Go Go Go

Wilder never stops moving, doing, or talking. I don't think you can fully understand what I just said there until you're around him for a little while and witness him in action. I've had so many people since we moved back marvel at his busy-ness and say things to me like, "Seriously, how do you keep up with him all day?" or "Does he ever stop??" Because he's always, every waking minute, running or climbing or playing or digging or reading or dancing or drawing or telling you about something. Go, go, go. And that's basically how our lives are now too. We're always looking for fun new things to do with him because he's just so fun to do things with. 

I guess my last post made our social situation sound pretty dire. It's not that we don't have plenty to do on the weekends with friends and through the meetup group during the week; it's just that I'm missing having one or two friends who are stay-at-home-moms like me and who I can call during the week to do stuff with. But we are loving being able to get together with people otherwise and have been trying to do it as much as possible. 

A couple of weeks ago Wilder and I went to our first meetup at a park in the area. Like I said, it wasn't a very successful friend-making venture but Wilder had fun on the playground, especially since he finally learned how to climb back up the slide. He pretty much stayed on the slides the entire time -- sliding down, climbing up, sliding down, climbing up. He was so proud of himself and I was thoroughly entertained watching him, mostly because his hair is so long and fine that, when static electricity gets a hold of it, it's a pretty hilarious sight.

A few days later we met up with my friend, Megan, and her son, Mason, at the Memphis Botanical Garden. We had gone with them last year around this time too so it was fun to see how much the boys had changed since then and all the new stuff they could enjoy there. 

He loved this bench -- it was just his size :)

We tried to feed the fish, but a swarm of geese came up

so we fed them instead. Wilder was not too sure about them

and they were actually pretty scary so we tried to

keep our distance.

The day after the Botanical Garden I took Wilder to another meetup at a local gymnastics place. They do a preschool open gym two mornings a week where the little kids can basically come and spend an hour wearing themselves flat out. Oh my word. Wilder was completely in heaven. He did not stop running, jumping, climbing, swinging, and throwing/kicking balls the entire hour. It was really hilarious to watch because the gym looked like a giant room full of energizer bunnies. 

After play gym I had heard there was a storytime under the gazebo in the town square so we went to check that out. There were a lot of kids there and it was a nice setting but the story reader was absolutely terrible -- it was like she was reading from a car owner's manual or something. No intonation. No enthusiasm. She lost most of the kids about two pages into the book and because it was one I read regularly to Wilder I had to restrain myself from marching up there, grabbing it out of her hands, (whacking her in the head with it), and reading it myself. Needless to say we didn't stick around there long. They have retired train cars on display on one side of the square and Wilder was begging to go see them anyway so we ducked out of storytime between books and walked over to play on those instead. It was a really full morning and we were both exhausted afterwards but it felt good to be busy and to try some new things.

The next week we went back to play gym again and Wilder wore himself flat out again. We're totally sold on play gym. Best idea ever...

... and then went to Jackson in the afternoon to watch Uncle William play in his company's baseball game. Wilder was so excited he could hardly stand it -- one of his favorite people playing in a baseball game?? It just doesn't get any better than that! When we were all loaded into the car I asked him to show me his excited face and this is what he did haha :)

Wilder had the best time watching, cheering "Yaaayyy 

Cuncle!", and pretending he was playing too.

We had a pretty lowkey rest of the week so by the weekend we were ready for some more fun. We woke up Saturday morning and decided to go to Starkville for the MS State vs. South Alabama game. It wasn't a big game, but we didn't care, the weather was supposed to be beautiful and when we told Wilder what we were doing he was super excited so that sealed the deal. We spent the morning getting ready and then at Wilder's naptime we loaded up into the car and were on our way to see the Bulldogs play. 

We met up with some college friends and their son, Sutton, at their tailgate. It was fun to get our boys together and to catch up with them.

Giving hugs

 Our little Bulldog :)

Sutton had tractors and trains so Wilder instantly liked him

 Aaahhhh :) Nothing like SEC tailgating. We've missed this!

