Life of Wilder: Week Thirty-Five

 Next week you can look forward to the unveiling 

of a new weekly picture format for sure... 

This just is not happening anymore

We've had a rollercoaster kind of week around here. I'll tell you all about it shortly, but let me start off by saying, like I say every month... I can't believe Wilder is 8 months old! Time is flying... he's growing up too fast... yada yada yada. I'm now getting to the point where, though the months still feel like they are flying by, I kind of expect it and have come to accept that time, no matter how much I beg or demand, will obstinately not stand still. I'm just going to have to try to live in the moment every minute of every day and take as many pictures as possible so I can always remember all the important (and even unimportant) details of this special time with my beautiful son. 

A blog that I read called Ostriches Look Funny and Other Observations had a good post this week about appreciating every day, even the bad ones. And man, did we have a bad one this week. Probably, no definitely, the worst one we've had so far. Wilder has not been sick one day in all of his 8 months -- no colds, fevers, ear infections, nothing -- until this Tuesday, the poor little guy's 8-month birthday of all days. He woke up early Tuesday morning with a fever that didn't relent for 24 hours. He wasn't sick so the only thing I can figure is that he was teething really hard. It scared me so bad though and of course I called our doctor at 5:00 in the morning so they could reassure me that he was probably just teething. He felt awful and was SO irritable all of Tuesday and I pretty much held him all day because if anything so much as brushed up against him he would totally lose it. It was exhausting for all of us and I felt so sorry for him. It's so true that when they hurt, you hurt. Poor little dude, I cringe just thinking about his hot little head and general pitifulness...

Not all firsts are fun firsts :(

The three days preceding and the three days following Tuesday were pretty great though. Life always has its ups and downs, I suppose. Without the bad times we wouldn't be able to fully appreciate the good times. I'm just thankful that, so far in Wilder's life, the "ups" have far outnumbered the "downs." So now let's talk about the "ups"...

Our good friends, Holly and Jacob, are back in San Diego after nearly a year of being gone with the Navy and we got together with them and their precious 3-year-old daughter on Saturday for a trip to the zoo. The last few times Wilder and I have been to the zoo we've gone with our dog park friend, Ashley, because she has a membership and can get us in for free. This time though Paul and I broke down and got a membership for ourselves. The zoo is such a nice place to stroll around in the shade and during the week it isn't very crowded so I feel like I'll be taking Wilder at least once a week now that we have our own membership. I'm really excited to be able to go whenever we want now. Anyway, we had a fun time catching up with Holly and Jacob and watching Reagan explore and check out all the animals. Wilder loved watching her every move. She was so busy I think he got worn out vicariously through her and he was totally knocked out by the time we left. 

Looking at the monkeys with Daddy

 A couple of good daddies :)

 Wilder was obsessed with the ducks this time.

He even spit out his paci into their pond for them.

 Reagan was so sweet with Wilder. Here

she is checking on him sleeping in the stroller.

 First family trip to the zoo. Probably should

have taken the picture beforehand since Wilder

was out like a light by this point.

On Sunday Paul had some reading to do for school so Wilder and I drove up to Carlsbad where Amber and Travis were camping with his family on the beach. Wilder loves being around his cousin Henry and, since they were so close to San Diego, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to hang out. By the time we got up there they were already back from the beach for the day but it was so relaxing just sitting in the RV, talking and watching the boys mess around on the floor. Wilder got to show off his new scooting skills for them and he loved sharing his snacks with his big cousin. 

On Monday Holly and Reagan invited us over to swim in their neighborhood pool. Wilder hadn't swum (that totally does not sound right, but I promise it's the correct tense, I looked it up) since we were in Tennessee a couple of months ago but it didn't take him long to remember how much he loved it. We were out there for about an hour and a half and he never stopped kicking his legs and splashing the whole time... until we tried to get it on video of course. He had the best time. We've been thinking about joining the YMCA and they have indoor and outdoor pools. I think we're just going to have to suck it up and do it because I really want to have somewhere close to take him to swim whenever we want. Plus they have baby swim classes that I want to join. I really think he's going to be a natural :)

How cute are they?! :)

The next day was the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. After surviving Wilder's first sick day we just hung around the house recuperating on Wednesday. His fever was gone and he seemed to feel better as you can see from the big grin he gave me that morning. I was so relieved to have my happy boy back! 

Thursday we went to a playgroup at Liberty Station. It was a good group with a lot of nice moms and other babies around Wilder's age and we had fun hanging out and playing in the sand. We live at the beach but Wilder had never actually played in the sand before so he had fun doing that.

