18 months

This cute little guy is 18 months now. We found out at his check up that he is 33 1/2 inches tall (82%) and 25 lbs and 10 ozs (47%). What a fun 18 months it has been.  He has always been very happy and loves to smile and get other people to smile.  I was just watching a video the other day of Wyatt in November showing off for his cousins.  The girls had all gathered around him and he was dancing and laughing and throwing himself down to get them to laugh.  They would laugh and he would show off some more.  That is Wyatt, he loves to entertain and he loves to interact with others.  He will play shy at first, but he loves attention.  He is nervous with people he doesn't know, but once he knows you, he loves to show off for you.

He has been bringing me his bib lately and wants me to put it on him.  He doesn't want his arms in it, he just wants to wear it around his neck while he plays.  He still doesn't say very many words.  He says, "Jesus" "this" "ma ma" and "nose."   He says "da" over and over for everything.  Somehow I seem to always know what he wants though.  He will point to whatever he wants most of the time while he says, "da da."  I am a pro at telling other mothers not to worry about their kids while I worry about my children.  I'm not to concerned with his talking yet, but every once in a while I will see a young child talking and get a little nervous.

Wyatt loves books.  He has a bunch of books in his room and he is always bringing them out for us to read to him.  The great thing is Caitlyn and Jonah can read his books to him too.  Sometimes Wyatt is a stinker and only wants mom to read to him, but most of the time he will let the kids read to him.  His favorite book is "Good Night Moon" right now.

Caitlyn loves when Wyatt will sit on her lap and play with her.  She is starting to get frustrated with him sometimes though.  She doesn't like him to go in her room because he messes everything up.  We try to keep her door shut.  Her room is no place for a toddler, there are little trinkets everywhere!

Wyatt used to be a great eater.  He would eat anything.  Lately, he wants nothing.  He eats about two bites of whatever we give him and then drinks a whole cup of milk and he is done.  The only thing we can consistently get him to eat is pizza.  He pretty much sustains himself on milk. 

Wyatt loves to play with his toys.  We have so many baby toys.  I remember worrying we didn't have anything when Caitlyn was young and over the years we have sure collected a lot.  Wyatt is pretty good about playing on his own for a little while, but he loves to bring us toys so that we will play with him. 

I have been taking Wyatt into nursery for the first hour to get used to it for the past couple of weeks.  One time I left him for a minute and he was fine.  I was so excited, but when I left again he started crying hysterically.  Last week Keith stayed with him for the second hour so he could be there the whole time.  Keith said he hid under the chair for half of it, but did enjoy snack time and coloring time.  He was proud of his picture.  Hopefully we can get him to go on his own soon. 

Wyatt loves to put on other people's things.  He brought me Jonah's slippers and hat the other day and wanted them on.  He also loves to wear Jonah's boxing gloves.  Wyatt has been pretty cranky these past few weeks.  I like to blame it on teething in hopes that it will get better soon.  He is getting two teeth on the bottom.  When he wakes up grouchy we know we are in for a long day.  Usually he is better after nap time, but some days he seems to cry and scream most of the day.  Those are the days we need to get out.  He is much happier when we are out of the house.  He has always been such a happy kid, so I'm hoping this is just a phase. 

He just started making fists and grunting. This is what Jonah does when he is mad.  It is pretty funny to see Wyatt doing it.  Wyatt is such a fun kid.  He fits right in with Caitlyn and Jonah.  They are all fun, happy and energetic, not to mention cute little kids.  We feel pretty lucky to have them all.

The Zoo

Yesterday was free day at the zoo.  Keith and I decided to take the boys up to see the animals yesterday morning.  We debated because it was pretty cold, but it ended up being pretty nice up there.  Wyatt loved riding in the wagon.

Jonah has always loved the zoo.  He has always loved animals.  He was disappointed that the elephants weren't out yesterday.  He loved seeing the tiger walking around, but was disappointed that he couldn't get it to roar.

Wyatt loved it.  He loved riding in the wagon, but he also loved to get out and walk around.  He loved walking around the small animal house.  He walked around like he owned the place. It was nice that he liked the wagon so much because he never got mad when it was time to move on, he was excited to get back in the wagon.  I think it would have been a different story if we had the stroller. He has strong opinions these days!

