weekly portraits

i'm probably (totally) setting myself up for disaster by even titling this a weekly portrait, because we all know how good i am at that kind of commitment. but -- it's still an aspiration, and i'm still going to try. maybe it won't be weekly; we'll see how this year goes.

w & e right now:

wilder:

still has a killer smile. his best smile is when he's laughing, and it's not a fake laugh but the laugh he gets when papa or i make a funny face. he giggles hysterically and then he says "i'm playing a game with you."
still two months from being three but if you ask how old anyone is (like me), he will tell you they are three. except evienne. she might be 100.
still prefers crackers and fruit to every other food, but we're working on it.
still occasionally takes naps, after all. which is not really a good thing for our early mornings, but eh.
still loves being outside, which is somehow so hard for me. thank goodness for weekends and papas who like grilling.
also, likes to hold my hand and lead me around when we do go outside.
still hugs his "big teddy" to sleep every night. i think we might actually finally have a problem if we were to ever lose big teddy. hmmm.
getting ever so good at reasoning:
still only likes about half the daniel tiger and tumble leaf episodes.
loves to play hide and seek...by laying down in the middle of the floor in plain sight. i'm still supposed to find him. ;)
asks me to snuggle him when i'm tucking him into bed.

evienne:

is truly sneaky evie. she is always always always climbing up on a table or a box or a chair or the stairs or finding her way to the dog food or something equally sneaky. she's like a little cat slash monkey. look at her face in that photo up there. that's her sneaky face. she thinks she's being sneaky because i put her up on the bench to take her photo, but you can just tell how sneaky she feels, can't you? ;)
has the shriekiest shrillest scream ever when she can't have what she wants or you take something away from her.
still sucks her thumb and lays her head down on me (or whatever part of me she can reach) a million times a day. it's completely the sweetest thing ever.
is walking, but still prefers crawling most of the time.
says "mama," but probably still not with meaning.
can clap, wave, and sign "all done."
sounds exactly like porky the pig, minus the words.
still takes a good long afternoon nap, for which i am eternally grateful. may it never end.
has 6.5 teeth and eats everything, but she especially likes savory combinations.


they both:

need me and want what the other has all the live long day.
and have all my heart all the live long day.

wilder in 2014: week 50

i took this photo a few weeks ago of wilder playing in the leaves at a friend's house. i think that was the last of the good weather recently (it's actually a beautiful day as i type this). that same week wilder came down with a cold that kept us inside for far too long, and then it started raining, keeping us inside even longer. i'm hoping we can get outside some more next week before this baby comes, since that's one of his top requests these days!

wilder in 2014: week 43

sometimes it blows my mind that my baby is already big enough to ride around on four-wheelers (albeit of the very tiny, toy variety) and run around and jump...not to mention talk! he is full-on talking now. usually only one word at a time but he has thrown out a few complete sentences, too, which is insane to me. how did this happen?? this age is perhaps my most favorite age yet. it's challenging, to be sure, chasing and wrestling and now persuading and explaining everything to him all day long (i basically never sit down or finish a meal, haha). but it's also incredibly rewarding and i seriously can't think of anything that i would enjoy more right now. and it's funny that some days i feel like i'm waiting all day for bedtime when i can have some peace and quiet and alone time without someone jumping into my lap (onto my belly) or demanding me to do something for them, and then after he's gone down i almost want to wake him up and play with him again. what can i say? i find him endlessly wonderful.

Pumpkin Patch! (also, Wilder in 2014: week 42)

over the weekend we finally made it to a pumpkin patch--along with the whole rest of the world it seems, and why not, it was a pretty wonderful thing to do this weekend! we chose a farm that was low-key on the activities list but so picturesque it was killer. there was this whole outside plant nursery part that i could have spent a whole bunch more time in, pretending it was my garden on an english countryside estate;) i am really loving plants these days. too bad i can't keep any of them alive for long!

papa woke wilder up saturday morning telling him we were going to go see goats on a farm and for the whole drive (and rest of the day), all we heard from him was how he wanted a goat (at least that's what we think: "Oahna goak" meant;). the animals were his favorite part, of course. he especially loves to see cats these days.

all the pumpkins and gourds were really beautiful, too. sadly, we didn't get to take a tractor ride because it got too late and crowded, but next year! it was a good day.

my sweetheart.

boiled peanuts. i will never understand the fuss. 

pumpkins!

and more pumpkins...

i just love this.

how do these pumpkins even exist?

pulling all the gourds out of their bin...

spying on the goats.

GOAT!!

some mean geese.

a very suspicious cow.

really more like a viewing barn.

all the plants!

these flowers are just dying to be planted in an english garden. by me.

cute little wagons to pull kiddos and pumpkins around.

um, and a tepee?

we tried them again. still not really a fan.

wilder gives this pumpkin butter on his waffles two thumbs up. 

wilder in 2014: week 41

what i love about this photo is how much he seems like a mini-papa, getting ready to bang on the keyboard. and headphones on littles are the cutest thing.

this last week, my wilder was by turns the fussiest monster to have ever awoken from sleep and the sweetest, most adorable thing i've yet encountered. although i started last week thinking that we were heading into the terrible two's early, i've since decided that most of this fussiness is really teething related. it is not easy to have molars come in! i'm constantly amazed at the way he is growing, learning and developing. i love watching him figuring things out and trying to understand what we're saying. and i've realized, it helps a billion if i try equally as hard to understand what he is saying. all those new words and signs sure do help us out when he is desperately trying to communicate his growing list of needs and wants! he still goes berserk when he sees his cracker cup or hears the word cracker. in fact, the past week he's woken up around 5 am twice and both times asked first for "doggie" and second for "cacah." mama, papa, lars, and crackers (and elmo) are the main things on his mind these days, haha. all week long he asks for papa and lars when we are out and about. he is definitely our little pack animal. ;)

wilder in 2014: week 40

last weekend when it was suddenly and briefly cold out, we spent some time on the lawn at stone mountain. wilder was in heaven watching all the people throw balls. it was a really quick visit because it was almost dinner time when we got there (why does that always happen?), but i would love to go back with some takeout pizza and a blanket and stay for the evening! especially once it gets a little nicer out.

watching two guys throw a football, really far/high. completely amazed.

running free.

he's not sure how to kick a ball, but he will get right in your face to throw it to you! ;)

papa and son, striking a pose.

this.