Jumpin' ABC's

Cute moment captured with my cell phone.

Wyatt decided to add a new level of difficulty to his ABC's.

ABC's

We voted.

What a GREAT country.

Autumn

We've had a nice fall so far, and in September we were able to spend a lot of time outside. We spent time at the farmer's market, lake, apple orchard, pumpkin patch, and of course, at home and at the park.

Wyatt has become quite an expert at working doorknobs, light switches, and opening drawers and pulling out whatever he can. He's all boy and loves dirt, bugs, trucks, water hoses, monsters, and anything Sesame Street. He's also into opposites (on/off, up/down, open/close, etc.), hiding, and surprises "uh-prise!". He likes to blame things on the dog ("naughty Willow"), and loves the song "Hey-Ya" by Outkast.

Here are a few shots from Wyatt’s visit to an apple orchard with cousins Trayton, Hudson, and Merrik, and also from his visit to a pumpkin patch with buddy Colin.

First pony ride	Picking Apples
Climbing in the hay pile with cousin Trayton	Wyatt visited a pumpkin patch with friend Colin and they had a blast chasing a rooster around the farm yard and checking out the other animals.
At first Wyatt wanted to meet the donkey...	...but when it got close, he wasn't so sure:
Have a great day!

"Counting"

Here's a little bedtime video

A moment at the dinner table

Summer!

Happy 4th

Hope everyone has a happy 4th of July!

Communication

Wyatt's vocabulary has exploded with leaps and bounds lately. It's fun to be able to communicate better with our little man, and there's nothing like hearing his first "love you" to melt Daddy and Mommy's hearts. His annunciation has come a long way, as well ("hot" now has a nice hard "t" sound), but he has some of his own words whose meanings elude us.

Some of Wyatt's favorite things are climbing (he's pretty good at it, too), trucks, airplanes, and Elmo. He LOVES to be outside, and he delights in "scaring" Daddy with boos or his (not so scary) roar, or with his toy snakes ("ssssssssss!"). He also finds hilarity in pulling up Mommy and Daddy's shirts ("belly!") to zerber us. Very nice.

Out for a stroll

Checking out Trader Joes' latest deals

He now runs down the slide instead of sliding...

Washing up his sweet ride

Helping Mommy

Toddlerhood

Our baby boy is now a full-fledged toddler who is constantly busy. He has a vocabulary of around 25-30 words, although his annunciation isn't always very clear (banana for awhile was "ah-la-la", is now "ah-na-na"). He LOVES the dog, ("puppy!") and to be outside, when the weather permits. Our testy spring weather has brought about tears at our house more than once, as Wyatt doesn't understand yet that we can't go outside at any time - and this is even more frustating for him, as the dog gets to go out anyway!

Enjoy some more recent pics, and the video of him with his wagon (earlier post).

Wagon Fun

Wyatt decided it's just as fun to pull the wagon as it is to ride in it.

Gettin' the band back together

On a recent visit my cousin Aaron was gracious enough to let our little man play his drums. Cousin Courtney was kind enough to help. I think in the future we may be glad we have a relatively isolated basement to contain the sound.

Yes Tim, I know this is payback for buying Brett a set of drums. :)

Artist

Below is a picture of Wyatt and Heidi at daycare in front of Wyatt's award winning artistic interpretation. The judges noted that Wyatt's use of color and bold strokes were reminiscent of early works by...OK, I'm making that part up. Daycare had the parents vote on the best coloring from all the children in his room. We (the parents) didn't know who colored which picture. Wyatt was voted co-winner with one of his little girl friends.

Wyatt continues to evolve...

• Things he finds fascinating: Vacuum cleaners, the dustbuster, brooms????
• Recent favorite foods: Apples, Mac & Cheese, Gorgonzola Chicken Pasta Salad
  
• He's a very "independent" walker, not crazy about taking our hand when walking.
  
• He loves to color and continues to learn new signs and words.
  

13 Months

We haven't posted much other than pictures lately (it seems Mommy and Daddy work too much), but all is well. We had a good first Christmas, even though Wyatt battled a very nasty bout of Croup the week before the Holiday. Less than a few weeks into the New Year, he had pneumonia, but recovered very well from that, too.

In other news on our one-year-old:
- Wyatt now has 11 teeth; 7 front teeth and four molars
- He's a good eater, although lately he seems to have become pickier and demonstrates such by throwing food on the floor. This pleases the dog very much.
- Wyatt now does about 1/2 dozen signs (American Sign Language), which helps with communication...most of the time.
- He also speaks some words and is getting better at repeating phrases all the time. He says the standard, "mama", "dada", and "uh-oh", but also favors the word "cheese" (yes, one of his favorite foods). He surprised us one night at bath time by declaring, "Bubbles!"
- Wyatt took his first steps a week after his first birthday; he's gotten better (and faster) every day since.
- Our little guy delights in getting into everything, and is quite good at it. A recent clever feat was opening the front closet (we discovered he is both tall and agile enough to open bi-fold doors) and pull the vacuum cleaner out of the closet by himself.
- Still tall and lanky: At his 12 month appointment, Wyatt was about 24 pounds and 33" tall.

Hanging out in his toy box


Brushing his teeth


Coloring


Enjoying some winter weather on his new sled


Star of the "Risky Business" sequel?

New World

Wyatt took his first steps about 3 weeks ago. Now he's walking everywhere and jabbering along the way. It's a lot of fun for everyone!

Giggles and hiccups

Giggles and hiccups attributed to tickled feet

Happy Birthday, Wyatt!

I can't believe our little boy is one year old today! We had a small birthday party for him on Saturday, where he was pretty subdued, as he had pneumonia last week. Fortunately, he's doing better now.

He certainly enjoyed his cake, though: