A Giving Heart

I’ve been learning a lot from my almost 5-year-old lately. This year his birthday party choices are either to do a small home birthday party with 3-4 friends or a huge jumping party at the local inflatable gym. It seems that my busy schedule has helped our decision be the latter, since if you pay someone enough, they will do the party for you. Not that Wyatt is complaining. The only caveat is that since he’s inviting close to 20 friends and cousins, we are asking for no gifts, but for a donation to a charitable organization. I wish I would have taped the look of horror that crossed Wyatt’s face when we first discussed it. My feelings tipped back and forth from, “Are we forcing this on him? Is that OK? Is he too young to understand why we’re doing this?” to, “Wouldn’t he have so much fun opening gifts? Should I just clean out his room and let him have a boat-load of gifts?”

Wyatt answered the questions himself. He’s been really interested in Haiti. In fact, geography is his current obsession, so we regularly discuss current events at his level and look for places on the map. He’s really concerned about the people of Haiti. He helped me look up the website to donate some funds and wanted to make sure that we were not going to hand deliver it ourselves. I talked to him about some possible uses for the money and that there are children there who don’t have parents and need all the things parents can provide. After a few minutes he came to me and said that he thought it would be OK to share his room and his toys with a boy (not a girl) from Haiti. Specifically, he said, “He can have my Lightnin’ McQueen blow up bed and then when Jesus makes his parents alive again, he can go back to live with them.”

He might not understand the intricacies yet, but his little heart is in the right place. I think his birthday party will be just fine...

Early Riser

We're blessed to have a child that sleeps usually through the night for about 10-12 hours so I am REALLY not allowed to complain. BUT, occassionally he wakes up at the crack of dawn. He comes in to my side of the bed and stares at me, sighs, breathes loudly (while I pretend I don't notice) and finally sticks his face on mine. Even if it's early, it is quite adorable. I love that it's been cold lately, too, because he will often want to "snuggle" in bed for a while. He's such a lovey, huggy, kissy guy...He still blows me kisses as I drop him off at preschool and runs up to hug me when I pick him up...I just hope it lasts!

Our very own "ghost" friend

As an educator and someone relatively informed in childhood development, I've always thought imaginary friends to be healthy and somewhat cute. Now that Wyatt has one, it is a little more difficult to grasp. I understand the concept, but seeing him actually talk to his friend...full-on conversations...is a little unnerving to me. He calls her his "ghost friend" and her name is Isabella.

Here's what one of the Doctors from that TV show The Drs. had to say recently:

“In terms of imaginary friends, they’re actually a good thing,” Dr. Jim says. “It’s a sign of a good imagination and it’s a sign of intelligence. But I recommend to parents, get to know your child’s imaginary friend.”

Dr. Jim explains that by getting to know the made-up playmate, parents can gain insight into their child’s feelings. To do so, he recommends asking questions such as what he or she looks and acts like.

Dr. Jim also advises holding the child accountable if he or she does something wrong and blames the invented sidekick by explaining that they are still responsible for the friend’s actions.

Wyatt has yet to try to blame anything on Isabella. If he does...I'll be ready!

This is currently Wyatt's favorite picture of himself. Looks like he's seen a ghost, perhaps?

Our Little Poser

I asked Wyatt to pose for a few fall pictures at St. Edward State Park a couple weeks back (before the rain) and he really did! OK, so I bribed him with lunch at a certain fast food restaurant, but I was still very happy with him. The best pic will be our Christmas card, but here are a few others and a few that are uniquely Wyatt. He makes the silliest faces!

Party Suit

(Warning: I apologize that the following story may fleetingly conjure in your minds an image of me (Paul) in the buff.) A few weeks ago Wyatt and his friend were changing from their wet swimsuits back into dry clothes. Wyatt has recently developed a bit of shyness in the naked department--his days of running up and down the hallway completely naked and screaming may be over. So while changing on this particular day, he tried (unsuccessfully) to hide underneath his towel. After a few minutes, he peeked surreptitiously to see where his friend was in his undressing. Seeing his friend sans clothes, Wy said, "Naked!" and then laughed. I then said that he was wearing his birthday suit, which prompted Wy to go into unending question mode. ("Why?" is Wyatt's current favorite word.) I tried to explain why it was called a birthday suit, saying something about the fact that we are naked on the day we are born and it's just a silly thing to say. Later that day, Wyatt walked in the bedroom after I had just emerged from the shower. Wyatt smiled and sheepishly exclaimed, "Dad, I see your party suit!" He now says it all the time when he is naked or he sees one of us naked. We've never corrected him because it's so dang funny.

I just hope he doesn't grow up to be one of those people on that episode of This American Life who ridiculously believe something that just isn't true. You know, like the girl who went to college not knowing whether unicorns are endangered or extinct.

My Boys

Father's day was fun this year because Wyatt really understood that he was doing everything for Daddy. He woke me up early with a loud whisper in my ear, "Mommy...special breakfast!!" We made cinnamon rolls and fruit salad and brought it to Paul in bed. Wyatt made his a special acrylic painting with DAD letters on the top. I gave him a John Updike short story collection.

At church, Wyatt sang with the primary kids, I'm so Glad When Daddy Comes Home. He knew every word and blew the cutest double hand kiss. Paul whispered, "I wish we could've videotaped that." It was very precious.

Wy's Wind Chime

One of our preschool moms came in and did this great craft with the students last week. I brought a kit home to do with Wyatt. He was very proud of himself. It has been very breezy the past few days and I can often hear the wind chime outside working away.

Start saving those metal lids!