Wes is 2 1/2. I just bought him his first box of diapers where the baby on front is actually standing and walking instead of sitting or crawling. Wes is really growing up, finally.

He’s tall enough to reach door handles and, if they’re the lever kind, to pull down on them and open the door. This I discovered today at church when he helped himself to a classroom whose door had been closed.

This week he and I went to a farm and he got his first-ever pony ride.

He likes to sort and organize things. Very meticulously. Here he was taking my “I Love Lucy” DVDs out of the cabinet and putting them back in, but sometimes he pauses to examine the DVD box covers. I think he’s looking at the picture of Lucy on the front.

Also notice in that picture his sharp haircut. This morning Wesley’s hair was verging on hippie-esque, so while he was in the bath I tried cutting it. After accepting defeat I let him finish his bath, and when John came in to see why Wes was screaming so much he stayed to give me a hand and hold Wes while I snipped. Wes is pretty good natured, but certain sounds scare him: loud noises make him uneasy, and so does the sound of slicing or cutting. He doesn’t like it when I cut his toast, or slice meat or fruit. So scissors slicing away at his hair millimeters from his ears? Forget about it.

Whenever I cut Wesley’s hair people at church will usually comment when they see him: “Oh, did someone find the scissors? Naughty boy!” “My, what a creative style!” “He looks like such a little boy!” or something along those lines. But I will take the criticism for the crooked lines because much blood, sweat, and tears went into his uneven haircut (actually, we managed to avoid blood. But Wes had the tears, and me the sweat). But at least his hair is shorter.

Wes is an eager helper these days. He knows that “Let’s go do laundry” means that he can hand me soggy items from the washer for me to put into the dryer. And sometimes it means he can put the dirty items into the washer or pull the clean items from the dryer. He hasn’t gotten the knack of folding yet.

Here he is sweeping the outdoors.

And running.

And back to the meticulous organization thing, here he is sorting some rolls of paper towels into a laundry basket.

Last of all, John gave me permission to get Wes a sandbox. But we’re trying to be frugal and those sandboxes cost a lot. We trimmed the cost by getting a wading pool and then bags of sand to fill it with, plus a tarp to cover it with. Tomorrow Wes gets to break it in with his sandcastle building supplies.