My Boys

My Brother

My brother's worth about two cents,

As far as I can see.

I simply cannot understand

Why they would want a "he."

He spends a good part of his day

Asleep inside the crib,

And when he eats, he has to wear

A stupid baby bib.

He cannot walk and cannot talk

And cannot throw a ball.

In fact, he can't do anything--

He's just no fun at all.

It would have been more sensible,

As far as I can see,

Instead of getting one like him

To get one just like me.

-Marci Ridlon

Wyatt loves his baby brother. They are going to have so much fun together in a couple of years! Aren't they cute???

Dinosaur Land

In an attempt to get Wyatt out of the house, we took a trip to Tucson Botanical Gardens last week for their special "Dig" exhibit. Wyatt would rather stay home and play than go anywhere, and my attempts to run errands, go shopping, or even go out to do something fun, are often met with resistance (translation: crying, whining, complaining). Unfortunately, the stay home and play turns into too many hours of movies and computer games, so I decided we had to get out. We made it to storytime at the library one day, and to the Botanical Gardens another day. The dinosaur exhibit was fun, although not very extensive. They had a little treasure hunt set up throughout the gardens, and when we solved the puzzle, we were rewarded with...rocks. Okay, they were pretty cool petrified wood rocks, but I thought Wyatt was a little disappointed with his treasure. I changed my mind after we got home and he was telling Madison all about how it used to be wood and then it got buried in the ground for a long, long, long time and then it turned into rocks. I had never been to the botanical gardens before, and I actually liked it more than I thought I would. I think it would be even more impressive in the spring when more things are in bloom. We are planning to go back when they have their butterfly exhibit starting in November.

I Didn't Mean To!

So a few days ago, Madison and Wyatt were playing in the back yard. Since our back yard is just dirt for now, it usually turns into some play of this variety. When I went outside to check on them and see what they were up to, I saw this Wyatt, and the first words out of Madison's mouth were, "I didn't mean to!" I'm not sure how Wyatt got mud so perfectly placed in his face, but I'm sure it was purely accidental. Just like she "accidentally" pulled his hair the other day...hair that is about 1/4 inch long. She only looks sweet and innocent!

Invasion!

We are being invaded by these nasty things! If any of you have called me in the last couple of days, you've probably heard all about them, because Wyatt tells anyone who will listen about the "catepittars." The pediatrician and the AC service guy were especially impressed. We first saw them on the way to church on Sunday. They were all over the road by the church. Then by that night, they had found our cul-de-sac. They are coming out of the desert by our house by the hundreds. There were about 30 on our driveway yesterday, and 10 crawling up our mailbox, and one had crawled up the house almost to the roof. They are everywhere in the rocks, and we watched one devour a leaf of a weed in our backyard in about 3 seconds. I ran over one when I backed out of the garage, and its guts shot about two feet. Our driveway is covered in slime, either from them being squished, or from the green substance they emit (I'm not sure which end it comes from) when they are threatened.

My fearless hunter. Stepping on them would be too easy. Wyatt is using a metal bat to squish them.

Madison took over the bat. Wyatt now has a plastic sand toy that he covers them with and says, "Now you can't see your friends!"