Sammy Sitting Tall

Sam sat up tall all by himself today for the very first time and held the position for quite a few minutes until he looked up and tipped over backward. He is getting stronger and stronger each day and it is so fun to see him learn new things.



Wyatt is also learning new things and his language skills are growing by the day. He is starting to make short sentences and before the video was shot said, "Look, Sammy. Wyatt's digging."

Gymboree

I introduced Wyatt to our local Gymboree this afternoon and he had a blast. The local rec center hosts a kids play date on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week for a 2 hour block and kids ages 0-5 can come tumble, slide, ride bikes, etc. in the gymnasium. We went with our neighbor Elia and she showed Wyatt the ropes.

It took Wyatt about 2 minutes to discover a Little Tikes police car and he was hooked. He scooted that toy around for 30 minutes straight before trying something else. When he discovered that another little boy was playing with the police car he went up to him and quietly said "Wyatt's turn?". I encouraged him to find something else to play with (there were more than enough toys) and he was good about it and ran off to find something else fun to do. About 20 minutes later I saw him sprinting across the gym and he snagged the now empty police car. He had been waiting so patiently but had not forgotten about his patrol car. He drove it around for another 30 minutes before the play date ended.

Sam also got in on the action with Elia's daddy's help on the slide. He was fine going down the first time but loudly told Johnny he was done with sliding for the day, thank you very much!

Here Wyatt is in the police car. Notice how he nearly takes out a 1 year old with his crazy moves in reverse.

Sleeping Sam

Sam has slept through the night for 3 nights in a row and it has been WONDERFUL!!!! I hope he can keep this up. I'm still having to feed him around 4 or 5 am but he goes back to sleep until big brother wakes us all up.

Sam is also becoming more aware of toys and I caught him playing with a couple of noisy ones this morning. Here's the video...

They Call Me The Fireman

Ross brought his gear home this week because he'll be instructing at the Fire Academy. Wyatt found the gear and couldn't wait to try it on. He must have worn that helmet around the house for 2 days straight.

Ross has also been running hose evolutions with Wyatt. Here they are washing off the house. Wyatt's a probie in training.

Wynonna

Ross took me to see Wynonna on Monday night at the Puyallup Fair and we had a great time. It was actually my Mother's Day present and the concert was worth the wait. Wynonna has always been one of my favorite singers and when he surprised me with tickets to see her live I was so excited and touched at the thoughtfulness of his gift.

Wynonna blew the house down with her amazingly powerful voice and she sang my three favorite songs back-to-back to open her show. It was like Ross had set it up special. She performed with the tacoma Symphony and they were terrific too.

We had awesome seats, sitting center stage in the sixth row and we were about 30 feet away from Wynonna. If I hadn't known any better I may have been fooled my the Wynonna fanatic or should I say impersonator sitting right in front of my with the exact same hair and make-up. The lady (man?) even had a wrapped gift for Wynonna so I may have been sitting next to a genuine Wynonna stalker.



Here she is singing "Only Love", which is our song...



And here she is rockin' it!

Firsts

This has been a week of firsts for the Tucci household. We kicked off the week with a trip to Auntie Julie's and found out that Wyatt gets car sick. The poor kiddo lost his lunch everywhere in the car and just didn't know how to tell us that he wasn't feeling well until it was too late. I should have known better than to give him a book to read on a windy road since I get car sick really easy but I didn't dream that he'd have any problems. I guess I was wrong. We've been practicing saying the word "puke" ever since so hopefully he can let us know before the mess next time.

Once he was cleaned up he had a much better day and went swimming for the first time. He more wadded than swam in the lake but he had a blast with his cousins. Sam narrowly escaped his first swim too when the stroller brakes failed after 20 minutes and he began to race toward the water. Luckily, an iron bench stopped him before the lake did! No "Mom of The Year" awards for me if THAT had happened!

Yesterday Wyatt blew me away when he said "I love you Mommy" when I was putting him down for a nap. He had said his version of "I love you" before but it was always in response to Ross or I saying it first. This was his first time saying it all on his own because he was thinking/feeling it. Oh, what a precious moment!

Last night Sam also crawled for the first time (and got a nibble of an ice cream sandwich as a reward). I got it on video but can't get it to post so I'll try to get some more footage posted soon so you can share in our excitement over the adorableness of it all. Ross says he's more doing the breaststroke on dry land than crawling but it's forward propulsion nonetheless so it counts! I haven't decided if his new skill will make my life easier or harder...

Here's a video of Sam's first ice cream sandwich. THIS WAS ROSS' IDEA!! He thought he wouldn't like the cold but apparently he has my sweet tooth.

Learning to Count

Ross counted to 10 this morning and Wyatt chimed in "11 - 12." We were shocked and I was able to capture some of his counting on video.

Ice Cream & Trains

Nancy and the cousins came by last weekend for a belated birthday party for Ross and we all went out for ice cream in Snoqualmie. Wyatt had his first official ice cream cone and loved it. We bought him a scoop of chocolate ice cream in a cup but as soon as he saw his dad's huckleberry on a cone, he pushed his cup away and took dad's. I'm not sure if it was the flavor of ice cream or the cone itself but Ross was not going to get that cone back. Did I mention he had some chocolate milkshake too? That kid is a moocher! But really, who could say no to those beautiful blue eyes?

Afterward, we went across the street to the train museum and the kids got to climb on the trains. Wyatt loved it and I think we will go back again soon and take an actual train ride.

Sam's First Bike Ride

We took Sam out on his first bike ride last week and had such a great time. I've been waiting ALL SUMMER for Sam to be big enough to ride behind my bike in the charriot and now that he is nearly 18 pounds he can comfortably sit next to his big brother and go for a ride.

We rode around the neighborhood and ended up at the park, which is Wyatt's most favorite place in the entire world. Here are some cute pictures I captured of Ross and the boys at the park this week...





Look Dad! An Airplane!



As much as Wyatt likes me to do the peddling, he still likes to try to ride the big bikes.

Happy Birthday Ross

We celebrated Ross birthday on Aug. 31 and Wyatt couldn't wait to sing Daddy the Happy Birthday song. We'd been practicing all week...

We also had a barbecue at our house on the 30th with all of Ross' friends and their families over for burgers, beer and berry cobbler. It was so nice to have friends over for the first time in a really, really long time.

Wyatt liked playing with the other kids too, especially digging in the dirt with Cody until they were covered head-to-toe in filth.