Santa Claus 2008.

So this year's visit went slightly better than last year. As you'll recall, the last time Julia saw Santa she was a screaming wreck. This year we prepped her and had no concerns. She WANTED to go see Santa, as she now has a firm grip on the Santa-brings-presents concept. Well, after a ten minute wait to think it over in line, she lost it again when we placed her on Santa's lap. However, we were able to get her to reign it in enough for a picture, as you can see. Yes, that is Shannon's hand she is holding. And yes, those are tears streaming down her cheeks. And yes, that is possibly the most strained smile you will ever see on Julia's face. As for Wesley, he did great. The smile on his face is the smile of a four year old boy smiling for a long, long time waiting for his sister to finally cooperate with the photographer.

Shamu.

Back in early October our family went on a little vacation to Sea World for a few days. Given a couple days, we were able to see all of the shows at the park, including the ever-popular Shamu show twice. Well, at one point in the Shamu show, the host asks the audience to repeat after him a chant of "Shamu" over and over. A very little detail of the show, but apparently one that stuck with Julia. In the past week or so, out of absolutely nowhere, Julia has begun calling for the chants from her car seat whenever the thought crosses her mind. It goes something like this (written in Juliaspeak)...

Julia: Hey duys, do you want to do Shamu?
Us: Uh, okay.
Julia: SHA-MUU!
Us: Shamu!
Julia: Good dob, duys!

The affirmation at the end is what usually makes me laugh. Julia usually leads the chants 3 or 4 more times before she moves on. One last thing - Wesley has no patience for this game of his sister's. While he has the ability to be fully content sitting in his seat quietly staring out the window, Julia is often a nonstop barrage of chatter from the moment the engine starts until we reach our destination.

Christmas Photos by Adrea.

Just a small selection from the amazing photo shoot by Wesley and Julia's Godmother, Adrea.

On The Floor.

A couple weeks ago, I was lying on my back on the floor of our living room. Wesley walked up to me and matter-of-factly stated, "in a second I'm going to sit on your face." I only had a moment to laugh before I was smothered by the denim of his jeans.

Halloween 2008.

Wesley was a firefighter, Julia was Cinderella. They both looked great and had a great time. After coming down to Nickelodeon for a studio Halloween party, we went over to the church for trick-or-treating. Julia no longer looks like a baby. Sniff.

Mickey II & Minnie II.

Enough said.

Swimming.

Since day one, Wesley has been horrified of putting his face in the water. Considering we live in the hotbox known as Santa Clarita, it has always felt like a necessity for Wesley to acquire some swimming skills. So last summer, we signed him up for swimming lessons through a friend from the church. Wesley made it clear pretty fast that he was not ready for this. His teacher "Miss Debbie" tried everything, but Wesley snapped into "terrified" mode pretty regularly and would not try very much. Shannon and I felt stuck, trying to balance a desire to not do any harm emotionally but at the same time encourage him to overcome this fear. We decided to not sign up Wesley for any classes this summer and just see how he did on his own. When Shannon suggested Wesley try out the life jacket we had gotten him last summer for use in his uncle's boat, he decided to try it out - albeit with me glued to his side. After an afternoon of getting used to it, the life jacket became his best friend. He wouldn't go in the pool without it, as this freed him up to swim wherever he wanted in the pool. However, he still was terrified of his head going in the water and got very skilled at keeping his head up. During a conversation one day, Wesley told Shannon and I that he would put his head in the water if he had goggles (something he turned down last summer). So we picked up a pair and headed back to the pool. We suggested that he try out his goggles without his life jacket and, after some tentative moments, his fear completely disappeared. Within a half hour, he was like a newly-freed dolphin in the water. Not only was he putting his entire face in the water without hesitation, he was kicking and paddling all over the place in excitement. Now we try to get over to the pool to swim a few times a week, and Wesley loves it. It has definitely increased his confidence in trying new things, which is a very good thing.

Photo by the masterful Adrea.

Stung.

Wesley (4 years old) - 4 bee stings
1 bee sting in our backyard
1 bee sting in our house (bees invaded house thru the oven vent)
1 bee sting at the zoo
1 bee sting at the beach

Julia (2 years old) - 1 bee sting
1 bee sting at her 2nd birthday party in our backyard

And, to complete the picture:
the first 35 years of my life - 0 bee stings
the last 2 years - 2 bee stings in our backyard

Wo Wo Part 2.

