Mr. Wyatt

Wyatt is talking more and more lately.  I have officially lost any way to count the new words he's saying.  He's now into short sentences.  A few examples: 

"Mama hair hurt."  (when he pulled my hair)
"Ear hurt."  (ear infection)
"Daddy home."
"Mama work."
"Sister eat."
"Go Green!  Go White!"
"Hotty Toddy, Daddy"
"Tar . . . HEELS!"

There are many others, but these are the ones we've noticed in the last day or so.  (He's very well rounded in his SEC, ACC, and Big Ten sports.)  Wyatt is also showing some fear of certain things right now including bears.  He does not like it when we get to the end of the Bear Hunt story and the family finds the bear in the cave.  Last night during dinner, we heard a little noise in the house.  Everyone kind of perked up to listen to it.  Wyatt said, "Bear?"  He seemed ok with that, so I said, "Shhh, listen.  Is that a bear?  Where's the bear?"  Before long, he was turning his head sideways and saying, "No bear. No bear. No bear."  Greta intervened and said, "Don't worry, Wyatt, we're just pretending.  There is no bear!"  But at the mention of the word bear again, Wyatt broke down and sobbed.  Wailed, in fact.  He was terrified.  Greta then began to cry and we all had to have a group hug while they both sat on my lap for the rest of dinner.  It is very sweet how they each sympathize with the other. 

Wyatt has just about kicked his biting habit, we think.  One day a few weeks back, he was both bitten himself and had bitten another child during one school day.  But now he says, "No bite!  Not nice!" as he is about to gnaw on your arm.  It's progress. 

This little boy continues to be funny, silly, and lately - - grumpy!  Yep folks, he's about to be two and it SHOWS!  I did not add it to the list above, but his all-time favorite word is "NO!" and he practices it all the time.  Literally practices it.  As we drive down the road, Wyatt sits in his car seat saying, "No, NO, no? No!  NO!!  no." in all kinds of variations and inflections.  Paul and I think he's trying out new ways to get the point across.  We get it, Wyatt. Most mornings when he wakes up he instantly puts his hand out, points to the kitchen, says "juice" and then throws in a "no" for good measure.  If I even THINK about changing his diaper prior to breakfasst, he loses his mind.  This boy is very single minded at times. 

I could write and write, but I wanted to get this much down since it will only be true for about a week and then he'll move on to something else. New phases.  New fears and complexities.  Gotta record it while I have a moment.  These moments seem to go too quickly.