Little Helper

Wynn seems to have "woken up" in the last month. He suddenly notices birds in the sky, the noise of an ambulance in the distance, the change in the wind, or the lighting in a room.... when he notices such things he usually says "what's dat?" or grabs the first willing hand and pulls them over to investigate with him. Its so fun to see him get excited about something and see where he will lead me, but he's getting stronger everyday and learning that he doesn't like if I can't go where he wants when he wants. He stomps his feet and sits down to cry... lol. It's funny when it's not happening. He's also become quite the up climber... and not the greatest down climber. Thus, he perfectly fits the term bruiser and currently has matching black eyes to prove it. I just cant seem to baby proof enough without putting him in a portable bubble. Anyway, we've been doing a little light remodeling around the house and Wynn couldn't be more fascinated. He wants to "help" with everything, but since most projects aren't exactly baby-friendly we either have to wait until the kids are in bed or gate off the project, which I'm sure you can imagine he doesn't love. I'm so grateful again to have a little-bit-of-everything husband who knows/can learn how to do most anything and one day be able to teach our kids. I don't get to escape the learning either; he strongly encourages me to participate in all the home repairs too and has given me a lesson or two on home wiring and construction already. In the project pictures below he finished by installing a ceiling fixture in the living room since it lacked one. Future pictures should have a lot better lighting! Also, note the pre and post hair cut in the photos... I'm not a fan of this cut, but it was only my third time and he is VERY wiggly now; It grows back I guess :).

Hand Training Success

If that's not hand training success, I don't know what is! We've had the birds for about a month now, and I am very impressed with their progress. For about a week Andy and I took them out in a small room after the kids were in bed, and they wouldn't come even near us at first. We slowly worked on teaching them to remain calm when we approached them with our hands, step up, take treats from our hands, and tolerate being pet; they have adjusted much faster than I was expecting. A week ago, we started letting Sydney help us handle them, and now its a whole family affair; they even ate breakfast while we did at the kitchen table this morning. Sydney likes to hold them but does insist on wearing a jacket and gloves because she doesn't like how their talons feel on her hands and arms. Wynn is still very wary of them and doesn't want to hold them, but they aren't afraid of him. We've even learned how to clip their wings from a local store and had success at that. It has helped a whole bunch too since they rely on us to help them get anywhere higher up. Sydney can't get enough and has so much fun with her new friends!

Field Trip

Sydney's preschool tries to do a field trip once a month. This month they visited the glacier's visitor center and learned about ice safety. I even learned a thing or two as well. I guess I've never encountered a situation where I'd need to know what to do on thin ice before living in Juneau. Sydney gets more and more brave everyday. She LOVES preschool and refers to all the kids there as her "preschool" friends. If we are ever late, she says, "Mom, my preschool friends will be waiting for me when we get there." I was surprised by her willingness to try the different activities they were doing, such as army crawling and rolling one by one across the room; she usually doesn't like everyone's attention directed only at her and wont perform when asked :). She also made the transition to her Sunbeam class at church very well. She never complains about going and gave the opening prayer on Sunday and wasn't shy about using the microphone.