Christmas Tree Festival

I love the Christmas Tree Festival. After spending 4+ years volunteering on the 7th floor of Akron Children's Hospital, I have never missed a year. Granted, there was a span when I performed at it, so I guess that only sort of counts. I just really love that it is a free event that benefits a wonderful hospital.

Wyatt went last year, but didn't really care about it one way or the other. This year he seemed interested in a least a few of the trees. Luckily one of the first trees we came across was a Sesame Street tree. Wyatt has been on a serious Elmo kick, and seeing Elmo helped him to get into looking at the trees for Elmo. Of course he had no problem picking out the Winnie-the-Pooh tree either.

He did amazingly well at not trying to touch every single tree. For the most part he just walked next to me and pointed at the trees. He hasn't figured out that the ornaments are not balls, but hopefully after we put up our tree and ornaments, he will see the difference.

Another great plus to the festival was seeing Santa. Santa was sitting outside of the tree display, and there was no line to sit on his lap! I know it is crazy that there was no line - when does that happen. Wyatt didn't want to sit on Santa's lap at all so I sat with him. He even told Santa that he wanted a hat for Christmas - or he was just impressed with Santa's hat!

Just when I started to think Wyatt wouldn't make it through the whole thing, we ran into one of great dogs from the doggie brigade from the hospital. We saw a gentle chocolate lab and a gorgeous golden retriever during our time there. I am always amazed at how well behaved these dogs are. I mean Wyatt is actually very good around dogs, but still, these dogs let the kids hug and love on them all the time. I wish I was able to train my dog that well!

Near the end of the whole thing Patrick took Wyatt down to listen to a brass choir that was playing. Wyatt was hooked. He is really into music and I am glad he got the chance to listen to it.

Apple

I have added many errands to my weekly routine so that Wyatt and I have a reason to get out of the house as often as we can. One of those errands has been a weekly trip to Kriegers, mostly because it results in us having lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Wyatt has looked forward to it because he gets to snack on cheese as I pick out the produce since we try to get the deli items near the beginning of our trip.

Recently he has started to look for the apples. He has to pick one out and then he won't let go of it until he has taken a nice big bite! Yes, right there in the store. The plus is that he doesn't like the way the skin feels in his mouth so he usually stops at one bite and then willingly puts the apple in my bag. Another great part of this new habit is that once we get home he waits eagerly as I cut his apple and peel it. Then he proceeds to eat the entire apple! I'm so proud of my healthy eater. He would much rather have a piece of fruit over a cookie. Now if only I could learn this habit!

Thanksgiving Card

I probably should have put this post up last week, but for some reason my days are literally flying by now!

Wyatt got a letter in the mail the Wednesday before Thanksgiving from Nana and Chief Papa. It was a cute little Thanksgiving card. The best part of it was that Wyatt was extremely interested in it. He carried from the mailbox and danced around the tree in the backyard singing about his mail. It was adorable.

Of course once we finally got inside he wasn't as interested in opening his letter. But once I opened it for him, he was all about it. You, at Nana's he loves these little foam stickers in different shapes. And she sent a few in the card. Wyatt loved them. He played with them all afternoon.

Then he decided that his card was the perfect coloring page. So it drew all over it. I figured it was alright since it is his card. At least he was interested in it.

Thanksgiving Parade

I know there is already a post for our Thanksgiving get together.

But I forgot the morning of Thanksgiving... and the parade.

It is a personal tradition of mine to at least watch most of the parade, so I was excited when Wyatt seemed interested in it. Patrick was also excited because the Purdue marching band was going to be the first college band. So we all sat down at 9:00 for the beginning coverage, of course the main parade didn't reach the Macy's square until 10:00 and Wyatt didn't even make it that long. For the first time ever, he fell asleep on Patrick's lap!  It was adorable! So I guess this is a tradition that will have to wait another year...



Sleeping on Daddy during the Thanksgiving Day Parade



Thanksgiving



Wyatt showing Uncle David his collars



Thanksgiving is a holiday that I have grown to love more and more every year. I enjoy getting together with my family to just hang out and talk. It's nice to listen to every one's stories and relax. In recent year I have also greatly enjoyed cooking - I usually go with just one dish for the actual meal and then as many desserts I can make!  This year I made citrus green beans for the meal and then three different kinds of cookies - coconut macaroons, Italian Neapolitans and cinnamon crisps. And all three were great in their own ways.  I love how homemade cookies taste fresh all the time - they always beat store bought. Wyatt really enjoyed the Italian cookies, which is a great compliment since he usually doesn't care for cookies.

