library. Sometimes he talks about Kitty Power or Cat Power (which isn't a DVD that I am aware of). Today he pretended to put a bunch of kitties in his castle - which became the cat house.

A Bear by Any Other Scent

Grandma and Grandpa H. watched Wesley while Duane and I went to the hockey game last night. Somehow, Not So Stinky Bear ended up in bed with Wesley and Stinky Bear ended up in the toy box. This case of mistaken identity was not discovered until 4:00 this morning when Wesley woke up wanting his grandma. After Daddy explained that Grandma was not here, Wesley switched his demand to wanting his bear. Duane fished out the bear in Wesley's covers (it was still dark in the room.) Wesley brought the tag end of the bear to his mouth and yelled, "Not this bear! Want Stinky Bear!" Which means Mommy got to go downstairs and search through the toy box if she wanted any more sleep. Joy.

Sports Rant

May I please take a moment to rant about unsportsman like behavior. After an abysmal sports weekend in central Ohio, Duane and I went to the BlueJackets game last night - only to watch them lose 3:1. However, I was equally displeased with the behavior of some of the fans. I'd like to present some helpful tips (from a former cheerleader of a losing football team)

1. Do not boo your team - you are there to show support. It's OK to be disgusted with a play (or 2 periods worth of play) but yell semi-encouraging/"helpful" phrases such as "Oh come on!" Booing is plain disrespectful
2. Do not boo the other team - I'm sorry if they are playing better than your team, but they are just doing their job.
3. Please feel free to boo the referees - we all know they can't see everything and are not calling penalties against the other team.
4. Stay until the end - I don't care how badly your team is losing, STICK IT OUT!!! I can't imagine how awful it feels to see your so called fans leaving while you're down.

There Was No Joy in Mudville

Mighty Casey may not have struck out, but the three B's (Buckeyes, Browns and Blue Jackets) sure did. ARGH! I could almost taste another National Championship game. I could see the standings that listed the Browns as number 1 along side Pittsburgh. I could hear the Blue Jackets fans screaming in joy about a shoot out win. Now - nothing! It's heartbreaking, I tell you!

Church Talk

Wesley was something else at church today. Johnny is our contempory worship leader and every Sunday he says the same thing at the begining of worship. No matter what the weather is, Johnny tells us it's a beautiful day. Wesley has been telling us that it's a beautiful day every day this week, so as soon as we got into church we took Wesley to see Johnny. "What kind of day is it Wesley," we asked. "It's a beautiful day," he responded.

Johnny thought this was great! When he began the greeting he said that for the first time ever, he was not going to say it was a beautiful day - he was going to let someone else do it. I took my cue and asked Wesley "What kind of day is it?" Wesley looked around at everyone and said "NO!!" Oh well, maybe next week.

Then we had the chatter during communion. Wesley goes up to communion with us every single week. Every week, we take communion and he receives a blessing. This week, Wesley realized that everyone else was drinking something and he had nothing. Wesley looked up at the communion assistant and said "I want some juice please." Luckily we had a cup of juice back at our seat and that satisfied him.

The service ended up a very upbeat song. Wesley doesn't usually sing in church, but like to dance or sway along with the music. As the congregation sang, Wesley was in his own little world swaying along. When the music (and the service) ended, Wesley looked at me and said, "What we sing next, Mommy?" I told him that I didn't think we were going to sing any other songs, but he could ask Johnny. Wesley hopped down from his seat, ran over to Johnny and said, "What we sing next, Johnny?" Johnny knows it's good to leave the audience wanting a little bit more and told Wesley he'd have to come back next week to find out. :-)

Sweet Dreams

Sweet dreams are made of cake in Wesley's world. After an hour long screaming fit at 1:00 in the morning, Duane and I relented and let Wesley in our bed. Note: We relented because I have to work today. If he has a fit tonight, we're letting him cry it out. Anyhow, I learned that Wesley talks in his sleep. We knew he cries in his sleep and sometimes laughs in his sleep, but talking is a new one.

Sleeping Wesley: Daddy, I want a bite!
Sleepy Daddy: You want a bite of what?
Sleeping Wesley: Bite of cake please.
Sleepy Puzzled Daddy: I don't have any cake.

A little bit later, I heard the following exchange

Sleeping Wesley: No! I don't want to bite!
Sleepy Daddy: What don't you want to bite?
Sleeping Wesley: I don't want pancakes eggs.
Sleepy Daddy: So don't eat them.

Maybe Wesley should have eaten more dinner before bed. Or maybe he overheard us talking about our friend's birthday today and he thinks we should get a cake to celebrate when she comes over tonight. Hummmm.... I like the way that kid thinks!

