Florida - Part Two

After our whirlwind trip to Disney we decided to rest up a little bit at my grandparents house in Lake Placid, FL which is smack in the middle of the state. We dropped off Lizzy, Mom and Dad at the airport and watched for cows on the two hour ride down. At our arrival, Nana and Grandpa promptly taught Wyatt about cocktail time. They got a miniture lawn chair for him which he was content to sit on with his juice cup and carrots on the lanai. "Come on, Momma. Come on, erybody. It's cocktail time!" The neighbors really got a kick out of that.

Wyatt stuck to Grandpa most of the time down there. They would watch Spongebob together on their respective recliners. Or Wyatt would drag his toys over by Grandpa while he watched TV. Or Wyatt would want to go out and water the plants with him. Grandpa claimed that Wyatt was going to be the next president so I think the attraction was mutual. It was really nice for me to sit and have a beer uninterrupted. Rebecca got to sit outside in the sun and read a book. It was really nice, period. To have a relaxing, unscheduled time after all the running we did in Disney. It also proved to me, once more, how adaptable Wyatt is. He ran right into their house as if he has been there a thousand times. He slept well and he ate well and he impressed everyone he came across with his amazing vocabulary.

Wyatt also loved their golf cart. Grandpa drove us onto the golf course and there was an alligator laying on this little island in a water trap. We searched for birds and otters and potholes and OH MY GOD We are DRIVING on the GRASS! Wyatt was VERY excited about that last part. I can understand why Nana and Grandpa like it so much down there. Yes, it is in the MIDDLE of NOWHERE. Yes, they have dial up internet. Yes, there are a lot of cows, alligators, and oranges that you can't pick. But they also have cocktails everyday at 4 and friends to play golf with and garage sales to go to. And warm, sunny, weather. Its a good life. I hope I am as lucky one day to retire somewhere warm after working my entire life. So, when are we invited down again?

Magic Kingdom Moments

Disney - Part One

I don't even know where to begin. Wyatt was the most AHH-MAZE-ING toddler at Disney World. I'm not even exaggerating. I expected a few minor meltdowns over a toy or a long line. Or an "Ohh Momma, but I NEED it" moment. But there was nothing. He was fine with eating dinner at all hours of the night, going to sleep ridiculously late, screwing nap times. He was fine waiting on line for almost 2 hours for a 20 second ride. He was fine with delays at the airport, long car rides, buses, monorails, trams, airplanes and ferry boats. Hell, he was more patient then I was most of the time. The child even ate a cucumber and a raw tomato. He is the world's best traveler. I'm convinced.

I had been talking up the plane ride for a while now figuring that it was going to be the worst part of the trip. No one really "likes" commercial flying and I thought that with turbulence, the shaky take off and landing, plus being cooped up for 3 hours might break his usually perfect demeanor. But despite all odds, he thought it was "pretty cool man." During take off, Rebecca, on my left, was white knuckling the arm rest and Wyatt, on my right, was yelling "wheeeeee" and playing with the window shade. Totally at ease and loving every minute. He asked to go for a "little walk" during the flight and meandered the aisle making friends. Gammy bought him a new backpack chocked full with new (and silent) toys and was supplemented with snacks and a binky. It was pure genius and kept him occupied, happy, and most of the time in his seat. Did you know that the airplane bathroom has a changing table? Well, it does!! There was no way I was going to change his diaper ON the plane but then Wy had to take a huge stinky crap that needed assistance immediately. (Too much information???) Anyway, its this little piece of plastic that folds over the toilet part and hooks onto the wall. Its a good thing neither one of us are claustrophobic. Poor thing didn't fit and his head was kinda stuck in the corner. Plus the stink and I'm surprised we both made it out alive. On our flight home he even fell asleep during the landing. Like the actual LANDING he passed out and that was after taking a 2 hour nap.

I am sure that he had no idea where we were taking him. After meeting up with Nana and Grandpa, the 8 of us headed off to Disney. (The count includes Nana, Grandpa, Gammy, Pa, Lizzy, Rebecca, Wyatt, and I). Every sign with Mickey Mouse on it, no less then 7 of us pointed it out. Everyone was so excited! And then there was parking, the tram ride, the lines for buying tickets, then the monorail ride, then going through security, and then finally entering the park to a huge parade down main street. Poor Wyatt had NO IDEA what was going on. There was so much to see. Total sensory overload but it was nice that he got to see most of the characters right off the bat in the parade. He was perched on my Dad's shoulders with a look of awe and confusion. I think he would have been content to ride the monorail all day. We headed off to the "Its a Small World" ride which is a family favorite but not before I had to buy him a Mickey Mouse ice cream pop that he proceeded to get all over himself and Pa.