He loved being at my Aunt's for the dinner. He loved the attention and all three little dogs that were running around. He found all their collars and wore them around the house like necklaces. He also greatly enjoyed dinner. There was macaroni and cheese which he adored and more importantly the turkey was a big hit. He sat at the table and ate right off of Patrick's plate!

Wyatt eating a cookie with Nana

Near the end of the night Wyatt had fun in the basement while we all played Wii games. He helped mommy race in Mario Kart and then was a great dancer during Rock Band. Granted he got into the dancing a little too much and kept getting in the way!



Wyatt dancing!

 Overall it was a great day of fun and food and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Project Christmas Child

I have been a fan of the program Project Christmas Child for many years. In college I helped pack these wonderful shoebox gifts for local businesses who donated the toys and goodies. I love this program because you get to fill a shoebox with toys and things for a poor child across the world. There is the fun of trying to fit as much as you can into the shoebox and making sure there are useful things as well as fun items in each box. I have been meaning to get back into this program now that I am an adult but the last two years just haven't happened. So when our church promoted it as a way to serve more I was all in.

I took Wyatt to the store twice to find all the little goodies to put into our box. We decided to pack a box for a little boy in the 2-4 year range, since that is the closest to Wyatt. We found a pair of Thomas the Tank Engine pjs, and some Mickey Mouse socks. Wyatt picked an Elmo and Abby toothbrush and Winnie-the-Pooh toothpaste. We found a cute little christmas teddy bear and a couple of matchbox cars. I added a hackey-sack and a slinky. Then we decided to add a large pad of coloring paper and crayons with some fun stickers (the kind with the googley eyes) and a jump rope. I finished the box with some soap and a washcloth. Wyatt enjoyed packing up the box, although he didn't really want to give up the fun toys.

I know that he is still a little young to truly understand why we are packing up this box and sending it away, but I told him over and over again all the same. I figure he is never too young to start giving to others! Now that we have sealed up our box and sent it in we are saying a quick little prayer every night for the little boy who will receive this box. I figured I would share our prayer, all of our prayers with Wyatt are short since his attention span is short.

"Dear Lord,

Bless the little boy

who will open our shoebox this Christmas.

Please keep him safe and healthy this year -

May your love touch him so he can learn to know you.

Amen."

Busy weekend...

I know that I should plan better, but I love this time of year. There are so many fun things to do and I want to experience it all! So there is no wonder that the weekend before Thanksgiving was stuffed full of fun!

Friday evening we had our regular small group Bible study, which I always look forward to. I love spending time with adults and having adult topics to discuss. Granted we spend a good amount of time talking about our kids and our lives as parents, but then it is nice to have peers to share that part of our lives with. So it's just a double fun night that I can have a mix of both! Wyatt ended up going with us this time, thankfully there was a sitter there so I didn't have to be focused on taking care of him while I was having some adult time. My point is that having this time is the perfect way to start of a weekend.

Saturday was busy but only because Wyatt has been on a strange nap schedule. He is starting to actually sleep in a little (like until 6:45) which means he isn't always tired at his regular nap time. So we have been playing with his nap schedule. He ended up not falling asleep until almost 1:00 (compared to his normal nap time of 11:00). Normally that would have been fine, but we were supposed to be at a birthday party at 2:00! I didn't really worry about it at first because I figured we could get there at 3:00 and not really miss that much. This was going to be his first birthday party that he could actually enjoy, you know eat the cake and care about it - so I was really excited. Needless to say he didn't get up until 3:00. I still rushed him to get ready so we could at least make an appearance. And make an appearance we did -at almost 4:00. So we missed most of the party - Wyatt still seemed to enjoy it. There were some older kids there, and he loved watching how they played but he still enjoyed playing chase with the birthday girl (she turned 1). Of course we missed the cake and present opening, but I guess since he is still so young he didn't know that and didn't miss it - so the lesson is for me - I have to keep remembering to just go with the flow and enjoy it!

Sunday was a big day because we had Thanksgiving dinner at church with some international students from Kent State. It was their first Thanksgiving, and we were there to sit with them and make them feel welcome. I spent most of the time chasing Wyatt, who granted was extremely well behaved, but sitting still for 3 hours is not something he can do! Patrick, however, was perfect for this little service project. He asked polite questions about each of the students at the table (there were 5 total) and kept the conversation going through dinner at least. Wyatt was a great ice breaker though, because all of the girls were curious about him and his birthmark - which made it easier for me to talk to them (I can always talk about my little man). He really enjoyed stacking the little cups of creamer as though they were blocks - I think he thought he was there to teach these young adults how to really use creamer. Then near the end there was a little raffle and after each name was called we all clapped for the winner and Wyatt really got into this part of the evening. He cheered for everyone.

