Growing Up

Wesley is growing up very very fast, which is also the speed at which he likes to drive, run, be carried, swim, fly, boat, etc. (Although physically he's stopped growing a half-inch a month and hasn't gotten taller for the past couple of months at all). Wesley can do pretty much everything in the house on his own. He's never been allowed to play with the DVD player (or watch TV), but if you turn your back, he'll go open it, stick in a Mozart CD and start it playing. Wesley's favorite song continues to be Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and he asks for that and Baa Baa Black Sheep to be sung to him every night and nap time. He often sings a medly that runs through those and ABCDEFG, and several other songs (Frere Jacques, Old MacDonald, She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain, etc.). Often he rewrites the words. He recently asked a violinist on the Downtown Mall to play Twinkle Twinkle. The more Wesley sings, the better the songs get.

Wesley is getting much more comfortable playing with other kids and talking to strangers. He's doing better about not running for the hills if another child wants to play on the same playground equipment he does. He's learning to stand in a line for a slide even though there's a kid ahead of him and one behind him, either of which used to cause him to panic. He had a lot of fun with two little friends from Italy stayed for some days here. And he's having a lot of fun with his friends in Charlottesville. He also gets to see his cousins Hallie and Travis sometimes. The more he plays with other kids the more he likes it and is comfortable with it. I'm sure he'll like preschool next year, and we hope to take him to Little Gym and music classes this year. He goes frequently to the Discovery Museum and to parks. He's comfortable enough to go up and say things to unkown adults. And of course everyone always thinks he's incredibly cute - which he is.

Last week we took Wesley to a park in Staunton that has a small train for kids (and parents) to ride on, and Wesley couldn't have been more thrilled. Yet he's equally thrilled to pretend to make a train out of dining room chairs or out of nothing at all. If he asks for something we don't have, we can now simply pretend to give it to him, handing him a chunk of thin air, and he's even happier. His Mommy has taught him very well how to imagine things (she says she just doesn't discourage him, and he does it). Some of these games involve props and others don't. Some involve Wesley becoming various animals or people, and Mommy and Daddy doing the same. If Wesley asks his Mommy to ride in a tiny toy car and she explains that she doesn't fit, he'll pinch a "little Mommy" off of her and put the invisible little Mommy in the car.

Anna says Wesley's favorite pretend games are: pretending to be at story-time at the library, pretending to be a baby, pretending to be a librarian or store clerk lending books or selling food, pretending to be daddy riding his bicycle with mommy pretending to be Wesley riding in the little car trailer behind the bicycle, firefighters, riding a tractor, repairing tractors and cars, pretending to be Belle (a dog) or Riley (a cat), driving a train or flying a plane, and pretending to sleep. The bicycle trailer (the real one) is a great thing and allows Daddy to get a little exercise while taking Wesley somewhere to play. He loves it.

Mommy, by the way, is still pronounced Nonny, although Daddy is Daddy. A lot of words are hard to decipher. Anna is best at understanding Wesley, and I do pretty well. Others have more trouble. We try to understand him as well as we can and encourage him to explain and speak clearly. In some cases he's effectively created new words. Baby is Deedee. Even Anna now just says Deedee instead of baby. I tend to say baby in case Wesley catches on that that's the proper way to say it, although his way is just as good. I'm also trying to get Wesley to say Yes and No, because his uh-huh and uh-uh are not always clearly distinguishable. Wesley often does say please and thank you completely unprompted, as well as handing out I love yous and kisses and hugs.

Occassionally Wes gets frustrated if someone doesn't understand him. More often he gets frustrated if someone does something for him that he wants to do himself. This is probably a good thing, but it can s-l-o-w the day down. Picking Wesley up and taking him out of the car can result in him climbing back in so that he can then get out himself, all of which takes time. What's more amazing, though, is the number of things Wesley CAN do on his own now. He can build elaborate towers out of blocks, peddle his tricycle, water the garden, put his shoes on and off (working on doing clothes as well), go to the potty (once in a while, still mostly using diapers), do jigsaw puzzles and other puzzles, and form long complex sentences like "Mommy, I hope that little orange cat comes back to see Wesley." He still says Wesley instead of me. He says "pick you up" when he's sad or scared, even if he's already picked up - but this is very rare. He's usually happy and often ecstatic. He runs around in circles, tries to get dizzy, dances, sings, plays musical instruments (including blowing in a harmonica), waves his arms, and grins from ear to ear. He can also really jump now, which he'd been working on for months. He can jump down steps too (holding someone's hand!). He can shout a lot more loudly now than a month ago too.

As Anna reminds me, Wesley is also dramatically better at climbing playground structures meant for much bigger kids than he was 6 months ago. He is also, I think, pretty smart about what risks to take. He can now go anywhere, but he wouldn't walk off a cliff the way he would have when he first got on his feet. He's also learning to swim a little bit, and in any case loves being in the water. He's also comfortable going in a canoe.

Anna also reminds me that Wesley has a new fascination with babies, loves to see them, talk to them, talk about them, pretend to take care of them, pretend to be one.

He especially LOVES wallets and keys and hotel-key-cards and bags and backpacks and pockets and tickets. He loves to open things, stuff items in, take them out again.

Wesley can hit a good toy baseball off a T now, as well as kick a soccer ball, and - of course - run. He loves to run around. His knees have been scraped countless times, but he's never had a major injury or illness and we hope he never does because we love him more than anything! And I'm so glad he won the Mommy lottery and got the most devoted, selfless, creative, empathetic, inspiring, patient Mommy on the globe.

Wesley just got the idea to put some colored pipe cleaners around his Mommy's wrists and tie them together into bracelets, and he did. And - of course - she loves them.

Now Wesley is jumping off the sofa (holding his Mommy's hand) onto the carpet, which is now the swimming pool. (At the actual swimming pool, Wesley especially loves to jump in (where I catch him) and - as he's jumping - shout "jump in AGAIN" - meaning that he can't wait to climb out and jump in again.

Wesley just got down on the carpet and did a perfect somersault (which he's been working on). Now he's running in circles around a post.

Now he's trying to do somersaults while dizzy.

Now he's kicking his feet in the air, lying on his back and grinning. Such is the life of Wesley Neil Swanson at age 2.