We were able to see Tiff and Rockwell up there.  Tiff took this picture for us.  I'm glad we went.  I think we all needed a fun outing.  Poor Caitlyn had a horrible day at school and it probably didn't help when she found out that we went to the zoo.  She was a good sport though.  She said her friends didn't believe her that I didn't have a middle name and that made her sad and then the librarian told her she had to pay for a book that got wet from her wet lunch box.  I'm glad that I'm home after school to cheer her up after a bad day.

Wyatt and Jonah are always finding fun things to entertain themselves while I help Caitlyn with her homework or while she is at school.  I think Wyatt is going to be a little lost next year when Jonah is in school.

Wyatt took a great nap yesterday.  I guess the zoo wore him out.  Too bad I had to wake him up to go pick Caitlyn up from school.  I hate that! This is when I went to wake him up.  He was out cold, I hated waking him up and he wasn't all that thrilled about it either.

Sledding

Caitlyn and Jonah were so excited that we finally got enough snow to go sledding yesterday.  It worked out great that Caitlyn and Keith were off for Martin Luther King day.  The only problem was everyone must have had the same idea because the hill that we go to, that we usually have to ourselves, was packed.  I was proud of myself for not turning around and going home when I saw the crowd.  I have been experiencing more than my usual social anxiety and my instincts told me to run when I saw the crowds.  I couldn't disappoint the kids though, so we went anyway.

The smiles were worth it.  They had a great time.  It didn't end up being too bad.  We had to wait our turn, but never for too long.  At one point a boy (probably 12 or 13 years old) walked right out in front of Jonah as he was cruising down the hill.  Jonah knocked him right over, but luckily neither of them got hurt. 

Caitlyn had her usual nerves the first time she went down.  I love the look on her face, she is scared, but loves it at the same time.

She always got nervous at the top of the hill, but by the time she got to the bottom she was all smiles. I think the crowds made her more nervous than usual because she was afraid of bumping into someone, especially after she saw Jonah do it.

Jonah was not nervous at all.  He loved every second of it and had no fear.  I love the look on his face.

We had been inside a lot this weekend so it was really nice to get out.  Jonah desperately needed to get out and burn off some energy.

Wyatt wasn't thrilled with the whole thing.  He thought it was fun for a minute and then he had had enough.  Keith or I would just stay with him at the bottom of the hill and pull him around a little while we watched the kids go down.  He was a good sport, but grew tired of it quickly.  It was really cold yesterday so I think he was freezing and I realized when we got home that he was starving as well.  Looking back he was a really good sport!

I'm like Caitlyn, I get nervous at the top of the hill every time.  I love having older kids that we can do these fun things with.

Keith and Jonah had fun racing down.  Caitlyn didn't want to go with them because she was sure they would bump into each other.  I'm glad we finally got to go sledding this year!

Party Animals

Caitlyn was really excited to spend the night at Grandma's house last Friday night with the other girls.  She had a great time, but didn't get a lot of sleep.  When she got home she said, "the funny thing about me is when I get a lot of sleep I'm grouchy and when I don't sleep I'm not grouchy."  Right after that she wigged out when I had to brush her hair.  She was already running on little sleep because she has been staying up late reading every night.  I am so excited that she is finally starting to love reading.  She has always been a good reader, but it has been more of a chore to her.  She has been reading the Junie B Jones books and she loves them.  On three different nights she read a whole Junie B Jones book.  I'm glad she loves reading, but she does need her sleep!

Saturday morning Caitlyn had a birthday party to go to so Keith and I took the boys outside to shovel the snow.  This was Wyatt's first time playing in the snow.  We have had no snow this year.  We had a great time sledding last year, so we were really hoping for some snow.  One night Caitlyn said, "if it doesn't snow tomorrow, that is it, I'm giving up on winter." 

Jonah is always a great helper and loves to shovel with Keith.  Jonah has been so attached to Keith lately.  Jonah wants to do everything with Keith.  It is nice to see him look up to his Dad so much.

After a while Jonah decided that shoveling wasn't fun enough and they needed to have a snowball fight.  They were both soaked when they came inside.

Wyatt kept getting frustrated because he wanted to pick up the basketball, but he couldn't do it with his mittens on.  He would take them off and then cry because his hands were cold.

After Wyatt fell in the snow a few times he decided he had had enough of the snow and I took him inside.

