Tub Buddies

A brief rundown of Wilder's bath friends. I call out their names, he picks them up and hands the to me. Example: "Wilder, where's elephant?" (Cue really horrendous elephant sound interpretation by Wilder's mom; sounds more like a whale giving birth). Wilder looks amused, locates elephant, hands to mom.


Various farm animals (dogs live on farms)

An assortment of ducks (or, if you're Wilder, "duck ducks")

Other various creatures, thriving and extinct

PS. The more I look at these, the more that frog in the background freaks me out. Who IS that guy and why is he staring so hard??)

Wilder: 18 months, going strong

Wilder turned 18 months old this past Wednesday. We celebrated with a doctor's visit and three shots. Worst. Birthday. Celebration. Ever.

Anyway, all joking aside, it was an OK day. He hated the shots, of course, but recovered nicely. Here's the stats:

WEIGHT: 27 lbs., 8 oz. (97th percentile)
HEIGHT: 34.75 inches (50-75th percentile for age; 25-50 for height)
HEAD: 49.5 cm (95-97th percentile)

TRANSLATION: Tall kid, skinny, huge head.

He doesn't actually look that skinny, though. Doc still calls him chunk and cracks jokes about her back breaking when she picks him up. Ha ... funny doc.

In other developments, the kid's growing brain continues to amaze me. He's learning words I'm not even trying to teach him. Moon (points to sky). Plane (points to sky). Bubble (points to place he just passed wind in the tub ... I kid, I kid). He's also learned the letters "A" (because it's first) and "W" (for Wilder). The latter comes out dubba-ooh. Cute. He loves bringing picture books over to me, climbing in my lap and having me quiz him on what's where. And, finally, he's a wrestler extraordinaire these days. We've got some mattresses in the living room currently (long story, but rest assured it's not marital discord), and of course they make an excellent place to assault one's parents when they're not paying attention.

OK, enough momming out on details. ; ) Below are some photos from yesterday. We planted some flowers and vegetables last weekend and have been doing a lot of watering. Wilder is OBSESSED with water. Puts his head right into the spray, sticks his head under dripping plants, etc. Not sure what this says about him. But he gets pretty soaked, so some photos below of that, plus some of him and Jer roughhousing on the living-room bed.

Love to all, k.

(If you click on this photo to make it bigger, you can see just how much water this kid actually has on him. Wilder=waterbaby)

Sealed with a kiss

Well, it only took 18 months and two days, but Wilder finally gave his mama a kiss today. Prior to this when I've asked for a kiss I was always offered a cheek. Today, he actually grabbed me by the head and planted one on my lips, replete with "mmmmwah!" sound. So cool. I also got plenty of big hugs with back pats. Don't know what came over him, but it was awesome.

Tomorrow I'll be posting his 18 month checkup stats and some pics.

Site design

So I've been messing around with the header here and colors and will probably continue at it for awhile. Not sure I like the new header, but feel free to comment. I'd love to hear it, even if you hate it. Seriously.

Also, we've changed the name of this blog to Wilder's World. Because, really, that's what it's all about. The blog, that is. ; )

In the no

For quite a while now, Wilder has loved saying "no." Sometimes it's one nice staccato syllable: "NO!!" Sometimes it's a rat-a-tat-tat of "nos" -- "no.no.no.no!" But not until recently has he discovered what it actually means. Now, if he really means "no," he'll stick a "y" in there. "Nyyyooooooo!"

I can only imagine what this is like for a toddler; this dawn of comprehension that you have choices in this world. It seems such a unbelievable discovery that he cannot help but say "no" to everything.

"Wilder, ready for your nap?"
"No!"

"Wilder, try a bite of spinach?"
"Nyyooo!"

"Wilder, give mama a hug?"
"nonononono."

"Wilder, want all the sugar you can possibly fit in your gullet?"
"No?"

Sometimes this is amusing, sometimes annoying, sometimes heartbreaking. But no matter what, it always gives me a little pinch of pride to see my son using his noggin.

