Westin These Days

Not much to report from this week, so I thought I'd catch up on some fun facts and stories about Westin.

1.) Westin has become little buddies with Sylvina who works the smoothie counter at the gym. She's super sweet and adores Westin. Every time we walk in, she shouts out across the room "Mi a'more." She also usually gives W little smoothie tasters or chunks of bananas on our way out. Somehow, Westin started associating bananas with the word "mia." I guess that's what he could understand Sylvina say (she has a pretty strong accent). Now Westin calls a "banana," a "mia." And despite my best efforts, I can't get him to call it a banana.

2.) Westin is very much trying to show his independence in life. He has to do everything on his own. In fact, if I don't let him do something on his own, he'll throw a fit until I break down and let him do it. Example: the other night we were meeting Ryan on campus for an Anderson BBQ. There was a giant staircase we had to walk down, and while I started letting Westin do it on his own, he was taking so long that I just had to pick him up and carry him down. As you can imagine, this didn't go over well. After a little tantrum at the bottom of the stairs, he proceeded to walk back up the staircase and walk down all by himself.

3.) Westin loves nursery at church. After sacrament meeting he runs to the nursery, with or without us behind him. When we ask him what he likes to do in nursery, he says, "pay wid balls."

4.) Westin says hello and goodbye to just about everyone and everything. The other day as we were leaving the house, Westin turned back to the family room and waved goodbye as he said, "bye blocks."

5.) I am starting to actually have conversations with Westin. It's amazing how much he comprehends. A conversations from the other day:
Me: Westin, what would you like for dinner?
Westin: Cake.
Me: No. You can't have cake for dinner. What about chicken?
Westin: With dip? ("Dip" is usually ketchup or BBQ sauce)

6.) Westin still loves sports. Any time he sees a sport being played on TV, he starts shouting, "whoa, whoa, whoa!" He'll also repeat anything Ryan says to the TV. Not too long ago Ryan was watching golf and shouted, "Come on, Phil!" to the TV. Not a second later, the exact same words, in the exact same tone came from Westin's mouth. Clearly, we really need to start watching what we say around him. He picks up on everything!

7.) Westin still loves planes, trains and automobiles... of any kind. He loves to watch the airplanes and "big jets" at the Santa Monica airport. He points out garbage trucks, moving trucks and buses as we drive around town. And he still watches the "garbage guy" every morning from our window.

8.) My new favorite word that Westin says: Hippopotamus

9.) As you saw in the video a few days ago, Westin likes to count. Today I heard him in the backseat counting totally on his own. Here's how it went: 1, 2, 3, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 15 ,11. He particularly like the number 11. I know this because every time he says it, he shouts it.

10.) W has taken a strong liking to the big Legos. He loves to "build up high" and hates when his towers break. In fact, he hates when anything breaks, including food. The other day his nutrigrain bar broke so he refused to eat it. Another time, I broke a piece of his food off to share with a friend and he freaked, saying, "it broke, it broke!"

11.) Westin loves to jump. He especially likes to climb onto the couches, jump up, and land on his bum.

12.) He also likes to cook with mom. Whenever I'm in the kitchen making dinner, he comes in and says, "I cook." I haven't quite figured out an efficient way for him to actually help me cook, so he usually ends up getting an empty bowl and a few spoons to work on his own.

13.) His favorite drink is apple juice. His favorite foods include, string cheese, gold fish, quesadillas, chips, bananas (mia), strawberries, blueberries, chicken, yogurt, eggs, sweet potato fries (homemade baked ones... unless we go to The Counter and then they're the fried kind) and pizza.

In short, Westin is just so much fun to be around. He is the happiest little dude I know. Even when he's walking or running, it's more like he's skipping or galloping. He can't help it. There's just a bounce to his step. He's just got a natural happy nature about him. I hope and pray that never goes away. Ryan and I are so lucky to be his parents.