Category: Family

You in your birthday crown from school

My Sweet Wilson,

Wow, what a year! Honestly it’s just a blur and I feel like I hardly remember any of it. I really feel like I should be pulling into the driveway of our old house, laying you down for your nap in your bed in your old room, scrambling to get the house ready for your 3 year old birthday halloween carnival party, and then waking you up just in time to meet your guests (and be the only one not wearing a costume!). Because after that it just gets really hazy.

We began the flinging of all our stuff into boxes, the unflinging into our new house, painting as much as could be painted before purchasing what seemed to be the last Christmas tree on the lot, and then shoving all the Christmas decorations back into the closet so that we wouldn’t trip over them coming back into the house with your new baby sister. From there it seems like more of just a time warp.

I keep waiting for the moment that I’m going to take a walk with you on your new tricycle or read a story to you in your new tent and then I realize those things are no longer “new” and that it really has been A WHOLE YEAR since they were. You’ve moved on and grown more.

You still love your tent and tricycle, you’re just able to love them with me on the side line now. We go weeks without the mention of Lion- he’s been replaced with Rocko the dog (who’s currently taking a back seat to Pluto). A few weeks before we moved you became fascinated with this stuffed dog that you’ve had since birth, named him Rocko, and he’s stayed at your side ever since. When school started this year, you ran right into Mrs. Angie’s room to meet her completely thrilled about your new room and teacher, no apprehension what so ever. You no longer insist on me walking you to your class anymore like you did last year- you happily hop out of the car each morning and run to your room from the carpool line. Many mornings I wake up to you rumbling around in the kitchen, feeding the dog, letting him out and then giving him a treat when he comes back in. I’ll walk out later to find you hanging out in the playroom watching cartoons. You’ve become quite skilled at playing Mario Kart on our Wii and enjoying trying to beat dad (and sometimes do!). You’ve impressed us with your ability to memorize scripture and have begun to apply them, a little.

(Quick story- We have been reading through Susan Hunt’s Bible Verse ABC’s repeatedly and you’ve memorized most of the 26 verses. I left you and Miller with Daddy for the day while I went out of town for a baby shower. While I was putting you to bed the night before I left I began an attempt to bribe you for super duper good behavior and for being helpful to Dad while I was gone. I told you that I was going to call him on my way home and if you’d been good, I’d stop and get you a surprise. “Please, please, please be sweet and help Daddy with Miller, and just be as sweet and good as you can”. We read books and said prayers. As I was leaving I said, “Okay tomorrow if your tempted to say or do something ugly to Daddy, what are you going to remember?” I’m expecting “be nice and I’ll get a surprise”. To my surprise you reply “A soft answer turns away wrath, Proverbs 15:1.” Fine, will go with your answer!)

You’ve recently gone through the triple threat (see later post) with very few tears and I’m beginning to fear we’re getting close to the little boy doesn’t need mamma point.

However, I do have to remind myself that as independent as you have become (inspite of yourself) you still do come running for mom a good bit. I think maybe as Miller is starting to move into “your territory” you’re as scared of loosing it as I am of you not needing anymore! You often ask for me to feed you, you’re still very fearful of the unknown and want to know all that you can about everything before trying it (holding our hands the whole way of course) but then you usually want to go back and do whatever it was on your own as many times as possible. You’re very careful about what toys of your’s Miller is allowed to play with (often siting small pieces that MAY come off IF she chews on them as choking hazards, knowing that’s a hole in one for not having to share). I’m not sure why, but your latest concerns are about Heaven. Sweet boy, I’m afraid there’s just no way for us to give you a dry run on that one. You’re just going to have to learn, along with Mom and Dad, to trust that God has got a wonderful spot for all of us there!

We ended your 4th year here with a trip to Disney World (maybe that’s where all the Heaven questions are coming from!?) And what a great time we all had. We drove and you didn’t sleep a wink down or back! You were a trooper on the car ride and did well at the parks. It took a few days for you to really get into the swing of things, but when you did, oh what fun! Your favorite rides included Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and the Haunted Mansion- a big GO FIGURE on all of those. You were very leary of any ride that took place inside (like ALL the little kid rides) becuase you could not see what was going to happen. However, you begged to go on Splash and loved every minuted and inch of the 52′ drop! You are daily planning our next trip with Miller (which will not occur until she too reaches at least the 4 year mark so it should be quite an organized excursion!) When we got home we had your birthday party on Halloween on the playground at your preschool with all your school friends as well as a couple of church pals. You got tons of great gear including dinosaurs, trucks, books, and, of course, Cars!

I love you to the moon and back, Baby,

Mamma.

Playing with some of your b’day dinosaurs while wearing your crown in our backyard

You, Nathan, and John Clark eating lunch at your party

Your cake- it looks just like the invites to your party

And with one little blow, we’re on our way to FIVE!

Video from your actual birthday at the Animal Kingdom in Disney World.

