The First Born

So five years ago tonight, Joe and I lived in a quiet, uncluttered, reasonably clean, childless home. The following morning life changed.

Our first born goes to bed tonight, on the eve of his fifth birthday, in new pajamas, pretending to be a secret agent platypus.

I could never have imagined the joy Wyatt would bring us. And I don't really miss the silence, or the clean house.

The Fun Box

So to help the boys become better organized we have purchased several shelves with cubby holes.

The idea was to use them for shoes and books and toys.

Wyatt has recently adopted one of the cubby holes as his "fun box."

It is the cubby with all of his most prized possessions. If his brothers try to grab anything out of there he screams and yells, "They can't have it, it was in my fun box!"

Out of curiosity I decided to do an inventory:

One Handy Manny Tool box, a Perry the Platypus stuffed animal, a Spiderman costume, two Crayons, seven action figures (2 Batmen, Aquaman, Green lantern, Superman, Captain America, and an unidentified "bad guy"), a Dinosaur puppet, two Squishy balls (a cow and a flamingo), Flashlight, Plastic spoon, Tag pen, three Tag books, Rubber band, tiny toy camera, a pair of blue jeans that fit a stuffed bear and roll-up disposable sunglasses.

Ott Loves Simpsonville

So we took the boys to Simpsonville's annual carnival. They went to a petting zoo, bounced in inflatables, got snow cones, rode ponies, went down giant slides, built wooden trucks, tried an amusement ride or two...

After each and every activity Wyatt grabbed my hand and squeezed telling me, "I am having SO much fun!" I love having a joyful, thankful boy.

School Kids

For the first time in almost 3 1/2 years...on Tuesday and Thursday mornings I only have one child to tote around. Zane is my main man.

The two big boys are both in pre-school. I feel like I have all this free time on my hands. Maybe that's why I'm blogging again!

The boys both had a great first day. Colt read a book about spiders, Wyatt made a friend who helped him chase monsters and on the way to the playground Wy's teacher let him stop in Colt's room to say, "Hi,"...I'm told they hugged!

What Zane Said

So Zane has about 10 words in his vocabulary, the usuals, "mommy" "daddy" "bottle" "nite nite"... But his first phrase is classic Zaney. He insists on helping his brothers feed the dogs every morning. In his social fashion he spends the whole time bouncing from pup to pup, patting each one on the back and saying, "Good dog"..."Good dog"...

Party Animal

So we had to cancel our July fourth party because of Colt's sickness. No one was more irritated than Wyatt. Instead of a gathering with lots of little kids we just had a couple of our friends over. We told Wyatt it would be a small party. So all through supper he keeps whining, "When is the party going to start?" We say, "This is it. This is the party." Finally I say, "What is it that you want to do?" He looks at the four adults at the table and says, "We need to wake this crowd up."

Couch Potato

So Wyatt and Colt both spent Sunday with 102 degree temperatures. Since it was 107 degrees outside there weren't many options for entertainment. They spent the entire day on the couch. Colt got up and moved around occasionally, to draw or play with toys. Wyatt never budged. This should not surprise anyone who knows Wyatt, he is my child with the greatest couch potato potential. So after 12 straight hours of television Sunday, Wyatt looks at me with a gleam in his eye and says, "Mommy, I sat in front of the TV ALL day long!"