I think his favorite was the Jungle Cruise. You get to ride on the little boat and see all these mechanical animals which, as a child, I remember being real. Every time the boat turned a corner Wyatt was narrating and exclaiming about what he saw. The elephants were "cool man!" The giant butterflies go "flap, flap, flap way up to the sky!" And the poor Jeep that got turned over by monkeys was "Dadda's jeep!! Oh no!!" He also enjoyed Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride which he got to control the up and down motion that almost gave us all motion sickness. He is still talking about magic carpets and pretending his trains are going on the jungle cruise.

Out of all the magical Disney moments, of which there were many, I think my most favorite was when we were in the Winnie the Pooh play area. Wyatt was obsessed with the water squirting up from the ground. There was a little girl, probably around 5, who was dressed full head to toe as Tinkerbell. (A girl after my own heart!) Wyatt took a liking to her and she couldn't be bothered with a silly toddler. She sat down on this little bridge and Wyatt sat down next to her just staring at her smiling. Wyatt followed her around the entire Pooh park until she started running and Wyatt couldn't keep up. He was so smitten. Adorable.

The Big City

Worker Man Pants

Where Dreams Come True

So, we are taking a small hiatus...

Two things about this video: One, Wyatt refuses to let me pack. I put things in and he takes them out and then puts himself in the suitcase. Cute, but counter productive. Two, he perfectly demonstrated a new catch phase that Auntie B taught him. "Na-na a Foo-foo." Again, Rebecca, why oh why would you teach this to a two year old?

I am so excited for our vacation I can barely sleep. Wyatt has no idea what is waiting for him. At the moment he doesn't quite get the Disney part of it but is absolutely THRILLED to be going on a plane. He thinks we are going to Mickey Mouse's house and Mickey is going to tell us to come in a play. I can't wait to see his face light up as we walk into the Magic Kingdom. So please excuse our absence for a week. I promise that when we get back we will have a ton of stories and even more pictures!!

25 Months

Smushy face,

This last month has past in a blur of snowstorms.  The news casters called it February Furry.  I swear it was like we had never seen snow before how they made such a fuss about it.  You and I, however, called it February Fantasmagorium!!  I bundled you up more times then I could count in your snow suit, mittens, hat, and boots.  (You call your pants "worker man pants") You resembled that little boy in The Christmas Story, barely able to walk.  We have acquired 4 baby shovels, one normal sized shovel, one broom labeled for car snow removal, and about 12 ice scrapers.  I would pick up the normal shovel and you a baby shovel and just as I got momentum you would want to switch.  Because of course, anything that I am doing is WAY more useful and/or fun than what you are doing.  So, we would switch and I would have to continue shoveling with something equatable to a oversized soup spoon made out of plastic, which lifts maybe an inch of snow.  I would come to my senses and reach for the broom just at the moment that YOU would want to use the broom.  Which sometimes works out and you can actually be helpful and other times I would just get hit various times with the broom handle.  Usually, I would give up on the driveway and go for building a snowman instead.  You are really good at snowmen and throwing snowballs and drinking all your hot chocolate when we get inside.

You are officially signed up for Pre-school come September.  Let the school years begin!!  You are going Mon, Wed, Fri from 9-12.  It might seem a little early to be thinking about pre-school but trust me these things fill up so fast.  I visited 3 schools and two of them wanted deposits immediately because they only had two spots left.  I would have enrolled you right this moment if I could.  You are SOOO ready for school.  You barely notice that I am at your Y class anymore.  Sometimes I actually think you don't want me there.  Last week, you picked up your snack and brought it over to the other table to sit without me.  I'll admit, I was upset but also proud of your budding independence.  I brought you to St. Johns (which happens from time to time.  You are really at home there.) so I could get some work done and walked you through the nursery school hallway on a poor judgement route.  You immediately started yelling "Go play with the kids!  Momma, come on.  Play with the kids."  Even being so bold to walk down the hallway and into a 3 year old room while I had my back turned.  You would have stayed if they let you.  You are just sooooo ready.

I have begun to teach you things. Well, I'm always teaching you things but now its things that can be on flash cards like numbers, shapes, colors, letters.  You have got circle, triangle, and rectangle down.  Every time you get one right we high five but now you expect a high five even if you get them wrong.  I correct you.  You repeat it and then we high five.  You had your Dad all bent out of shape thinking you might be color blind.  (As soon as I told Dadda about your slight color confusion, he thought your potential career as a pilot was OVER.  Ohhhhh sooooo over.  What are we going to do?!?!?  Like your possible color blindness was akin to you contracting a flesh eating bacteria.)  You are really good with your colors except blue and yellow.  You would always get blue right but yellow was also blue.  I thought for a while that you just couldn't pronounce yellow.  But I would keep on correcting you.  "No, silly, that's yellow." You can say stabilizer legs and pistachio but not yellow.  It was weird.  Then it just clicked.  I asked you and you responded with "Blue.  No, no wellwoah."  We high fived and from then on yellow was wellwoah.  I am so glad we got that straightened out because you seriously raised your fathers blood pressure.

Speaking of Dadda, its his birthday today.  He is older then the dinosaurs.  (Haha, just kidding...)  I was trying to get you to say Happy Birthday Dadda and your response was "No!  Me!"  Then you proceeded to sing Happy Birthday Wyatt or Happy Birthday to me.  I guess I really nailed that birthday thing into your head.  You also love to sing Twinkle Twinkle and know almost all the words.  You still get hung up on the diamond part.  You can also sing The Wheels on the Bus and the opening song to the Wonder Pets.  I keep on trying to teach you other songs but I keep forgetting them.  Literally, I forgot the EIEIO part of Old McDonald the other day.  It stumped me for a good few hours.  Who does that?  Mary keeps on trying to force a kiddie CD on me but I REFUSE!!  You have already taken over my TV and my laptop with a Bob the Builder game.  The car stereo is sacred.  I am convinced that most accidents occur while listening to kiddie CD's.  I am a huge pushover but I am not budging on this one.

Every time you fall, I am there to kiss your boo-boos.  Sometimes you fall on your knees and you tell me to kiss the boo-boo on your head and I'll kiss there too.  The other night when we were cuddled in bed you found the birthmark on my collarbone.  Your face got all sad and you whispered "Ohh Momma has a boo-boo."  You squirmed yourself over and kissed my boo-boo.  Then wrapped your arms around my neck and said "Love you so much Momma."  I couldn't help myself from letting one tear escape from my eye.  Yes, my love, I love you so much too.

I love you everyday.
Momma

A Boy, His Dog, and a Truck

B.F.F

I have finally been able to nail down some mom friends.  Mostly because some of my friends have become moms.  I cannot begin to explain how nice this is.  Its so refreshing to not feel like the lone ranger at a party chasing around a toddler.  Not to mention someone who is off from work as much as I am.  And someone who I can relate to.  Kari and I can sit and talk about mom stuff for hours, and usually do.  She is a great sounding board.  I can bounce ideas and problems off of her to get her opinion.  It helps me keep my mom-emotions in check.  I think it is good for Wyatt too, to have a friend to play with, hopefully make him less like an only child.  The other night we were stopping by their house.  I asked Wyatt if he would like to go visit our friends.  He goes "Yes! Go play with Lars Christian!"  Although the Christian part usually comes off as Crissssssshtan.  When we first introduced the boys Kari said "Wyatt, this is Lars Christian.  You don't know it yet but you are going to be best friends."  I really hope they will be.

For Wyatt's actually birthday we took the boys to the Children's Museum.  It is amazing.  I think I might have had more fun then Wyatt.  There is a sand room, a bubble room, and this little kid area where he could sit on a motorcycle or a train.  He LOVED it.  He was running around screaming "All aboard.  Hurry up, Momma, train's leaving!"  I would rush up to him and he would ask me for my ticket.  Then push all the train buttons to make it go.  By 1:30, he refused to have lunch and was getting that sleepy walking into things gait.  I bundled him up to get into the car then put him down to get my coat on.  He bolted back into the museum yelling "Getting away! Bubbles!! Running away!" He would have stayed there all day.

About a month ago, Kari had a babysitting fall through and asked if I could watch Lars Christian for a few hours while she went to work.  Literally, 4 hours.  I, of course, said yes and that it would be no problem.  When I told my mom she started laughing and thought I was out of my mind.  "Babysit a 2 year old and a 5 month old.  Kate couldn't possibly do that. Yeah, she's a good mom but not that coordinated."  Thanks for the vote of confidence!  Lars Christian was amazing.  He was smiling and happy.  Wyatt was good too although wouldn't really share his toys and then decided he wasn't going to share Lars Christian's toys either.  Mom did a mad rush home to see if I needed any help.  Lars Christian was sleeping and Wyatt and I were sitting and having lunch, the music was on, everyone was happy.  Mom couldn't believe it and I labeled myself as the BEST BABYSITTER IN THE WORLD!  Then just as I had a very gratifying pat on the back from the naysayer, the lights went out.  Yes, it was raining.  Yes, it was the middle of the day.  Wyatt and I lit some candles.  Not a huge deal but shook my footing a little.  Once Lars Christian woke up, I sat them both on the couch.  Lars Christian on my right, Wyatt on my left, and Pup on my feet and told them a story about a mail truck named Stewart.  Wyatt promptly fell asleep listening to the rain just as Kari walked through the door.  My conclusion was: I could totally have two kids.  (SHUT UP biological clock, Shut the hell Up!)