I had to get a picture of this because he and 

this other little boy totally matched -- same

hats, green shirts, and gray shorts -- glad I made

it home with the right baby ;)

I can't wait for Wilder to be able to look 

at the camera and say "cheese" haha

In food news, I found a lot of Wilder's baby food on clearance at Target last week and I may have gone definitely went a little overboard stocking up on it. Of course, now that I have an abundance of it, he's starting to get tired of the mush. Since he's been eating a lot more finger foods I can tell he gets really impatient when I try to feed him the jarred purees. They just aren't as fun as feeding yourself and getting to chew up your food like a big boy. As far as finger foods go, Wilder has still been eating puffs and Mum-Mums like they're going out of style and now we've added these little Gerber cheese puff things and yogurt melts. I've also been giving him banana slices and soft-cooked broccoli florets, which he LOVES. Today I'm going to try him on some cooked egg yolks and maybe even start making him some egg yolk omelets with cheese and broccoli. I also found a recipe for some banana pancake bites that I can't wait to try. I know, I know, we're getting all fancy around here! Now that he's eating real food, it's so much fun to experiment and introduce him to new things. 

B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

 "I came, I ate, I conquered."

 "Mess? What mess?"

 "See my broccoli? It's right here. See?"

 One must first gently poke the broccoli

before gobbling it up

I've also been trying to introduce Wilder to the sippy cup. Since he's only taken a bottle a handful of times though, the concept of tipping the cup up and sucking the liquid out is proving difficult to grasp...

This way? No?

This way? No?

This way? Almost.

I have very exciting (to me) news to report this week... Wilder is finally interested in books! My inner book nerd rejoices! "'O, frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' [S]he chortled in [her] joy!" (Just showing off a little of my nerdiness there... Does anyone know what that's from?) He still doesn't really want me to read to him, but he loves for me to point things out to him on the pages and he will even sit there on his own and turn the pages and look at the images. 

This book is his favorite. It has a mirror on the

last page and he loves to look into it like he's 

looking into another world, kind of like Alice in

Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

(hint, hint on the above quote). 

He also loves this one. It's one that my parents

recorded for him and he will sit there and look

into the speaker holes to try to see who it is that's

reading to him. :)

He's still loving his bathtime. Even though, as part of his bedtime routine, it's supposed to calm and soothe him in preparation for sleeping, it's now turned into more of a playtime. He loves to splash around and explore the big tub and I have too much fun watching to stop him.

He has also become a much more adventurous scooter. This morning he ventured into the dogs' room to see what he could get into in there...

Well, I guess that's all for this week. I'll leave you with a couple of more cute pictures...

Poor Rider :)

His favorite place to be

OK, y'all have a wonderful weekend! If the banana pancake bites turn out any good I'll post the recipe for a Mid-Week Minute. I think they would be yummy for adults too. 

Life of Wilder: Week Thirty-Four

 The weekly picture-taking situation

has gotten dire, folks, but I'm too tired

to come up with a new format so I guess

we'll just keep going on this way until

my letters/numbers get smashed to 

oblivion like his mandarin oranges.

Ever since he started being able to move himself, Mr. Man here has gotten too big for his britches. This week has been spent picking up stuff Wilder has pulled out, taking stuff away or pulling him away from stuff that is dirty, sharp, heavy, or otherwise inadvisable to touch or be put in one's mouth, trying not to drop him when he lunges at things at random as I walk around the house, and trying to prevent him from rolling off the changing table or smashing his poopy diaper with his kicking legs when I'm changing him. People, the boy is wearing me out... but at the same time, he is just so fun and makes me so happy and I don't know what I'd ever do without him. I love to watch him explore and discover new things. He makes me smile countless times a day. His babbling is the sweetest thing I've ever heard and it's so fun to see his personality coming out, even if it does include some bullheadedness. 

Some new things about Wilder lately...

He is determined to pick up, touch, or put in his mouth anything he so chooses and, Lord help you, if you stand in his way or take it from him. If you're holding something, he wants to be holding it too. He loves anything on hinges and will open and close these things over and over and over.

He's started this new game where he will start at one end of his room and scoot his way across the floor picking up, inspecting, and tossing aside each and every toy in his path until he gets to the other side and then it's time to move on to the curtains or something. He is B-U-S-Y. He loves exploring all over the house and is always finding new interesting things to play with.

He loves peeking around or through stuff at us in a little peekaboo game. 

Every naptime now he knows that after I close the door it's time for him to turn off the light and he reaches over without me telling him and flips the switch. When we're in his room playing and I say "ball" to him he looks up at the globes hanging over his bed. He has really been practicing saying the word, too, and has gotten as far as "ba". Oh, and he dances. Oh my goodness, he starts doing this little head-bob/leg-kick thing when he hears music now and it totally cracks me up. 

