the cage is back in action!

when chase, william and i returned from san diego in 2006, my mom had bought and assembled the cage (better known as a superyard xt to those who care) in our den. it quickly became my best friend! to those who have never experienced the joy of a mobile, little person, it may seem cruel. but to those who have, i think we would all agree that the dude who invented this thing is highly deserving of the next nobel peace prize. anyway, today i realized that it was time to pull my little friend out of the closet and set him up once again in the middle of the den. as i mentioned in a previous post, wes has really been on the go lately and pulling up on stuff. well, his confidence in doing so has reached a new level. as he was standing up playing his piano, doing a lovely stevie wonder impersonation, i rounded the corner and watched him fall on his head. screaming ensued. i watched him try to pull up on a bucket of legos which, much to his displeasure, dumped out all over him as he fell. screaming ensued. i walked out of the room for 2 seconds to get his and william's jackets, and upon return found him standing up next to the hearth. now, thankfully, i do have some of those foam, rubber things that line the brick around it, but we do have a sliver of hardwood floor between the carpet and hearth. he had on socks. i got to him just in time to catch him as he slipped and prevented that ER trip and the screaming that would have ensued! so.....out came the cage!



it's a huge hit. wes loves it. he can crawl all over it and pull up on the walls. i put his toys in there, and he's as happy as can be. william loves it. he made me drape a blanket over part of it to make a "cave," and he stayed in there all night! mama loves it. two kids corralled in 8 square feet of space. what's not to love?




*in my first post, i wrote about william's "character of the day" role playing. well, i had to mention of few of the new characters.
1) horse....no name, just horse.
2)biscuit....the puppy dog. anybody with kids has probably read at least one biscuit book. we have all 800 (thanks miss shirley), and william is infatuated with each and every one. he likes for you to tie a ribbon on his belt loop (the leash) and take him walking to the big city and the pet show.
3)cook man....a japanese hibachi grill cook. we went to eat at one of these last weekend with william's buddy, charlie. it was their first time to witness this obviously amazing display of genius. he will stand at his easel in the kitchen and throw his arms in all directions (cooking) and then present you with some rice for your enjoyment.

4)noah....from the bible. this one is my personal favorite. you'll walk in the kitchen, and the conversation will go something like this:

"hey, i'm noah. get your hammers out!"

"noah who?" (we have several noah friends.)

"noah, the ark noah. get your hammers out!"

"why do i need a hammer, noah?"

"to build my boat!"

at which point, he heads over to his workbench to get his hammer and then proceeds to beat on every wall, cabinet, chair and table in my house as he builds his boat. wes thinks this is hilarious, and sometimes if he's feeling generous, william will give wes a wrench to help him out on the construction. poor little guy, maybe one day he'll graduate to the privileged position of hammerer.