Downton Blabby: Wilder's June 2016

Wilder. June 2016

This month has flown by! I haven't even had time to post! Every day, Wilder comes up with something new to say. We have so much fun listening to him process his world. He loves to be with his family, but he also is really good at playing by himself with something like his trains or machines.

This is such a fun stage most of the time. We enjoy going for walks, running errands together, reading books and playing toys. He likes meticulous things like his trains too. We've brought out the water table and he's endlessly fascinated by it. Wilder has so much fun playing with Zach and entertaining his sister.

He's picky about food right now, but he still hums when he ears something good. Consistent favorite foods include yogurt, cheese, most fruits, peanut butter and peanut buttercrackers.

We tell him "I love you" and he says "I come to you." That's how he says I love you back. :-)

The other day he met a bunch of kids from other countries with a church ministry we work with. I told him in the car to say "hello, my name is Wilder. How are you?" Later, I saw him with a bunch of tween girls like he was their mascot. (Zach was nearby). The kids were running around, chasing each other, one girl just carried him everywhere. They were playing games with younger kids and just having a good time. Not Wilder's usual social style at all. Normally he's a bit shy and definitely likes his own body space. Later Zach told me Wilder just walked up to the kids and said "Hi, I'm Wilder Dean," and wanted to play. The girl carrying him had 8 siblings so maybe he sensed the familiarity. It was neat to see him playing with them and I was surprised he was so open to the new social situation.

I think he really knows his name now and he has the funniest positive self talk. He will walk around doing stuff (like throwing a ball) and saying "Good job Wilder Dean! Way to go buddy! I did great!" He also will walk up to Felicity and say "Hi Felicity! How are you?"

We went to Red River New Mexico ,this month. Wilder loved throwing rocks in the river and walking in the mountains. We'd really hyped it up on the way up there (12 - hour drive!) and so seeing it in person, he was in awe looking at the mountains and forest around us. I am so glad we got to go because Red River is really special to the Boatwrights. This was the 50th year Dean (zachs dad) went up the trails there. It was just a lot of fun to let Wilder explore the outdoors.

Here are some photos from this past week: