Woznation

On July 5^th Wil re-discovered our point and click camera. We gave it to him thinking he wouldn’t be able to do much with it, but he soon figured out how to turn it off and on. And take pictures and watch it pop up in the viewing screen.   He took over 100 pictures, but I narrowed it down to about 40 of the most poignant shots.  I hope to make this an on-going series.

Without further ado, I give you Wil’s view on life, July 5^th 2014:

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We had a great 4^th of July! I altered expectations given last years experience (REF: Last 4th ). We didn’t attempt to keep kids up for fireworks, or change nap times to go to parades, and everyone was much happier. Even though there were hurricane-like winds the night before, the actual 4^th of July turned out to be a beautiful day! We headed over to Fort McHenry after Evies morning nap:

It was so gorgeous! I couldn’t believe we hadn’t made it here before. This is where Francis Scott Key wrote the star-spangled banner and its a huge landmark in Baltimore. They had solider/cannon reenactments:

And tunnels:

ECHOOO:

Funny story – we were watching the re-enactment when Phil and Wilek found the tunnel up above and they went to explore while Evie and I finished watching the show. Well, father and son starting YELLING AND ECHOING in the tunnel – which is great fun – except that it was SO LOUD while these poor high-schoolers were trying to recite their lines to the crowds of people. I had to leave evie amongst the crowd and run down to the tunnel to get them to stop. It was hilarious. I was dying laughing.

We also found a boat!! Wil loved playing around on, but it was quite windy:

We made it home for nap time, gaming and lunch – for whatever reason, I always feel like 4^th of july calls for corn on the cob, green beams, and watermelon (not pictured), and I would have preferred a hot dog – but we had pork chops on hand:

When everyone woke up, we went and explored harbor east for a little while. Phil attempted to find us some sparklers but nowhere reasonable sold them and we weren’t about to drive out to a firework super store. Wil was happy enough with his little flag:

We finished the evening off by listening to battle hymn of the republic, stars and stripes and watching old you-tube videos of fireworks.

I definitely was an old fuddy –duddy this year and was more upset with the young kiddos outside STILL setting off fireworks at 11pm and possibly waking up my children, rather than partaking in the fun. Its kind of sad to be on ‘the other side’ of fun holidays like this. I have no doubt that in a few years we’ll be back to having fun. But for now its easier to try to keep the status quo. We had a nice day with happy, well-rested children, and a new activity. It was great.

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I have taken about a million pictures of our garden – and Im pretty sure most people arent interested in the majority of them.  But I freaking LOVE this garden.  Sure, we’re not doing that great – its sooooo apparent that we are newbies:  I still have tomato cages around my pepper plants, All my herbs look like flower bushes, and our zucchini plant is the size of a mini cooper.  But we’ve come a long way (REF: My first garden post!) and we’re having a lot of fun!  Evie’s nap schedule has changed quite a bit in the last few months, so we no longer get to go tend to the garden while she sleeps.  Sometimes its just a Phil and Wil event. Sometimes I just go and water on my way home from work, or Phil will weed on his own while the kids are napping.  But we have had a lot of fun and learned a lot for years to come!  We’re still waiting on a big harvest of tomatoes – but the zucchini has been plentiful! We have also enjoyed dishes with our herbs, peppers, green beans, and carrots!!  I’m counting this first year of gardening as an epic success!!!

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I swear we are going to throw this kid a proper birthday one of these years!!  But this year it was another intimate event with the family.  Wil is definitely starting to ‘get’ birthdays though and he knew his birthday was approaching.  We talked a lot about special present ‘surprises’ and cookies and balloons – all his favorite things!  So the morning of his birthday Phil and I both made a special effort to start the day off with a present and chocolate chip pancakes!  It was basically the best morning ever in his mind.

Here is a video of the unveiling:  http://youtu.be/BqQYdD6pVOM

The tunnel (which is still called a ‘tun-tun’) was a big hit!  Phil and I both had to head to work for a bit, but we came home early to finish celebrating.  I picked up a big balloon bouquet on the way home and then Wil and I made m&ms cookies with icing together while Evie finished her nap.

We all headed out on a walk around the duck pond where he opened another present.

Then we finished the evening off by opening the rest of the presents and skyping with family.

Even though it wasnt a huge party – I think Wil had a freaking awesome day.

Hes getting more and more words (though we are still working on enunciation) and has been so much fun to hang out with recently!  I seriously love going to the store with him or just walking around the park. He points out everything and asks questions.  His favorite thing to do these days is catch bugs.  My friend Laurel got him a bug net and a bug cage – and we cant leave the house without it!  He gets a little nervous once we actually catch one and have it in the cage – he will look at it for a second – but like to release it immediately.    We are doing swim lessons this summer, which I thought was going to be an epic disaster given other recent attempts in the pool – but he actually doing really well!!  He still wont go under the water – but he starting to enjoy kicking and splashing.  It was supposed to be a Phil/Wil event on saturday mornings, but I had so much fun the first week that I have pushed my way in a  few weeks.  We have 3 other friends with little boys in the class, too.  Its quite a social event.

Wil is 3 feet 2in, and about 32 pounds – about 50% for everything, but pretty darn skinny!  He wears a mix of 2T and 3T items.  And the occasional 18month item!  Which is hilarious given Evie is nearly outgrown 18 month and is moving on to 24 month.  He was in some 3T shorts the other day and they were a bit big and he kept having to tug them up.  Well we were at the park, about a half mile from home, and all of a sudden Wil goes “I’m all done with these pants” and just took them off and started to run around in his underpants! haha.  We went home shortly after.  I’m not sure if Ive mentioned it before but Wil is almost 100% potty trained. I actually have an entire post about it sitting in my email-box, but figured the whole world didnt need to see it.  If any friends/family wants to read 1000 words on our potty training experience, just let me know.

He is starting to climb ladders at the park and hang on the monkey bars but we are still working on his balance bike that he got for his birthday.    Recently he has been really exciting about counting, especially with his fingers.  He knows how to get to 5  – but doesnt quite grasp moving to 6 with the other hand.  We also like making shapes and smiley faces.  If youve gotten a card from us recently, it most likely has a Wil smiley face!  He loves to build things – Hes getting better at building complete train tracks, and he loves building lego things.  And hes really into puzzles!!  He can put together entire (12 – 24 piece) melissa & doug puzzles!  Im totally impressed.  Phil and I have also reached the ‘spelling’ phase of our lives.  Especially words like ‘C-r-a-c-k-e-r-s’ and ‘B-u-b-b-l-e-s’.  If Wil hears certain words he loses his shit until he gets them, so its just easier to spell things.

I think we successfully made it out of the ‘terrible twos’ phase with Wil. His communication and mood is usually pretty stellar.  I LOVE my one-on-one time with him.  I look forward to taking him to the grocery store on the weekends –he helps me pick out apples and ‘find’ the milk.  I love drawing chalk outside while Evie finishes her nap – Along with his signature smiley faces, he loves to trace feet and hands and draw spaceships!  Wil is just so much fun!  I’m really excited for all the fun things to come in the next year.  Happy birthday, bud!  We love you!

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