Caitlyn had a great time at her friend's birthday party.  She brought home a lot of fun stuff and was excited to eat lunch and then go to another friend's birthday party.  She is a busy girl.

She had fun showing us some ballet moves in her new tutu.  She has been learning about Martin Luther King at school.  She said, "mom Dr. King is with Heavenly Father.  I know he went to heaven because he was so good and wanted to help people."  Then she said, "I'm like, sorry guys I know you are trying to be good, but Dr. King is in heaven."  I told her that more than one person can make it to heaven!  She also said that she just didn't understand why anyone would care if people have dark skin because that is how Heavenly Father made them.  I'm so glad her mind can't even imagine treating anyone badly. 

Jonah is such a great helper with Wyatt.  Last night I was helping Caitlyn with her homework and Wyatt was getting into everything he shouldn't and causing trouble.  Jonah came in and took his hand and said, "come on Wyatt let's go play."  They were laughing and playing and coming in to show us their sunglasses.  Wyatt loves playing with Jonah and Jonah is so great with him.  It is such a big help to me!

A New Year

With the new year comes new primary classes for the kids at church.  This was the first year that Catilyn wasn't worried about it.  They both have great teachers that I'm really excited about. 

Jonah wanted a tie to wear to church.  He said it would help him be reverent.  I wish I would have taken a picture of him after church.  His tie was on top of his collar and he had ripped the tag that keeps the back of the tie in place.  I don't think it helped him be reverent so much as gave him a fun toy to distract him with.

The kids got some musical instruments for Christmas so they wanted to put together a little band and put on a show for us.  It was really cute.  Caitlyn said they had to have a stage, so she brought out their bean bags.

Wyatt just listened with Keith and I for a while.  He loves to stick out his tongue.  He can point to his ears, nose and eyes now, but his favorite is when we ask him where his tongue is.  He also loves when you ask him where his belly is, he will proudly pull up his shirt and show off that big belly!

Keith wanted to get all the kids recorders for Christmas.  I was a little hesitant, but I gave in.  It hasn't been too bad except for when they all blow them at the same time.

They finally got Wyatt to come down and play the drums for them.  It was fun to see them make up songs and preform for us. 

Christmas

This is what the room looked like when Keith and I were finished setting up on Christmas Eve.  We ended up waking the kids up a little after 8:00 AM on Christmas morning so we could start opening presents.

Everyone seemed happy and went straight to playing.  Wyatt loved the marble roll, Jonah was excited with the guitar and Catilyn went straight to singing in the microphone.

Catilyn has been talking about this Ariel doll for weeks.  She was so excited that Grandma and Grandpa got it for her.  Grandma and Grandpa were able to come over and watch the kids open their presents.

Jonah and I play a lot of games together while Caitlyn is at school.  He got a lot of new games for Christmas.

Keith's parents gave us a basketball hoop for the back yard for Christmas.  Catilyn was excited to have her own ball.  She said, "yes, now I don't have to share with Jonah."

Jonah was excited with his new wii game.  This boy loves the lego games for the wii.

Wyatt had no interest in opening presents.  He would just get mad when we tired to pull him away from the marble roll.  Finally we got him to open a couple of presents.

He loved the jack-in-the-box.

The kids gave me some pants and made me some coupons.  Caitlyn was wondering if I could really use her coupon for milk in the store.  She is a funny girl.  Wyatt had no interest in getting his picture taken.

We made Keith a calendar for his desk at work. 

Here is Jonah with all of his loot.

Caitlyn did pretty well!  They both asked for v-tech cameras from Santa.  They have been playing with those a lot.

Wyatt likes all of his new toys.  He just doesn't want to be told which one to play with!

We had to be to church at 10 AM that morning.  The kids were really good sports about leaving their toys and going to church.  Catilyn said she wanted to go since it was Jesus' birthday.

After church the kids went straight to the toys.   Jonah and Wyatt had fun playing the drums.

They also love the marble roll.

Grandma and Grandpa gave Jonah this punching bag.  It is perfect for him.  Whenever he is mad I tell him to go play with his punching bag.

Wyatt enjoys the punching bag too.  It is cute to see him walking around with the big gloves on.

Caitlyn was in heaven with her Ariel doll and her microphone.  We had a great Christmas.