He is so enjoying having Paul home more this summer. He absolutely adores his daddy and would ride around on his shoulders all day if he could. He never stops smiling when he's up there or really when Paul is around in general.

Watching the Women's World Cup with Daddy 

Trying to teach him to throw and roll the ball

 Watching the news in the morning

He loves going to the dog park and gets so excited watching the dogs run around. He knows which ones are our dogs and always keeps an eye on them. He is getting sooo heavy to carry in the Baby Bjorn though. The Grape Street Dog Park is five acres and I like to walk circles around it to get some exercise instead of just sitting on one of the benches or standing around. Wilder weighs 20 lbs though now so our park trips have turned into a complete resistance training workout. The Bjorn goes up to 25 lbs but I just can't imagine adding 5 more pounds to what I'm already doing. The other day I tried carrying him in one of our other carriers that you can wear on your back thinking that would make it easier, but it definitely did not, especially since he kept shifting his weight from one side to the other trying to see around me. I kept feeling like he was about to take me to the ground. It looked pretty cute though, kind of like a little baby backpack.

Wilder insists on carrying the thrower for me.

Needless to say, not a whole lot of ball-throwing 

occurs at the park unless I can trade him a poop

bag for it... no, not one with poop in it!

Oh, and speaking of being taken down to the ground, funny story... Posey is the laziest, most docile dog you will ever meet. She does nothing all day except sleep and eat and I am not exaggerating in the least. As you can see from this video, she could even be described as lethargic or sloth-like...

When we go to the dog park, she spends her time wandering around smelling things, creepily lurking around other dogs and then darting away when they try to sniff her butt, rolling in God-knows-what, and chewing on sticks. She really couldn't care less about chasing balls probably because Rider has that market totally cornered. But we can occasionally get her excited about fetching if we wave a stick or frisbee in front of her and toss it for her, at which time she goes absolutely berserk -- running crazily at it, running past it in her flurry of excitement, coming back and snatching it up, and then sprinting with it back toward us with a sudden delirious exhilaration. This is what occurred the other day at the park. 

Paul and I were walking with me carrying Wilder in the Bjorn and we happened upon an abandoned frisbee, which we threw for Posey. The maniacal chasing of the frisbee ensued and then she was headed back toward us faster than a speeding bullet so proud of her successful fetch and simultaneously blinded by said frisbee blowing up in her face in the wake of her frenzied speed. I saw her coming straight at me. Now, normally a person might step out of the way of a 100-lb dog bolting at them. But Posey is not a normal dog and, in my decision to stay where I was, I drew on past experiences which dictated that when she is heading straight for you 99.99% of the time she will veer off at the last second and fly past either in front of or behind you. Therefore, if you step either forward or backward to avoid her, you have a 50% chance of stepping directly into her path. This has happened to me too many times and I finally just learned to stand my ground and let her go around me. 

However, this time as she happened, like I said, to be blinded by the frisbee, she did not know when to veer. At the last second, when I realized that no veering was going to occur on her part, I tried to step forward and managed to get the first leg out of her way before she plowed into my other leg, at which time I fell flat on my butt with Wilder on top of me still in the carrier. We were both fine, only a couple of people saw what happened and they neither ran over to help nor laughed at us which would have been equally embarrassing, but it took us 10 minutes to find my flip-flop, which had flown 25 feet away. Needless to say, Posey will not be encouraged to fetch things anymore. She seems perfectly content smelling, lurking, rolling, and chewing so we will be leaving well enough alone from now on. So yeah, that was the big excitement this week... obviously it's been a slow week. 

In food news, Wilder has become much more capable of getting food into his mouth on his own. He gobbles up some puffs and is still loving his Baby Mum-Mums. We're still working on pieces of fruit seeing as how they tend to be very slippery and easily squashed. I started mixing oatmeal in with his breakfast purees and he's not totally sold on it yet but he eats it. I also mashed up some cooked cauliflower for him the other day and he thought it was pretty interesting if not totally delectable. Things have gotten pretty messy around here to say the least. Here he is trying to look all innocent after sneezing pureed chicken all over me. Fun times.

Wilder can also now stand holding onto furniture and has started trying to pull himself up. He's been getting baths in the big tub ever since our San Francisco trip and he is LOVING it. He loves to splash and hold stuff under the running water. He is also almost impossible to change on the changing table because he will not stay on his back. I've tried changing him on the floor but that's almost worse because there is more space for him to roll away from me. So if in the coming weeks you notice more pictures of the little stinker in nothing but a diaper, you'll know I just gave up after fighting to get that much on him. Not much else has been going on here this week so I guess that's it. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!