SPRING!!!

Winter. Is. Long. I don't know how people who live any farther north than Illinois do it (honestly, I'm not sure how we make it through without all being clinically depressed). And it becomes a little (lot) bit harder when you have a toddler to entertain.  But we made it, and we are celebrating.

Easter turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day.  I remember many Easter Sundays where we had to bundle up in winter coats, but this year, it was warm enough to even shed our jackets.  Wes dyed eggs for the first time; it was messy, and he loved it.  

We also threw together a last-minute Easter egg hunt for Wes.  Despite his "treasures" being single goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, and some of his own trinkets from a random shoe box of toys (clearly we didn't win any Pinterest parenting awards for this one), he found it to be genuinely fun. 

One of the things he received in his Easter bag was a chalk paint set.  It's intended for kids to paint mini-masterpieces on the driveway.  Our little worker had a different idea, and he got right to work painting his play house.

They say spring is a time of growth.  We have witnessed firsthand some tremendous growth from Wes...concerning his obsession with water towers.  For a little bit, I thought his interest in water towers might be waning.  Oh was I wrong.  We are still going strong with water towers nearly one year later.  He continues to watch (the same) videos of water tower destruction, uses his Legos to build (only) water towers, and we have now begun to expand the radius of our water tower explorations to include lots of small towns beyond the metropolis of Bloomington Normal. 

Water tower working man

Congerville: population 500 and better than Disney World to this kiddo

Lego water tower crash

Water tower sidewalk art...the only kind there is.

In quite possibly the best moment of Wes' life, we got to go INSIDE of a water tower.  The Bloomington water tower is located behind a fire station.  We stopped by to visit the water tower (Wes could have cared less that the garage doors to the fire station were open and all of the fire trucks were visible), and the firemen came out to see what we (weirdos) were doing.  After chatting with them for a bit, one of them found the key and took us in.  Admittedly, all of the adults were pretty fascinated, and although Wes was shy at the time, he hasn't stopped talking about it since.

Wes had become pretty shy about friends over the winter, and although it took a little coersion, he is finally comfortable hanging out with his buddies again.  Nothing brings kids together like a little dirt, digging, and sugar.

We always say Wes is a clever kid, and I'm convinced he held out on potty training until we offered the biggest bribes.  Months ago, Grandma Miller told him he could pick out any toy he wanted at Toys R Us when he started using the potty.  He had to mull it over for awhile (a year), but he finally took her up on the offer.  What super awesome huge gift did he pick?  A toy cleaning cart.  Yes folks, he is my child.

Sean and I offered our own bribery as well: a gigantic outdoor trampoline for the kid who has loved to jump since the womb.  Again, Wes had to consider this offer (for a long, long time), but he finally agreed.  And now his life is all sorts of awesome.

With freedom from diapers, it becomes necessary to allow a child to escape the confines of a crib.  We ruefully removed the front of his crib and installed a toddler rail, mourning the loss of our post-bedtime ice cream indulgences.  For now, however, he still hasn't gathered the courage to actually get out.   Here's to a new pint of mint chocolate chip!

Wes isn't the only one who has shown a lot of growth this spring.  Maisy, now 9 months old, has surpassed Bear in height.  Wes recently posed for the same picture he took with Maisy on the day we brought her home.  

Wes' art ability currently consists of drawing circles and lines and not much more (but really, do you need more if you're only drawing water towers?).  Since it doesn't appear that we're raising a tiny Picasso, we are planning our retirement on him becoming a famous scientist.  He does make my science teacher alter-ego proud when he gets excited about discovery in his own little world.

Ferrofluid at the museum

Is he focused? Check the tongue.

Borax slime!

Slime with friends

Wes has certainly been just as excited as us about spring,  Now, he asks me every morning if it will be warm enough to swim.  He's ready!