Big little stuff
Around my house the little every-day stuff is really the big stuff. So by that measure, we've had big happenings in these parts over recent months. Let me catch you up.
Somewhere during the fall Wyatt graduated from just making scribbles and zig zags to being able to draw circles, then faces, and then baseball diamonds with pitching mounds. Now he draws "space men," who appear to be faces but with eyes on antennas instead. He also knows his letters and can write many of them, so at Valentine's he surprised me by signing all his cards to school friends with a "W" -- carefully penned on each card in the same spot with red marker. It was his idea. This was shortly after he brought home a wall-sized piece of art that he had created at school, which he calls "my Ws." He's big into words and the letters that start them, too. I overheard him telling someone the other day that "G starts with golf." Recently, he told me that "Coyote starts with 'e'" -- not always correct, but I like that he's getting the idea of how letters give their sounds to the words they are in. He is always reading road signs too nowadays. A little voice from the backseat tells me whenever I am entering a school zone and why it's important to slow down "so you don't bump a kid and hurt them." Thank you, Wy.
In February, the kid basically potty trained himself in the course of a couple days. So since February 22 we've not seen a diaper in the house. Of course we still use the "pull down," as he calls it, when he sleeps but even those are usually dry in the morning. Now we have a lot of potty talk (unfortunately) and get to discuss daily the things we do and do not pee on or into. Somehow I never pictured myself telling anyone, "No you cannot pee into my shoes."
He's a fan of reading and pretending when on the toilet. Sometimes he's a baseball announcer. Other times he just "reads" outloud to himself. Two months in now, using the "big boy" seat on the toilet is old hat. He's able to get himself to the bathroom, on and off the potty, pull up the undies and pull up the "over pants" as he calls them, and even soap-wash and dry his hands -- all by himself. It's a big deal. Of course, we've had the inevitable accidents due to forgetting to stop playing or waiting too long to go, but generally he's doing great.
Getting rid of diapers meant we had no need for a changing table, so Wyatt's room got a re-org, complete with a big boy bed and glow in the dark stars. It's definitely the room of a little boy now, not a toddler or baby. Wyatt takes great pride in his "studio" as he calls it. It's his office, really. He knows that Byron has an office, and he sees me work on projects at my home office, so now he has one too.
We put his twin mattress on a frame with a headboard, the same bed Byron grew up sleeping on. It's very sweet seeing that furniture being put to use again. It fits well in Wyatt's room and, miraculously, Wyatt hasn't fallen out of it yet when he sleeps. We've moved the book case and added the fuzzy rug back into his room so he has a good place to read books. I regularly find Wyatt in his room lounging on his bed, reading, and listening to a Sparkle Story on his ipod, which he selected and started playing all by himself. Next thing you know he'll want me to knock.
In recent weeks, he's taken to trying to tell time -- and by trying I mean basically identifying the big hand and the small hand correctly . . . and the numbers . . . but not quite getting the concept of time of day. All his clock watching prompted the acquisition of a watch for him (albeit a plastic brown one with monkeys on it). Now he can check the clock whenever he wants. Periodically he will tell me, "It's 9:30 and that's a good time to watch a Caillou episode" (or whatever it is he wants to do). Other times, I think he is beginning to understand how the clock shows passage of time. At school on the days I'm not there, I'm told he will say, "when the big hand gets to 11:30 then mom will be back for circle time." I think clock-watching has become one of his means of coping when he misses us.
Taking a shower has become a big hit with him too. Baths happen now and then, but mostly he wants a shower now. The kid who didn't like water in his eyes, now loves to wash his hair in the shower and linger in the hot and steamy spray. His favorite is when he gets to shower with either me or Byron. A few mornings lately he'll pop out of bed when he hears Byron get up at 6 a.m. and insist he needs to "take a quick shower" with dad so he can be "all warm and toasty too." But Wyatt is a fan of the solo shower too. When we want to get him out he will say, without exception, "not quite yet."