Yes, he still likes to do this. Yes, his sister loves it too. No, my back doesn't care for it much.

Snacks.

Considering the amount of Cheerios, pretzels, rice cakes and other snack items I find scattered throughout the floors of our house, I'm fairly certain we could sell our vacuum cleaner bags as snack mix.

Charm.

Whenever Julia walks up to me with a big smile on her face, grabs my hand, chirps "s'go Daddy!" ("let's go Daddy!") and walks me off to wherever she wants to play, I melt. Please don't tell her this.

Carpinteria Fourth.

Family members that have experienced July 4th camping in Carpinteria should appreciate this strip by Richard Thompson.

Julia the Cartoon.

Julia's recently begun doing something very amusing, although I don't have any idea as to where she picked it up from. When asked a question, she'll mutter "hmm" and tap her chin with her index finger. As far as I know, no one outside of a cartoon (it is a staple expression there) has genuinely done the finger-tapping-on-the-chin-while-thinking thing in over 50 years, so I have no idea where she got this from. And no, she didn't get it from me, because my kids have neither a clue nor the interest in what I do while I'm away all day at work.

Mickey and Minnie.

So we went back to the pet store to purchase a new fish for Wesley and brought home two (one for Julia). They settled on the names Mickey and Minnie (I know - Shannon is completely in their heads now). When we had to leave to go camping in Carpinteria a week or so later, I purchased a fish feeder "biscuit" that supposedly releases food over time. We returned a couple days later to find Minnie and a deceased Mickey. Note to self: no more feeder biscuits. I quickly removed Mickey, placed the fish bowl in a place to obscure Wesley's view and waited until nap time to rush back to the pet store and find the best match for Mickey I could find. I found one and Wesley was none the wiser when he visited the fish after his nap. Crisis averted.

R.I.P. James the Goldfish.

Our family lost our first pet yesterday morning. Alas, it was only a goldfish, but it was Wesley's first pet. And unfortunately he took it pretty hard when we told him this morning. After we sat and talked with Wesley a little, he decided he wanted to go downstairs to see the empty goldfish bowl. A few minutes passed and he didn't come back or respond to our calls, so I went to look for him. I found Wesley silently standing at the bottom of the stairs with eyes big as saucers and an enormous frown on his face. My heart shattered as he started bawling. The rest of the day was mostly a series of questions about James and death coming in the middle of unrelated conversations. Yes, for Wesley to lose a "friend" he saw on a daily basis has been hard.

Princess Music.

Whenever our family gets into the car, there is a fairly good chance that a disagreement will arise over the choice of music we listen to. Both Wesley and Julia like Disney music, so Shannon keeps the car well-stocked in that regard. But recently Julia has begun to describe any Disney music with female vocals as "princess music." And while Wesley has always liked Disney music, the description of songs he likes as "princess music" is too much for him to take. As a result Wesley no longer likes to listen to "princess music." A few days ago, we were getting into the car when Julia immediately requested "princess music." Wesley vehemently protested, but was told he'd have to wait until Julia's song was over before he got to choose a song. Wesley was visibly stewing as Julia's music played in the car. At that point Julia looked over at Wesley, smiled, and started singing at the top of her lungs along with the "princess music." Intentional or not, she was clearly rubbing it in and it made me laugh out loud. Fortunately, Wesley began to laugh as well, although I'm not entirely sure he knew why.

Secrets.

Last night I was sitting in our living room watching Wesley play and feeling sentimental, so I called him over and told him I had a secret to tell him. He leaned in as I cupped my hands around my mouth and whispered in his ear, "I love you." Wesley looked back at me with a pleased and loving smile, then told me he had a secret for me too. I leaned in as he cupped his hands around his mouth and whispered in my ear, "I have a pickup truck."

Julia's 2nd Birthday.

Last weekend Julia turned two and we celebrated with a casual Elmo-themed birthday party. The weather was warm, so we inflated a couple plastic pools and filled them up in the backyard. Everyone seemed to have a good time despite Julia getting stung by a bee for the first time (no allergic reaction, thankfully). Aunt Kelley outdid herself, constructing an enormous 3D Elmo cake, with blocks spelling out Julia's name and all. Thank you to everyone that came - you made the day special for our little girl. And thank you Aunt Adrea for the first three beautiful photos.

Caillou.