Overall our kick-off the holiday weekend was great - a little crazy- but fun. If this is any indication of how our holidays are going to go, I am ready!

Dog's Bed

After a good year of dealing with the family dog sleeping either on the couch or our bed, I decided that we had to get a new dog bed for a little girl. I am tired of having to remove fur from the comforter all the time. Not to mention the one couch has been termed Bisou's couch because it is covered in a layer of her fur at all times, even after I spend serious time on trying to vacuum up the fur.

Of course the new dog bed does not interest her in the slightest. We have tried putting treats on it, placing it near her favorite places and still she avoids it like the plague. Now Wyatt thinks it is the perfect toy for him. He loves to lie on it and use it as a landing place when he decides to use the living room as his jungle gym.

At least it has provided hours of entertainment for him and a soft place to change him during those times when he is being a stubborn toddler who would rather wear nothing!
His new favorite trick is to take all the seat cushions off the couch then climb up on the armrest. He perches on the armrest like he is riding a horse for a couple of minutes. Sometimes he flips the light switch that is located just above his head while he is perched there. Then when he is done sitting there he carefully gets down onto the dog's bed. The first few times he did this I was sure I was going to have a heart attack, but we have practiced and he is actually quite careful. Granted I still am standing close by every time he tries this little acrobat show.

Daddy's Birthday

We celebrated Patrick's birthday and my mom's birthday with a family party at our house the first weekend of the month. Although we had a birthday party for Wyatt earlier in the year, this birthday party was more fun for him. He was very into having a bunch of people over because he thought he was the center of every one's attention all the time, granted he was most of the time. Overall the party was low key without anything too much to report. We had great food and amazing ice cream - Thanks to Uncle Jordan!

Wyatt has always enjoyed playing with disposable cups - I keep a stack in low kitchen drawer for him to play with when I am cooking. During the party he found one and decided to wear it as a hat. He certainly put on a show for the few minutes he was still interested in it. Another great moment from the party was when Wyatt sat down with Uncle Jordan to read his Curious George book. It is always special when Wyatt and Jordan spend one-on-one time together since Jordan is living in Columbus now. At first we thought Wyatt was going to be very interested in helping to open the gifts but after the first one he got over it and decided playing with his toys was more fun. Overall I was very proud at how well he handled the whole day.

The following weekend was actually Patrick's birthday. He took the Friday off so we could all enjoy a long weekend together. Wyatt truly enjoyed every second of our time together. We went to the store to get Patrick's gift and Wyatt had more fun pointing out all the balloons that were set up for special pre-thanksgiving sales.

I hope that Wyatt ends up enjoying birthday and holiday celebrations as much as I do. I love the opportunity to spend time with family and friends and put aside all the other things going on in our daily lives.

First Joke - What does the Dinosaur say?

I believe I have entered that part of being a mommy where I can understand Wyatt much better than anyone else. I know what his asking for after he says maybe one word. And I can tell the difference between ball and balloon. I have also gotten to the point where I can converse with him fairly well.


This talent came in handy this weekend. All three of us where sitting in the living room just having a relaxing evening when Wyatt said his first joke and if I do say so myself he has a great sense of humor - what do you expect from a kid with parents like this.

So here's the joke (I hope I can do it justice). Patrick was asking Wyatt what noises animals make. Patrick asked, "What does the cow say?" Wyatt answered, "Moo" with a large smile on his face. Patrick asked, "What does the monkey say?" Wyatt replied, "Ohhohh." Patrick continued with, "What does the dinosaur says?" Wyatt answered, "Choo Choo."  Patrick looked at me and I started to laugh so hard my side hurt.

To explain this great moment of humor you have to know about a cartoon on PBS. It's called Dinosaur Train. It tends to be on right after nap which allows Wyatt to have a few minutes to relax before getting back into the playtime of his day. And there is a big song at the beginning and we sing by saying "choo choo" over and over, mostly because there are just too many words in the song. So know when I mentioned the Dinosaurs, Wyatt says choo choo train almost all the time. After explaining all this to Patrick he agreed that this was a great joke and I hope you got it too!