Training Time

Wesley and I went to the conservatory with Grandma H. this afternoon. They have a special exhibit of garden railroads called "Enchanted Express." We thought Wesley would enjoy seeing them and we were definitely correct! From the moment we stepped in the first room, Wesley was enthralled. Many of the trains were suspended from the ceiling, which is why he's looking up in the picture.

In addition to the trains, there were beautiful miniatures of famous buildings, all made out of natural materials. It was a great time Wesley dropped a full bottle of juice in the gift shop. The plastic top shattered and every drop of juice ended up on the floor. Everyone was super nice about it but I was mortified! Wesley just looked at the puddle and said "The juice is on the floor." Thank you Captain Obvious! But check out his patented innocent look. You could almost believe he didn't spill anything.

We left pretty quickly after that. Wesley said goodbye to everyone and I taught him to say "I made a big mess," which he promptly told the ticket ladies and the security guard. They laughed, so I guess they'll let us back in the building.

My Little Antidepressant

I had a pretty "down" day yesterday. You know, one of those days when it just seems to take too much energy to do anything and nothing really makes you smile. Duane knew I was feeling like this and knew how to perk me up. He brought Wesley to see me at the library after dinner! Even though we were kind of busy, I got to watch my two guys read books together and was even on the receiving end of some hugs and kisses. Wesley was in full "charm" mode and was sure to say hello and goodbye to my co-workers. As we walked back to my desk so Wesley could pick a piece of candy corn from my jar, I told Duane that their visit made me feel so much better. Wesley's response? "I medicine. You feel better." He's got that right. He's the best medicine there is!

Too Early

I am an early bird by nature. I go to bed early and get up early - always have, always will. However, 6:15 is pushing it, even for me, and that's when Wesley woke up this morning. By 6:30 he was demanding his breakfast, but I didn't have the heart to make pancakes and eggs before 7:00. I figured half a banana would tide him over. Apparently my plan worked too well. At 7:00 I went into the kitchen to make his breakfast and he wouldn't eat a single bite of it! Please don't tell me we are going to have one of those mornings.

As I'm typing this, Wesley is being a puppy and wiping his nose on the entertainment center. Not exactly the entertainment I had in mind. Oh well, just think of all the chores I should be able to get done before I go to work this afternoon. Or I could play Zuma for awhile. Hummm....tough choice. While I try to figure it out, take a peek at the cute pictures of Wesley playing with all his ducks last night. Thank goodness he doesn't remember that we've lost two.

He "quacks" me up. How about you?

Mommy Isn't THAT Old

Grandma H. got Wesley a few new toys for Thanksgiving, including a Fisher Price Mayflower. Wesley loves his new ship! He spent a lot of time putting all the people and animals in the ship. Bet you didn't know Mommy and Daddy sailed on the Mayflower! Yep, just ask Wesley. Nothing like hearing you were at Plymouth with the pilgrims to make you feel old.

DVD verses TV

We are watching the Dora special on Nickelodeon right now. Poor Wesley just about freaked out when the commercials came on. Noggin doesn't have commercials. DVDs don't have commercials. Commercials are not something a two year old understands! Wesley demanded we put the DVD back on. Good luck explaining that to a two year old. Plus this was the LONGEST commercial break I have ever seen. I understand that they have to get all the toy ads on, but come on. Wesley took all his DVDs off the shelf and spread them out on the floor, trying to find the one that had Dora and the Mermaids on it until the show came back on. Perhaps this is why we only watch Noggin, PBS and DVDs - no commercials!

How Much is That Doggy in the Window

Wesley had puppies on the brain! His obsession with dogs is starting to get a little out of hand. He was a dog most of the day today. When I say "he was a dog" I mean he crawls around and barks instead of talks. Mommy makes a quick stop at Mozarts to get a pastry for breakfast and "poof!" he's a puppy. He crawled around the store, panted and crawled back out to the car. He did the same thing at Grandma's for a good part of the day. We even had a repeat public performance when I stopped to pick up dinner. Wesley dropped to the floor in the restaurant and barked. He even let the hostess scratch him behind the ears!!!

Kirk and Susan were here for the evening so Kirk could fix something on the computer. Puppy Wesley made another appearance. This time he even followed commands. He would sit, lie down and (my favorite) roll over. This came in very handy when Susan and I tried to put him to bed. She told the puppy to get in his bed and lie down. He hopped right up there and curled up under the blankets! Cute as it is, I hope it ends soon. I kind of miss having a son.

Things That Sound Bad When a Toddler Says Them #1

Statement: "Mommy, you're a great drinker!"

Explaination: Wesley found the plastic cup we keep in the bathroom. He spent a good 20 minutes pretending to fill the cup up with water and bringing it to me to "drink." Every time I finished a cup of pretend water, he'd say "Mommy, you're a great drinker." And here I was worried he somehow knew about my bachelorette party. Oh wait. He said "great drinker." Never mind. and if you were there, you know why the great drinker part so does not apply.