Who is this monster who has overtaken our home? This is "Caillou," a Canadian animated show on PBS that until somewhat recently was completely off Wesley and Julia's radar. Not anymore - this boy and his show are an icon at our house, and possibly the only show on TV both our kids can agree on. Daily.

Our Girl.

I feel like we haven't posted much about Julia lately, so here goes. She loves Elmo and Caillou. She loves her brother. She loves babies and anything baby-related. She loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse. She loves walking on her own and thinks she is done riding in strollers and shopping carts. She loves wearing pretty shoes, pretty dresses and pretty jewelry. If you understand her dialect, she can communicate pretty well now. And she will be 2 years old in 5 days.

One more thing. Her brother is fiercely protective of her, and if you touch her in an unkind way you will have a four year old boy breathing down your neck demanding to know what happened.

Hiking.

A few weeks ago, Wesley and I decided to visit nearby Placerita Canyon for a hike. My previous hiking experience with Wesley consisted of us walking halfway up a small hill before he asked for me to carry him, so I didn't expect much in the way of stamina. Wesley got very excited about our hike, bringing along snacks in his Thomas the Train backpack and bright green binoculars to look for animals. We started off going on a short, mostly-level trail. Wesley thoroughly enjoyed the hike, which included a veggie chip and juice break, and wanted to go on another. So we found another short trail along a creek, which he loved as well. Well, after another chip-and-juice break, Wesley was ready for more. Surprised at his level of endurance, I found another hike up a short hill to a water tower. I figured this would be it, and we'd just turn around and go home after. But Wesley was loving it, and didn't want to stop at the water tower. One full hour of uphill climbing beyond the water tower later, we reached the top of the mountain. Wesley blew my expectations out of the water. After that feat, I fully expected to be carrying him down the mountain. Nope. Wesley decide to pretend he was surfing all the way down the mountain, sidestepping and making large plumes of dust all the way down the trail. Not until we were literally 30 feet from my car and on level ground did Wesley decide he had had enough of walking and asked me to carry him. Not a week goes by now before Wesley does not ask me when we will be hiking again.

Travel Town.

File this under "why in the world didn't we take Wesley here sooner?" This past weekend, in an effort to create a little "boys only" time, Wesley and I drove down to Travel Town in Griffith Park. I hadn't been there since I was about his age, so I didn't remember much. But, man, was this place a home run with Wesley. As if climbing up into enormous steam engines and going on a train ride weren't enough, we discovered an enormous miniature Lionel-style train display in one of the buildings. To say Wesley loves watching miniature train sets is like saying Shannon is fond of Disneyland. Given the opportunity, I'm pretty sure Wesley would stand and watch the trains all day long. It was a good day.

A Long Day at Disneyland.

Brother & Sister.

Julia's Mommy.

Julia can be very possessive when it comes to her Mommy. It has actually gotten to the point where she doesn't like Dave holding my hand or even having his hand on the back of my seat while we are in the car together. There are times she doesn't want anyone, including her Daddy, touching her Mommy.

No Ponytails.

I am currently growing my hair out and there are moments within the day when it is almost necessary to pull back my hair into a ponytail. When I do this and Julia sees it, she will grab at my hair and reach to pull it down. She only is satisfied when my hair is down and she sees that none of it is pulled back. The other day, after another successful let down of my hair, she grabbed my face and very contently said, "Mama," as if she had just seen me for the first time. It's been somewhat of an inconvenience at times, but precious all the same.

Wesley's Friend Emma.

From The Wesley Collection.

Wesley got a Fisher Price digital camera for Christmas this year.

Cheese.

For the past six months or so, Julia has reponded with this smile whenever she is asked to say "cheese." Not sure where she got it, but it never fails to make us laugh.

First Time Ever.

The date: February 25, 2008. The question: "Would you like something to eat, Julia?" The response: "No."

My Honest Son.

Said Wesley when I asked him why he was shoving Matchbox cars down his shirt, creating a large bulge in his belly: "I'm trying to look like you, Daddy."

Daddy's Plans.

This past Monday I had the day off, so Wesley and I went out to spend a few hours together. Our first stop was the local park, one of Wesley's favorite places. After an hour or so of kicking the soccer ball around and playing on the slides and swings, I thought we'd move on to the bookstore - another place he loves. I told him of my plans, but didn't get the response I thought I'd get. Thinking he may not have understood, I mentioned it one or two more times. Wesley finally turned to me and said, "Daddy, I know you really want to go to the bookstore, but right now I'm playing at the park." Wind, you may exit my sails.