Goodbye Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut has died. What a loss for this world. Jerry alerted me to this quote, which pretty much says it all about the man:

"Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies: 'God damn it, you've got to be kind.'" -- Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Backyard fun

A few photos from our afternoon in the back yard yesterday (click on the photo -- these were posted using Picasa Web Albums, and thanks to Melocha for alerting me to how cool these are):

Backyard Fun

A new obsession?

I was in here doing some blogging (see "Wilder's Favorites" at right) when I noticed Wilder, who'd been watching a little "Wow Wow Wubbzy" had gotten strangely quiet. I realized he'd left the room.

Where did I find him? Flat on his stomach on the floor in our bedroom, head turned, looking inquisitively under the bed for Nyet, or -- as my friend Brenda dubbed her, Princess Fraidy Cat. She's our GhostKitty, darting furtively around the house, avoiding Jerry and Wilder mostly (she likes girls and dogs).

Wilder has become fascinated with her. She's like his Own Personal Holy Grail of Toddlerhood. If he could just catch her (he never will), she might just reveal the secret of life. Or at least the secret to 24-hour sugar buzzes and trike rides.

I am boy ... hear me roar!

Wanted to do a quick post before work. Wilder still sometimes, though rarely, gets mistaken for a girl. A woman walked by the house a couple weeks ago, smiled at him, stopped and asked: "Is that a girl?" Nope, I assured her, a boy. "He's too pretty to be a boy!" she said.

Perhaps this gave Wilder a complex because, lately, he seems out to prove how tough and rugged he is. His new favorite toys? Cars. You can surround the kid with finger paints, crayons, sidewalk chalk and all manner of other tantalizing kiddie delights and what will he do? Pick up his cars, move the nearest semi-flat surface and start driving away. He's even taken to taking a car to daycare. Much to Jerry's consternation (Papa takes him to daycare in the a.m.), he tries to "drive" it from the front steps to Jerry's car. It can take awhile.

Yesterday, while I spread out butcher paper and got down to the business of painting and drawing on it (hey, someone had to make sure that stuff wasn't wasted -- my kid was into his cars!), Wilder picked up two of his vehicles and, one in each tightly clenched fist, started making his way down the front walk. He slipped, went down on his chest and -- lo and behold! -- we got our first "boo boo." He made a face like, "I'm gonna howl ..." I waited a beat. Two beats. Three beats. "You OK?" I asked non-chalantly. No crying. See ... tough, rugged Wilder. Pretty boy his big Fred-Flinstonesque foot! Here's a photo of the scrape.

He also did get into the paints for awhile, as the photos below attest to. But, rather than delicately spread them around, he went nuts, not only painting with his hands, but walking through the paint. Crawling through it. I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd performed a Jet-Lee style martial arts roll through it. Alas, he can't even skip yet (I've been trying to teach him and a it's hilarious to watch him try).

One more story. This morning, I awoke and decided to make an effort with my work appearance. Normally, I'm all jeans and, on a good day, a button-down shirt. Today I put on a black dress, makeup, made my hair look like I put some effort into it. I emerged from this business to Wilder eating breakfast. I didn't warrant a glance for quite some time. But, as I picked him up so his Pop could put a new bandaid on his elbow, I looked over to my left to hold his arm steady. And what should I find nestled delicately on my shoulder? A Wilder booger. Yep, on the one day I decide to look like anything but a haggard mother of a toddler, that little turd decides to booger me up.

He might be all rough & tumble these days, but he's proven to have an excellent sense of humor as well.

Easter Egg Hunt Part I

Make that two rites of passage in one day! Wilder had his first Easter egg hunt tonight at our friends' Jeff and Ginger's house. Their son, Micah, and Wilder had quite a time together. Here are some shots, in no particular order:

Jeff and Jer strike a manly pose.

Looking in the bushes ... not bad for a first-time egg hunter.

Wilder gets attached by a confetti egg (Jerry has switched to sepia pics at this point).

How many adults does it take to instruct a toddler in egg-hunting?

Kris and Ginger pause for a photo.

What a cute pair of boys.

Getting into the swing of things with Papa.

Wilder finds his very-first ever Easter egg. Woohoo!!