Trying the Halloween Candy

I wish I could say that I am a healthy eater and that is the reason why Wyatt doesn't have any real interest in his halloween candy, but that just isn't the case. Granted I to try very hard to keep junk out of the house so that we don't eat it, so I am guessing most people think we are extremely healthy eaters. All that aside, yesterday Wyatt got two pieces of his halloween candy out and brought them to me.

Trying a bite...

I was making dinner and I am sure he was hungry which was why he was looking for food. He brought the candy to me and said "trick treat" with pleading look in his eyes. So I folded and said he could try one piece, figuring he wouldn't really eat it and it would occupy him for a little bit while I finished cooking. So we opened a Reece's cup. He looked at it curiously - this is his first piece of candy mind you. And finally put it in his mouth. He took a small bite and made a face that is not describable. He looked at me for some kind of explanation, so I told him it was a chocolate candy like the ones in one of his favorite stories - Curious George visits the Chocolate Factory (great story!). That of course got him to take another bite because he loves George! But that was the end of the chocolate.

checking it out - found the peanut butter inside

He carried around for the next 15 minutes, getting melted chocolate all over his crayons and paper. Finally he looked at me and said "trash". He then proceeded to put it in the trash can and that was the end of the candy. Either way it was a fun experience for me and it allowed me to get a good dinner on the table for the whole family.

I am happy he isn't really into candy though, too much of it is not child appropriate. Many of my friends have said they have a hard time keeping their kids from eating candy, so I am glad I have the little boy who would rather eat carrots and peas instead of candy!   

I think he likes it!

"Thank you Daddy"

There are times when you don't have to actually see something to know exactly how the people in another room are reacting. Tonight was one of those nights that all parents can relate to where we ended up eating dinner in shifts, granted we all sat at the table together for at least part of it.

While I was sitting there eating, Patrick and Wyatt were in the bedroom so Patrick change from his work clothes - you know in an effort to still have clothes that do not have stains on them! Anyway, at one point Wyatt started to his little whine that means he wants something - I am guessing he was pointing to the object of his desire and looking at Patrick as though he had really just asked for it. A minute later Patrick said to Wyatt, "Thank you Daddy." We have been trying to say what we would like Wyatt to say in order for him to learn more words and hopefully some manners. And Wyatt has finally gotten it! He replied to Patrick with,"Tan daddy." Which for us is huge. And I can say without a doubt in my mind that Patrick had one of those perfect smiles as a response.

Playing in the Leaves

On the day of trick-or-treat Wyatt just did not want to nap, so in an effort to keep him interested in doing things we decided to rake leaves. Well Patrick used the leaf blower to get the majority of the leaves to the front and then we all raked. It quickly turned into a chance to play in the pile of leaves.

Wyatt loved every second of it. He would basically do a belly flop onto the pile and just laugh and laugh. We would throw the leaves up in the air and let them fall back down on us. Then Patrick would take a huge rake-full of leaves and toss them over Wyatt and you would think this was the best game ever invented.

We ended up having to carry a screaming and kicking boy back in the house after about an hour because it was just too cold to stay out that long. Of course Wyatt didn't care one little bit that his hands and nose were so cold, he just wanted to keep playing.

Since then we have had to watch very carefully because Wyatt wants to jump into every leaf pile he sees. Which isn't a good thing since most of the piles are up against the curb waiting to be picked up!

Balloon

We learned early on that Wyatt is a huge fan of helium filled balloons, not that this should be a surprise. So whenever we want to get him a little something, which isn't all that often, we tend to go and let him pick out a balloon. We did this weeks ago when we were shopping for a new reading chair. After he did extremely well at the furniture store we figured we could reward him with a balloon. He picked out an Elmo design and proudly held onto the string the whole time we were checking out and during the ride home. 

Now of course most people would have gotten rid of the balloon by now (the special order piece of furniture has been in our house for almost 3 weeks, so you can imagine how long the balloon has been in the house) but for Wyatt the true fun of the balloon has only just arrived. There is only enough helium left so the balloon barely hovers about 3 feet or so above the ground and is almost flat. This is the perfect height for Wyatt. He'll laugh and run to it in the middle of the day as though just discovering it for the first time. Then comes a full on play session of hitting, throwing, squeezing and simply loving the fact that he has this great balloon.

I love these times because he spends so much of his energy on  reaching and running and I don't really have to do much of anything at all. There is also something about watching a child who is so happy and excited over something so simple. The term "stop and smell the roses" rings so true during these times. And I do usually stop whatever task I am doing and just watching. All this because of a simple helium balloon.