 Ringing his mini cowbell

 So excited to be at Wilder's first MS State game!

 Minutes before this picture, Wilder was ringing

his cowbell a little too enthusiastically and hit me

in the mouth with it chipping my front tooth! I tried

to hide it for the picture but...

... upon closer inspection, yep, there it is. It

wasn't a huge chip but, still, it was on my front

freaking tooth so it didn't hide well. Paul thought

it was absolutely hilarious and I'm pretty sure it

made his whole day, the little turd! I, however,

was mortified, but, I can finally laugh about it

now that it's fixed!

This boy is true maroon! Yelling

"Yaaayyy football game! Go Buh-dogs!"

 It was so funny -- Wilder was introduced to so many people

that day that I guess he thought we knew everybody there. This

couple turned around to tell us how cute he was and he reached

down, gave the girl a hug, and then insisted on sitting in her lap!

 Then he had to sit in the guy's lap too. They thought it was hilarious!

 Towards halftime Wilder was getting restless so we got up to walk

around. We ended up on the walkway next to the field and watched

a little of the game and a touchdown from there -- best seats in the house!

 We also ran into one of Paul's fraternity brothers down there.

 We were driving back that night so we went ahead and left around

halftime. Had to stop to inspect the Starkville Fire Dept. truck first 

of course :) We had such a fun day and it was surprisingly the least

stressful thing I think we've ever done with Wilder. We can't wait

to go back for another game soon!

This week I had to go to Jackson to get my tooth fixed and Paul's grandparents were finally back from 5 weeks of traveling around Alaska and the Pacific Northwest so we got together with them for dinner one night. Wilder was so excited to see them and we enjoyed a typical Mama Sue feast!

As much as we love going and doing we also love staying at home and playing. We have so much land around the house we're staying in that Wilder never gets tired of exploring and playing outside.

Here's a video I took of him yesterday playing

with and talking about his construction toys.

I got out the hose to wash some sidewalk chalk off 

the driveway yesterday and it turned into almost

an hour long game of Wilder running back and

forth, back and forth, through the stream of water.

He thought it was the greatest thing ever and

probably would have done it until the end of 

time if I'd let him :)

 We've still been having weekly Skype playdates with Rachel

and Lexi. The babies are so funny playing together -- last week

they both got out their keyboards and put on a concert for us and

this week they both ended up sitting at their kitchen tables playing

with airplanes while Rachel and I cooked dinner. I love seeing them

still be able to play "together"!

"Mama, hugs!"

 We found a pond in the woods behind our house. Rider was

in heaven swimming in it but Wilder was not too happy about

the fact that he couldn't get in too. 

 He made me draw him a "voom-voom" and 

then pretended to ride it haha :)

 Nature walk with Dada

 Rainy day porch playing

 I get Productive Parenting emails that give you a different

activity to do with your child each day. One day it said to mix up

several different kinds of cereal and have your child sort them

into bowls. Well, I only had one kind of cereal so I used goldfish,

raisins, Crispix, and Ritz crackers. Wilder did really well sorting

them at first but then decided he'd rather eat them.

 He kept teasing me by holding a piece over the correct bowl and 

then popping it into his mouth. He thinks he's sooo funny ;)

Besides being a little cumbersome to navigate around

the aisles of a grocery store, how great are these car-carts?!

Wilder loves to "drive" us around and honk at people :)

 He always must have a "walky stick" on

our nature walks. 

 Making his ducky "look" through the holes of the

laundry basket. Toddlers' imaginations are incredible!

Here's one more video from a few weeks ago. This is the third

video I had taken in two days trying to record Wilder hitting the

ball off the tee. He was being less than cooperative because

he knew what I was trying to do and ended up just completely 

messing with me. He did everything BUT hit the ball -- he

talked about sticks and his eyes and crickets in the bushes and

trees... Apparently he likes to drive me crazy just like his daddy ;)

So, I guess, once again, I've laid a gigantic post on you, but I just couldn't help it. We're so busy most days that I don't have time to sit down and recap before the next activity comes along! I'll try to do better though. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!