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."