Somewhere during the fall Wyatt graduated from just making scribbles and zig zags to being able to draw circles, then faces, and then baseball diamonds with pitching mounds. Now he draws "space men," who appear to be faces but with eyes on antennas instead. He also knows his letters and can write many of them, so at Valentine's he surprised me by signing all his cards to school friends with a "W" -- carefully penned on each card in the same spot with red marker. It was his idea. This was shortly after he brought home a wall-sized piece of art that he had created at school, which he calls "my Ws." He's big into words and the letters that start them, too. I overheard him telling someone the other day that "G starts with golf." Recently, he told me that "Coyote starts with 'e'" -- not always correct, but I like that he's getting the idea of how letters give their sounds to the words they are in. He is always reading road signs too nowadays. A little voice from the backseat tells me whenever I am entering a school zone and why it's important to slow down "so you don't bump a kid and hurt them." Thank you, Wy.
In February, the kid basically potty trained himself in the course of a couple days. So since February 22 we've not seen a diaper in the house. Of course we still use the "pull down," as he calls it, when he sleeps but even those are usually dry in the morning. Now we have a lot of potty talk (unfortunately) and get to discuss daily the things we do and do not pee on or into. Somehow I never pictured myself telling anyone, "No you cannot pee into my shoes."
He's a fan of reading and pretending when on the toilet. Sometimes he's a baseball announcer. Other times he just "reads" outloud to himself. Two months in now, using the "big boy" seat on the toilet is old hat. He's able to get himself to the bathroom, on and off the potty, pull up the undies and pull up the "over pants" as he calls them, and even soap-wash and dry his hands -- all by himself. It's a big deal. Of course, we've had the inevitable accidents due to forgetting to stop playing or waiting too long to go, but generally he's doing great.
Getting rid of diapers meant we had no need for a changing table, so Wyatt's room got a re-org, complete with a big boy bed and glow in the dark stars. It's definitely the room of a little boy now, not a toddler or baby. Wyatt takes great pride in his "studio" as he calls it. It's his office, really. He knows that Byron has an office, and he sees me work on projects at my home office, so now he has one too.
We put his twin mattress on a frame with a headboard, the same bed Byron grew up sleeping on. It's very sweet seeing that furniture being put to use again. It fits well in Wyatt's room and, miraculously, Wyatt hasn't fallen out of it yet when he sleeps. We've moved the book case and added the fuzzy rug back into his room so he has a good place to read books. I regularly find Wyatt in his room lounging on his bed, reading, and listening to a Sparkle Story on his ipod, which he selected and started playing all by himself. Next thing you know he'll want me to knock.
In recent weeks, he's taken to trying to tell time -- and by trying I mean basically identifying the big hand and the small hand correctly . . . and the numbers . . . but not quite getting the concept of time of day. All his clock watching prompted the acquisition of a watch for him (albeit a plastic brown one with monkeys on it). Now he can check the clock whenever he wants. Periodically he will tell me, "It's 9:30 and that's a good time to watch a Caillou episode" (or whatever it is he wants to do). Other times, I think he is beginning to understand how the clock shows passage of time. At school on the days I'm not there, I'm told he will say, "when the big hand gets to 11:30 then mom will be back for circle time." I think clock-watching has become one of his means of coping when he misses us.
Taking a shower has become a big hit with him too. Baths happen now and then, but mostly he wants a shower now. The kid who didn't like water in his eyes, now loves to wash his hair in the shower and linger in the hot and steamy spray. His favorite is when he gets to shower with either me or Byron. A few mornings lately he'll pop out of bed when he hears Byron get up at 6 a.m. and insist he needs to "take a quick shower" with dad so he can be "all warm and toasty too." But Wyatt is a fan of the solo shower too. When we want to get him out he will say, without exception, "not quite yet."
I really like the new room set up. I love the update and hearing about what a big boy Wyatt is becoming. I cannot wait to see how the kids interact during the trip this summer. So much has changed in 2 years!
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