Give me that egg!

The Great Egg Hunters

Helping my boy find the Easter booty!

Weather permitting, we're planning on having another hunt at our house in the morning. Stay tuned for more photos ...

Haircuts and Mayhem

Today Wilder experienced a toddler's rite of passage: his first real haircut. He was mostly unimpressed, and only fussed a little when the girl cutting his hair messed with his bangs. I took that as a sign that he does not want a mullet, so I told him as long as he eats his vegetables and is always sweet to his mama, I won't let him look like the second coming of Billy Ray Cyrus. At any rate, he did great and even got a few neck nuzzles from the sweet young thing who cut his hair. She was named Ashley had hot pink streaks in her own hair and there was a guy sportin' a real-deal mohawk greeting people at the door. Joan Jett screamed "I Hate Myself For Loving You" over the speakers. These are things I want to remember.

So, because Wilder did so well and didn't wrestle with the scissors-wielder or kick and scream and generally have a come-apart, I figured he deserved a "thanks for not embarrassing your mom in public" treat. We went to TCBY and I ordered the only thing that sounded like it would fun for a toddler to smear all over his whole toddler-body: Rainbow Cream. It had a lot of different colors in it, but, as you can see from the photos, mostly blue. I gave him two spoons and total control. He took his time and the whole experience elicited many head shakes from his father while I couldn't take the sh*t-eating grin off my face.

Anyway, some pics below: from the barbershop, in mid-rainbow cream mode, in the tub afterward and, of course, looking fresh as a daisy post-bath with his new 'do. There's not much difference ... I couldn't bear to cut his curls, but he still looks handsome as all get out.


Sitting stoically at the beginning.

Checking out the two flat-screen TVs (pure boy).

Before the Rainbow Cream experience got messy.

There ya go kiddo! Now you're getting into it!

Mama and Wilder a la Braveheart.

"Look mama, my dino matches my face!"

Oh so handsome!

I'm so proud of my boy ...

And, two bonus photos from the past couple weeks that I just liked:

To start, a pic of Wilder experiencing his first real snowfall. We went up to Evergreen, Colo., to visit some friends and it snowed 5" there that day. We hung out on my buddy Scotty's deck for a bit, and Wilder seemed alternately perplexed and delighted by the snow. Hopefully more Colorado photos TK when I can get them off my brother's computer (hint, Jay, hint ;-) ...)

Not much else going on. Wilder and I are home today. Kiddo has a bad cold and double-pink eye. Actually he's better today (just put him down after a couple straight hours of wrestling and dancing and rolling around the house), but we didn't want to take a chance on him infecting all the other daycare kids. Took him to the doc yesterday morning and weighed him for the first time in a couple months. 29.5 lbs. Still wee to me but not compared to most kids his age. They checked his oxygenation, his throat, his ears and hooked him up to a nebulizer to get him breathing better. Apparently, for a toddler, this is TORTURE, and it was like trying to wrestle a baby alligator. It took three grown adults to get that nebulizer on him.

It's pretty amazing watching him these days. Out of nowhere he's suddenly pushing his toys around the house, steering them and turning corners with ease. Jumping up and down and perfecting a little WilderDance (four stomps of right foot followed by a twirl). His new favorite game is running at me or Jer when we're sitting on the floor with his arms outstretched, pushing us onto our backs, sitting on us and bouncing up and down. It's fun, of course, but the brute force of his near-30 lbs. on a belly or in the form of a chest compression sometimes leaves me alternately laughing and groaning.

Took him to an Irish pub on Friday. He stood in front of the Celtic band doing his little jig and tried to bumrush the stage about five times. We finally had to drag him out before he got up there and upset a fiddle player.

It's greening up considerably here in Dallas and making for nice days, which translates into a lot of time outside. He loves to be pushed up and down the block on his trike, the faster the better. Jerry pushes and I run beside, which for some reason delights him to no end. Mama running? Hilarious. Must mean I need to get back in shape.

Anyway, just wanted to give a little update since I hadn't in so long. I'll try to post some more pics here soon.