Playing

Dear Wesley,

It is such a joy to be your mom!  Daddy and I had so much fun playing with you today.  You recently found Zach's little soccer ball, and you love it!  You start laughing as soon as we show it to you.  We think it's so funny that you love to put it on the floor and lay on it, rolling around on it.  You laugh and laugh as you're all curled up on top of it.

You also enjoy playing throw and catch with us.  We roll the ball to you, and then you throw it back to us.  Daddy's pretty proud of your throwing skills.  He insists that you already throw better than your big brother!  I think he's probably right - most of the time the ball goes in the direction you intend it to, and your form is pretty good considering your age. 

This week you've started kicking the ball around the house too.  You drop the ball down in front of you and then walk along kicking it as you go.  Eventually you are going to run into a wall since you watch the ball instead of watching where you are going, but you're pretty tough so you'll be OK.

 The soccer ball has been pretty good for your gross motor skills too.  As you walk around kicking the ball, you eventually lose your balance and fall.  Then, you keep chasing the ball around the house, laughing as soon as you reach it and then pushing it away so you can keep going.  The wonderful thing is that instead of army crawling when you're chasing it on the floor, you're regularly CRAWLING now!  And, your crawl is getting FAST.  You've picked up your big brother's trademark super speedy crawl.  This is exciting for Dad and I to watch, because you're strengthening your shoulders and your stomach muscles while you play.

 Since you were sick this morning, Daddy offered to stay home with you from church.  When I got home he told me about what fun he had watching your sign language video with you.  He had a big smile on his face as he talked about how much you laughed while watching it and how you kept moving your hands around as you saw the kids on the video signing.  It is such a joy for us to see you realizing that these people are communicating with their hands and starting to try to imitate them.  We are continuing to pray for you, that you'll start to pick up these signs and use them to let us know what you want.

Then tonight while wrestling with Daddy and Zach, you decided you wanted to tickle them.  You kept lifting up Daddy's shirt and tickling his tummy.  Your tickles have never been very effective before, but today you were actually making Daddy genuinely laugh.  (Daddy's pretty ticklish, so I was amazed that he kept lying there and letting you tickle him.  He must really love you!) You and Daddy and Zach had a blast tickling each other.  In case you didn’t know, you have a pretty awesome older brother.  He lay still for you and let you keep tickling him and poking him in the mouth and licking his forehead.  He laughed and giggled with you as we all enjoyed your belly laugh.

Wesley, you are such a delight and a blessing to our family.  Your laugh brightens our day!  I love you so much my sweet Wesley-poo!

Love,

Mama