Southerners in SoCal: Ch-ch-ch-changes

Specifically this...

So crazy, huh? I'm pretty sure I look like a completely different person. Wilder hardcore stared at me for the longest time when I got home from the salon, like I know you, but I don't know you. And Paul loves it. I'm talking LOVES it. I love it too but it's definitely going to take some getting used to. I've had long hair for so long but it was just getting out of control and on my nerves so it was time for a change.

One great thing about it is that I was able to have enough cut off to donate to Locks of Love. I'm so excited about that! And if you live in San Diego let me just tell you -- Veronica at Gila Rut Salon in Hillcrest is so sweet and super talented. I usually hate getting my hair cut (hence how long it's always been) but this was the best salon experience I've ever had. She totally listened to me and was able to pull off exactly what I wanted.

We've been busy busy while Paul has been on break. He's still been working quite a bit on his thesis but we've definitely been enjoying a lot more time with him the past two weeks. We've also been working on finding him a job. We're both ready to have something nailed down so we can start making plans for a move if necessary. It's an exciting and nerve-wracking time with potentially huge changes on the horizon.

In the meantime...

We've done our usual Tuesdays at the library with Rachel and Lexi. I love having such nice libraries to go to here!

Not bothering that guy on the phone at all ;)

Cuties

Lexi, the phone's for you. I mean, the mouse's

for you. I mean, the mouse phone's for you.

Hands off my snack cup, Wi-Wi!

(Lexi has started calling Wilder

Wi-Wi and it's the cutest thing ever!)

We've also been doing a lot of dog parking as usual.

Wilder loves rocks and he was in rock

heaven in this little area of the park.

Showing me how he sniffs plants :)

Watching a tennis match.

After sneakily eating a

handful (or two) of dirt.

Bossy ;)

"Climbing" a tree

Rock!

On this day we found a ladybug that

I put on his arm. He was fascinated

watching it crawl on him and for days

after he would point to that same arm

like he was having phantom ladybugs

crawling on him.

Last Thursday Rachel and her husband kept Wilder while Paul and I went to see The Hunger Games and to dinner. It was soooo nice to have a little date and the movie definitely did not disappoint! And Wilder had the time of his life playing with Lexi and eating dinner with them. They said he never stopped moving the whole time and, when we came to pick him up, he didn't even pause to greet us, just kept on going going going. We had to pry him away from their house, haha! It was so nice to know that he was fine without us there. And Rachel took so many great pictures so I had to steal some to show you. Thank you again, Rachel and Frank!

Playing hard

They were both covered in sand from

head to toe so a bath was in order.

How freaking cute is this?!

And in coordinating pj's to end the night :)

On Monday Paul took off from thesis work for the whole day so we went to lunch at Hash House a Go Go. It's an amazing breakfast/brunch/lunch place that serves THE HUGEST portions you will ever have in front of you. The food was soooo delicious! Paul had a blueberry pecan pancake the size of a small tire with eggs and sausage and I had the Farm Scramble, which was probably half a dozen eggs scrambled with onions, bacon, and avocado, with crispy potatoes, the most enormous biscuit I've ever seen, and a veritable cruise ship of delish gravy.

This biscuit was at least five inches tall.

After lunch we went downtown to Paul's school for him to pick something up. Wilder had the best time exploring the graduate studio and quickly found a wrench to "work on" stuff with.

Then we headed over to the zoo but it was unusually packed for a Monday (I guess with people on spring break), we were still miserably full from lunch, and Wilder was totally not feeling the trike that day and kept trying to get off so we only stayed for about an hour. We still had fun just being together though.

We were so busy trying to keep Wilder on

the trike the whole time that this is the

only picture I have from the zoo... and it's

of Paul trying to keep Wilder on the trike, haha!

Wilder has been L-O-V-I-N-G having his Dada home more the last couple of weeks. He loves playing with him, getting tickled by him, and just being around him in general, and Paul just eats it up too. They are best buds and I love it!

Speaking of best buds, Wilder has a total obsession with the dogs lately. He loves running from them (even though they are never really chasing him, he likes to pretend they are), throwing balls for Rider, feeding his Cheerios to them, and hugging on them. Oh the hugs. Hugging the dogs is his absolute favorite thing to do right now. It's so sweet :)

Reading to Posey

Trying to kiss Posey through the door

Another of Wilder's favorite things to do these days is throw the ball and chase it and throw the ball and chase it and throw the ball ad infinitum. He entertains himself pretty well doing this but what he really loves is to have an audience to root him on. Also, most of the time as he throws the ball he yells out Bah-!! very emphatically and it totally cracks me up. He is such a little character.

We Skyped with my mom the other day while Wilder was eating lunch. At first he was a little skeptical trying to figure out how Grana got into that box but after a few minutes he just went with it and acted like she was sitting at the table next to him, even offering her bites of his apple. It was so sweet :)

Trying to show her his belly

Wilder is learning new words every day and it blows our minds to hear him repeating things we've only said once or twice. At his 15-month doctor's appointment I had a list of about 20 words he says but now there are too many to count. Our favorite new ones are banananana, Po-Po (Posey), Ri-Ri (Rider), shoooes (shoes), yacht (Haha, what baby says the word "yacht"?? I pointed one out in a book though the other day and he immediately picked up on it and I just about fell on the floor laughing.), and umbrella. Umbrella is by far our most favorite. We search through books to find them just to hear him say it. This isn't a perfect example because he was tired of me asking him to say it at that point but you can get an idea of the silliness of Wilder's version of "umbrella"...