Crawling

(taken earlier this week)

Otherwise known as the triple threat for Wilson. In order to make it to his 4th birthday he had to meet each one’s challenge. I must say- he passed with mostly flying colors. Each of these trips in the past has been met with screams yet to be heard on earth over mundane grooming tasks. But he made it through them all, only crying about getting his finger pricked (Miller had her check up that day, too. She just looked at the nurse when her finger was pricked- should have let her go first!) “I like doctor Ellison- he’s pretty nice!” “I like that new dentist- she’s pretty good” “I got my haircut, and I didn’t even cry at all.”

I was so overwhelmed by his behaivior at the dentist that I took pictures! This is our new pediatric dentist- who wouldn’t love a woman with this kind of train table in her office!

Miller also had a great time- she even let the dentist poke around in her head, too!

Okay, so she’ll be 10 months in less than a week, but here’s her real 9 month video. I made it while on hold with a lovely little outfit you all know as the I-R-S. Of course I was on hold for half an hour before I finally thought of something constructive to do with the time. I get well into the video and they come back- so it just sort of ends. Oh well. We love you Miller, Happy 9 months!

Following is a post I was creating live and minute by minute during a squirrel hunt about a month ago. I never could get the videos to load, so I never got this post published. There’s been a lot of activity since then (ergo the post a few back where I give a very brief update), so I’ll complete the saga (I know you’ve all been hanging on by thread to hear the end) . . .

What has lots of teeth, two tails, black and brown spots and is a little, okay a lot, crazy? Jack AND Tate trying to get a squirrel in the wall! That’s right it’s baaaaack!

They are currently hanging out outside while Phil devises a plan to get the rodent out. So far it’s involved the pellet gun and removing the plate from the wall from the original invasion. The squirrel was not in that section of the wall this time. Jack was the first on the scene, he’s more familiar with the sound of course. Tate came in for back up and just went to town. Tate has got a thirst for blood like no untrained, non-hunting, lap dog I’ve ever seen. I spent the better part of two afternoons last week cleaning HUMMING BIRD blood off the ceiling of my parent’s house (they left town for a few weeks, I went to pick Tate up so he wouldn’t starve while they’re gone, and this is what I’m greeted with- how high and how fast did that dog have to just to catch a HUMMING BIRD!? At first I couldn’t find their ladder so I went to ask the man across the street for one- he loaned me something that resembled a ladder. It was held together by a vine that had crept onto it while being stored safely in the yard and paint drips from previous projects. I returned, um, that and came back the next day with my own. But, again, I digress . . .) The dogs had to go out because Tate was well on his way to chewing through the wall board.

The current plan is that Phil has cut a very tiny hole in the wall where we think the intruder is. He’s stuffed it with a cotton ball coated in peanut butter. He’s planning to shoot when he sees movement on the cotton . . . I’ll let you know how that turns out. Why do I think I’m going to wake up to a bed full of squirrel babies in the morning?

For bonus points . . . What’s almost four, wears Halloween pajamas, and is STILL awake narrating the whole thing?

So now, the rest of the story.

I woke up that morning at about 3 am to Phil running around with his pellet gun. I asked what was going on. He said “it” was trying to get a snack. I asked what it was. He said he thought a rat. So he went in to shoot it while it ate. It fell to the floor (on the inside of the wall). So, another hole has to be cut to remove the rat. The rat turns out to be a FLYING SQUIRREL. He was not the only carcass in the wall, either. There was a skeleton in there.

We go to be the next night and wake up to more scratching in the wall. Phil takes Tate in the laundry room and this time is sounds like it’s coming from the hole that the critter man cut. Phil peels back the flashing and Tate sticks his head in. Tate gently removes the old piece of drywall that had fallen in to get it out of his way. He places it on the ground and goes back in. He starts pulling and tugging and out he comes with a mouth full of, you guessed it, a flying squirrel sibling. We go to bed. And we go to bed with nothing for a few more nights.

But the story doesn’t end here. One night as we’re going to bed Jack is going nuts around the door and windows in our bedroom that look into my studio. We check everything out, see nothing, and send him to bed. He spent the next day at the vet, but when we were getting ready for bed the next night he starts all over again dancing and jumping around the window. We’ve had it and send him to his bed. I’m awoken at about 1am to him huffing and puffing at the door again. I turn on the light and think maybe he’s seeing the reflection of our fan in the glass of the door so I hold him up so he can see there’s NOTHING. He won’t stop acting crazy so I decide to shut him out in my studio and close the curtains so he can’t see in. As I’m getting back into bed I take one look back at the windows and notice a small blob on the curtain rod. I don’t have my contacts in, but I know this blob is NOT supposed to be there. “Phil there IS something over there.” He gets a broom and I go in the bathroom, shut the door, climb up on the counter, and wait. The next thing I know a super shrilled shriek is coming from my room and then there’s the sounds of a dog/squirrel chase. Jack gets a mouth full of flying squirrel sibling #3! I’m still recovering from the fact that it was in our room for over 24 hours and that it probably hung Mission Impossible style over our heads in the back hall as it scampered from the laundry room in to ours. I’m not sure Jack will ever recover from it . . .