sweet boys reading together

Sharing a book...

reading together...

teaching each other.

Now that Wyatt is two...

I copied this list from a post I did about Oliver when he was two. I guess the link to the checklist doesn't work anymore but here's the list:

Yes! - Walks by him/herself


Yes! - Stands up from middle of floor without help

Yes! - Turns page of a cardboard book

Yes! - Shows a toy, body part, and/or clothing item when asked

Yes! - May say two or more words meaningfully and also uses gestures to communicate

Yes! - Jabbers expressively and imitates words inexactly

Yes! - Likes an audience; imitates ball play and other social games
Yes! - Chews most foods well; may want to feed self with spoon and drink from cup, with many spills

Yes! - Walks up stairs with one hand held, and creeps backwards downstairs (Wyatt walks down stairs like a big person)

Yes! - Likes to climb on, push and pull large objects or toys

Yes! - Stacks three or four objects

Yes! - May say five to ten words (a lot more than that!!)

Yes! - Points to one or more pictures in a book on request (one of his favorite games)

Yes! - Follows a series of directions, e.g., "pick up the book and bring it to me."
Yes! - Points to several body parts on self or doll (ALL of them!)

Yes! - Uses spoon and cup with little spilling

Yes! - Places edibles in mouth

Yes! - Able to run

Yes! - Begin jumping during play

Yes! - Completes simple three piece puzzle

Yes! - Sometimes uses two-word sentence, e.g., "more juice" or "bye-bye mommy." (he uses 4- and 5-word sentences)
Yes! - Imitates simple words immediately
Yes! - Follows directions easily
Yes! - Occasionally plays near but not usually with other children (he plays with other children all the time, especially Oliver. They love playing superheroes and often use teamwork to save the day)

Yes! - Likes to help a parent - imitates household chores

Yes! - Can undress completely, except for fasteners (and quite often does, much to my dismay)

Yes! - Temper tantrums may begin because of strong need for independence (so much worse than Oliver ever did


He can also count to twelve. He usually forgets four.

He says please, thank you and you're welcome. So polite!

He's not shy at all and will talk to anyone. He jumps right into new situations and loves meeting people.
He uses the potty all day long. Most of the time he just goes on his own and doesn't tell me. He's very independent! We're still using training pants at night.
His bedtime routine is bath, brush teeth then climb in bed. He doesn't want/need snuggled like Oliver did at that age (and still prefers). He rolls over and snuggles his dog or kitty and goes right to sleep most times. He does like to have someone nearby, though, so I usually sit on the edge of his bed until he's asleep. He still comes into my bed during the night but later and later so now it's usually between 3 and 5.
He's doing really well with colors, too. He knows red, yellow, blue, orange, green, purple, pink, gray, white, black. He has a bit of trouble with red sometimes, he calls it yellow.
He knows lots of shapes and is getting really good at the shape sorter and puzzles. He knows square, circle, triangle, heart, oval, rectangle, star, and diamond.
 
Wyatt had his 2 year checkup a few weeks ago and he was in the 20% for weight and the 70% for height. He's tall and skinny! He's a finicky eater. Not because he doesn't like food but because if he doesn't feel like eating, or doesn't feel like eating what I made then he just doesn't eat. There are things he'll eat one day but won't touch the next. I don't get him, but I guess he gets enough because he's just full of energy all the time.
 
So that's my little dude. He's an energetic, outgoing, smart and happy little boy!

how Oliver earns his allowance...

He loads the dishwasher (seriously! I handed him the dishes and he put them in!)

and he's so HAPPY about it. I don't know if he realizes that it's work.

he washes up the table...

and he vacuums the living room. I have to help him get out of corners sometimes but he vacuums the living room and hall.

is that a COON?

It IS a coon - out in daylight. Jasper kept barking and barking and finally I went out to see what he was so upset about (since he wouldn't come in the house) and this is what I found. The poor little guy only had one eye and he was kind of stuck on the fence. I don't know why he didn't go down the other side but Jasper was keeping him there very well. He was making cute little chirping noises but when I got close enough to get Jasper away he growled at me. Anyway, I got Jasper away from him and when I looked back he was gone.

