For a few days Wesley was never at 100% and was sometimes really miserable and tired and grumpy. He told us his ears hurt and a doctor agreed. Medicine brought back Happy Wesley!

Wesley's favorite building material is scotch tape, and he'll tape things like frisbees suspended between a table and a chair, and pieces of paper and toys. He'll also build with blocks or anything else, and he has eleborate stories for how things work, switches, doors, pipes, drains, and elevators.

From Gramps who now has an apartment at the beach in order to take a job there:

New Apartment, the Final Touch

It isn’t a fridge without art from Wes.

Matt and I moved my stuff into the new Virginia Beach apartment. I’ll be staying there through the week after my new job starts with Amerigroup on June 15.

The place is 2 bedrooms located in a quiet golfing community. We’ve managed to completely furnish it with extras and a few small purchases. Wesley’s art puts the finishing touches.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Baa Baa Black Sheep.

Skip to My Lou.

BINGO.

And with Wesley accompanying himself on guitar:

Twinkle.

BINGO.

The More We Get Together.

Wow, Wesley loves dancing at concerts! We went to the Friday's After Five concert tonight, past Wesley's usual bedtime, and he was dancing, jumping, spinning, kicking, grinning, and stomping his way through as many tunes as his Mommy and Daddy were willing to stay for. He really gets into the music and loves to move!

Wesley had a big bruise on his forehead the other day that we noticed when brushing back his hair, but we had no idea where it came from. However, all the other bangs and scrapes on his knees and elsewhere, we've seen him fall down for, and he doesn't cry or stop what he's doing. At most he grimaces, gets up, pushes on.

Wesley’s Birthday Letter 2009

Dearest Wesley,

You are amazingly beautiful. You have a light that shines from within, a gentle way about you, you are curious about your world, and enthusiastic about living life. You are intelligent, charming, inventive, and one of a kind.

You’re so many things, still and quiet, exuberant and bubbly, an observer, the center of attention, strong and independent, cuddly and huggable. You adore adventures and are immensely creative.

You love trying new things. Some firsts for this year are flying on an airplane, bowling, attending your first UVA basketball game, swimming alone with arm floats, riding a bike with training wheels, and visiting the mountains.

You are oh so sweet and generous with your hugs and “I love yous” to those you’re close too. You have strong relationships with people you spend a lot of time with.

You are thoughtful and are the most enthusiastic helper ever. Whenever work needs to be done, you love to assist or have me assist you. You work very hard and diligently when you are engaged with a project.

You started school this year at First United Methodist Preschool, going two mornings a week. It was very hard at first, for you and me, but now you love going. I could not have dreamed up a more wonderful school for you to be a part of. You had such a wonderful time with Ms. Paige and Ms. Marcella and your friends this year.

We are going through a language explosion at our house right now. You are talking up a storm and asking about things that happened months ago and books that we read months ago. When you are not talking you’re singing.

I told wesley we needed self-rising flour and he went out back and picked me one.

I asked him what he had that he pedaled with his feet, and he replied "pedals."

To Wesley Neil Swanson
From David Christopher Naylor Swanson
April 4, 2009

We took you to the doctor for an annual checkup a couple of days ago, Wesley, and you hadn't been since last year. He couldn't find anything wrong with you, and you now stand 37 inches tall and weigh 33 pounds, so you've fallen in both weight and height to more average for your age, whereas you started out big in both, and you've fallen more in weight because you're slimming out, you're finishing being a baby. You are, however, very interested in babies and sometimes like to pretend to be one or to take care of one.

You'd only seen this doctor once before, a year ago, but you were perfectly comfortable playing with him, at least with mommy and daddy there. But you're also comfortable at school now. You go two mornings a week, Wes. I take you, and mommy picks you up. At first you hated it, and mommy had to go with you. Now you look forward to seeing your teachers and friends. Now you're no longer afraid to play with new kids at playgrounds, and you're starting to be interested in actually playing things together with friends.

This is the Caboose we stayed in two nights to celebrate Wes's third birthday. Wesley LOVED it and wants to go back. Highlights for Wes included exploring the caboose, playing in the cupola, sleeping in a sleeping bag, roasting marshmallows and eating ice cream, watching a cub scout pine wood derby, visiting the nearby Safari park, and visiting the transportation museum in Roanoke, VA.

Can you believe he's almost 3? I have to call him my darling boy while he still lets me :)

His first try - on a bike given to him by his big cousin Travis.

Wesley is still 2 but going on 16. He can now ride a bicycle with training wheels and wants to drive a racecar. He can use the toilet and wants to get rid of diapers forever. He can talk a mile a minute and wants to say more than can be said. He enjoys going to school now and talks a mile a minute there too and eats the snack they have there and plays with his friends. He can still be shy, but he's clearly getting more comfortable. He can get undressed and dressed all by himself, but the trickier part is getting him to want to, since he knows that he can delay something he doesn't want (like going to bed). He has opinions about everything but he's also learning how to be polite, accept disappointment. He is some sort of scientist or mechanical engineer, with no use for toys but a great deal of interest in playing with anything real that can be taken apart and figured out and put back together. He can go for a long hike in the woods with us or ride his tricycle from one end of the Downtown Mall to the other and back. And the whole time he can tell you anything that happens, including recounting for you what someone else just said as if you didn't hear it -- just for the sake of talking. He's also good at singing, and at pretending ... to be a baby, a dog, a cat, a train, a boat, a car. He can kick and blow bubbles and loves to try to swim. He can kick a soccer ball. He has no fear of heights, speed, or dizziness, and wants to be swung like a helicopter. He loves to dance. His only fears are the dark sometimes and being apart from Mommy.

January 4, 2009

Dear Friends,

Our greeting goes out to you a bit later than usual this year because we celebrated Christmas with our family on New Year’s Day. This was the year for Kelly and David and their families to be with their in-laws on December 25th, so they had a second celebration with us on January 1. We enjoyed every minute of our time together this past week!

It's happened gradually over recent weeks, but Wesley now speaks in long sentences, not just phrases and fragments. He's growing up. Of course, as I type this I hear him shouting "Go to Down Town Mall!"

The pedestrian street in Charlottesville, the Down Town Mall, is Wesley's favorite place in the world. He simply can't get enough of going there and running around. When will America learn that every town should have a square?

Whenever we stay at Gram and Gramps' house we wander over to a playground and football field nearby. There's a big blocking sled sitting out there with yellow pads on it. Wesley calls it the yellow thing, and he's been excited about it ever since his daddy first showed him how to slam into it. Wesley pretends that things at home are the yellow thing and runs and blocks them. Tonight he declared that daddy was the yellow thing and ran headfirst into me. Does this mean Wesley is going to be a football player?

Wesley played with his cousins Hallie and Travis, his Mommy and Daddy, his Aunt Kelly, and his Gum and Gup this weekend. He sang songs for everyone, songs he's learned at preschool, which he now goes to twice a week for three hours.

Wesley joined hundreds of animals, monsters, princesses, vikings, astronauts, and even two other octopuses at the University of Virginia for trick or treating tonight. Click the photos for large versions. Wesley went last year as a stomposaurus, and the year before he was a lion.

This year Wesley wanted to be an octopus, and he was a great one. He saw some of his friends: one was a football player and another a cheerleader. Wesley understood how to trick or treat this time and was not afraid to crowd in there and do it (there was an endless crowd of little creatures and parents around every door).

We came home and read about Curious George and Halloween. Wesley will remember exactly what it's all about next year, including how to carve the pumpkins, which he has also helped with three years in a row. I wonder what he'll want to dress as next time.