B4J: Wesley's Three!!!

Wesley enjoying the snow!

Finally, I'm writing about our dear Wesley! I've been meaning for months to write but the time just gets away! Wes is at such a fun age! He's really talking well and he loves to talk! He comes out with the funniest things! One of the funniest lately was "pankytoes" - this is how he says pantyhose. I laughed so hard when he said this! It was so cute. He asks about everything and he never forgets what you tell him. He doesn't miss anything!

Lately Wes is really into several fun things. He loves to pretend that he's a cat, pretending to lick and meow and curl up like a cat. He's also into owls. He is fascinated by them but I think he is kind of afraid of them too. We've read lots of books about owls. His favorites are Owls by Gail Gibbons and Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. During the day Wes often says we need to be quiet because the owls are sleeping. He can even recognize several different kinds of owls in pictures like the Great Horned Owl and the Snowy Owl. He really likes the owls with the heart-shaped faces like the Barn Owl. (By the way, he calls all heart-shaped things "happy tarts." This comes from us trying to teach him to have a happy heart and us praying together to Jesus for each of us to have a happy heart when we are having a hard day.

His birth mom recently had a baby girl named Annie. We've been able to visit her a couple of times and now he loves babies and calls most of them we meet "baby Annie." He has a set of nesting dolls that I pulled down for him from one of my trips to Belarus years ago. It has seven nesting dolls and he loves to put all the pieces together. It also has a tiny baby in the very middle that he loves and gets quite upset when it is misplaced, which, given its size, has been quite often. Miraculously we've been able to find it every time, even after several days!

Wes with Baby Annie

Wes also likes to serve us pretend food, especially cookies and ice cream. He makes cookies out of his blocks and the other day he asked me if I'd like a lick of ice cream from the top of the bedpost! Quite an imagination! Often in the afternoons after nap time we have "tea time" and drink from a real cup and saucer and have fun little snacks. While we are snacking we read, sing songs or say tongue twisters. He loves this! Drinking the tea helps him practice with being more careful with drinking and eating. It is NOT a means to make him less manly!!!

Another thing Wes has started to do a lot lately is sing. He just suddenly started singing different recognizable songs with the some right words and some made up words. He sings Jesus Loves Me, Hickory Dickory Dock, the ABC song, the theme song to the Cat in The Hat cartoon and others. He also likes to do finger plays.

Some other things he likes to do are build towers with blocks and boxes, play with all of his trains and cars, play with play do, play games, kick balls, throw balls, run and run and run, ride his tricycle, wrestle with papa, help mamma cook and play with friends. He also loves to play with stickers. He once covered his papa with at least 50 stickers.

He's learning new responsibilities. He puts his dishes in the dish washer and puts his clothes in the dirty clothes. He also starting to dress himself and is beginning to have an opinion about what he wants to wear. Potty training is going at a snails pace! We've been working on it for 6 months!!!!

Wes really loves books. Some of his favorites right now are Owl Moon, The Little Engine That Could, and Caps For Sale. These have been read over and over and over and over again and he can quote them. He loves to walk around with things on his head like the peddler in Caps For Sale.

So that is all for now. Below are lots of pictures. Because he's been potty training so much, it was difficult to find many pictures of him fully dressed! He usually just wear his undies and a shirt when we are in the house.

Wes's Birthday cake. This was my first attempt at making such a cake and I had a blast! I wouldn't want to do it everyday though!

Wes enjoying his cake.

Wes learning how to bowl.

Monkeying around with his Uncle Nathan

Sporting some major nap hair

Wes playing with his Oklahoma friend Lilia

Wes and David playing with the trains. Well, really Wes is playing and trying to keep David from playing. David does have a tendency to destroy Wes's hard work. Those track pieces and trains are just so darn tasty to David. He can't help himself!!! Wes doesn't like that though and makes it quite clear!

Hanging out with Papa and David.

Uncle Nathan and Aunt April gave Wes a trapeze swing for his birthday. He loves it! This is in our new improved basement play space for really cold, snowy days like this weekend!