The boys are ready for Fall

Look at these handsome boys! We went out shopping last week and these are a few of the things we ended up with. The boys like wearing coordinated shirts, but not matching ones. I have tried to get them a few like these (same shirt, different color) so that when we're out I'll be able to keep track of them more easily. Anyway, they look absolutely adorable! They kept posing in front of the door, even after I was done taking pictures. They were giggling and pushing each other to try to get the other ones' rectangle (see them on the door?).

Oliver was being a robot in this picture, that's why his arms are down by his sides like that. He does this ALL THE TIME.

Oliver is so big now. He's sso thoughtful and a wonderful helper.

Wyatt is full of personality. He's always on the go and he's ALWAYS smiling!

words Oliver can read in a story

Look
See
Jump
Jane
Dick
Spot
Puff
and
can
not
here
come
down
mother
help
go
away
play
baby

I'm very impressed!! We checked out "Go Away, Spot" (a dick and jane reader) from the library and Oliver is getting a lot better at sounding out words and figuring out sentences. So much so that I went out and got him his own Dick and Jane reader today.

Wyatt's first haircut

We took Wyatt for his first haircut on Thursday, August 19th.
He wouldn't sit in the barber chair but he sat really well on Bob's lap.
The barber snipped and snipped and pretty soon all his beautiful little curls were gone.
Without his floppy hair he transformed from a baby to a little boy. What a handsome boy, too!

Maryland...

Oliver making faces at Ilona. She would smile and wiggle when he did it. He really got a kick out of it. It looks like Anni was pretty amused, too.

This was just a random shot but I really like the way it turned out. He looks very pensive.

Digits and Wyatt sitting together. It looks like they're having a very serious discussion.

more from Maryland...

craziest looking chicken ever...it looks like a Muppet.

The boys with papa bear.

the dish ran away with the spoon...or the Wyatt ran away with the Oliver

I'm sure this little boat had a name but I either didn't see it or don't remember. What I do remember is that it was right outside the merry millllllerrrrr's house. CREEPY! The boys liked the boat, though, and pretended to drive it.

Pictures from Maryland

I can't believe I forgot to post these pictures. The boys and I had such a great time visiting Digits, Anni and Ilona.
This first picture is the one good one out of about 15 I took.

Oliver with Ilona.

We went to a little petting zoo and Oliver fed the goats. He thought it was funny that they licked his hand.

There was one little goat that was outside the fence and Oliver tried to make friends with him. The house in the background is the three little pigs house. There were all three (sticks, straw and brick). There were also lots of other fairy tale and nursery rhyme things.

I'm glad I took a break...

I was cleaning today. My to-do list is a mile long and I'm behind on dishes and laundry and just about everything else. As I was folding clothes from the third load of laundry I'd done today I heard giggling from the bedroom. I went back to see what was going on - the laundry can wait. I'm glad I did! The boys had made a spaceship out of pillows and they were just getting ready to blast off. The boppy pillows are their seat belts and they are both driving. We flew to the moon and the Oliver explained how his space suit has a string on it so he won't float away. Then he showed me how astronauts walk on the moon - by jumping everywhere he went. We finally came back to Earth but the trip was so much fun.

The laundry was waiting for me when I came back and lunch still had to be made. It put us behind on naptime. I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

Adventures at Second Creek...

Wyatt wet head

Oliver searches for snails and crawdads

brave boys on an adventure

Wyatt splash

Adventures at Second Creek!

We took the boys down to the river and let them loose. At first Wyatt was afraid of whatever algae or plant was growing on the rocks. It looked like hair and it was fairly long and slippery. He didn't like it one bit! After a while, though, he got used to it and he was off right beside Oliver. They splashed and threw rocks and chased Crawdads. What a fun time they had!!

What is it with boys? get your FINGER out of your NOSE!!

more fun in Lewisburg...

Mammaw all dressed up for church. What a lovely hostess she was! She cooked some fantastic meals (one of which I learned how to make) and kept the boys entertained.

The only good picture (out of about 30 or 40) of all the kids.

All the Walkup boys (that were at the house at that time). 4 generations!!