davidswanson's blog

Wesley has met pelicans, dolphins, and all kinds of new fauna and flora in the Conch Republic.

More Here.

By Daddy

Wesley, Hallie, and Travis fell asleep on the moon on Christmas Eve. They'd flown there in canoes pulled by ostriches all the way from the piano room, up the stairs, and into their moon beds, still humming songs about Frosty and Rudolph and Santa Claus. Wesley had wanted to know where flying reindeer stopped to use the bathroom, and before Hallie could think of a reasonable answer, whatever that would have been, Travis had explained that reindeer often took breaks on the moon. So, off to the moon the children went in ostrich-pulled canoes (don't ask).

How many days in a row can one three-year-old boy wake up and play Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band CD at full volume, songs 1 and 11, "Dan Tucker" and "Pay Me My Money Down" while dancing, jumping, screaming, and jamming on the guitar? We don't know but are pretty sure Wesley has broken the record and is extending it.

Wesley and his mommy and daddy, Gram, and Uncle Matt, spent a week at Rehoboth Beach, renting a part of a house less than a block from the boardwalk. Wesley had a terrific time, as we all did. Wesley had been to Virginia Beach for a couple of days when he was one, but now he's three and he spent a whole week in the sand and waves.

Actually, we only spent part of each day at the beach and none at all a couple of days. One day we went to Jungle Jim's water park, where Wesley floated on a river and slid down water slides and loved every moment.

Most days we went to Fun Land, a few blocks from us on the boardwalk, where Wesley drove fire engines, helicoptors, motorcycles, etc., played in a playground with a pool full of balls and moonbounce etc., and took his mommy and daddy on rides that turned their stomachs but not his.

Wesley loved the ocean at first, without a trace of fear or concern. We held him and put floats on his arms and helped him swim, and he screamed with delight. But then I took him out in a little inflatable boat, which he loved until we came into the beach and a big wave tipped us over.

Then Wesley was quite concerned about the waves, and it took a couple of days before he wanted to go swimming. It helped that he also went and got soaked and sprayed in more controled ways at Jungle Jim's. It helped that Anna got Wesley a good book about waves. And it helped that the waves got smaller. Then at the end of the trip the waves grew much bigger, which I loved for body surfing, but which made it harder to swim with Wesley. However, after we got home, Wesley told me he liked the big waves, and I expect by next year he will.

We stopped in Annapolis on the way home and rode on a boat. Gram and Matt drove home a different way. Wesley loved living with them and having his mommy and daddy on vacation for a week. He's getting used to the real world again now.

We stopped at Wesley's Gum and Gup's house on the way home from Annapolis and he told them all about it.

There are more photos in the Fourth Year gallery.

We wish Gramps had been able to come -- maybe next time.

Wesley loved playing in the sand. We'll see how it transfers to his sand box at home.

He also loved living in a different house and knowing the address of it and how to find it from the boardwalk.

Remember this photo of Wesley and a sunflower he grew last year when he was two? Here's a new one of three-year-old Wesley with a new sunflower he grew, one of several accompanying all the vegetables and herbs in our backyard.

Wesley likes planting, watering, weeding, wheelbarrowing, raking, mowing, harvesting, and especially cooking, sometimes even eating.

Click photo to enlarge it.

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.

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.

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.

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.