The Art of Not Posting

I knew that I would probably struggle to come up with new and interesting information for all of my avid readers (hi family!), but never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would actually make it an entire month, or two, before posting again.

The most interesting new thing to report is that Link is tall enough that our old spots to put things we didn't want him to see or grab are no longer useful. He can reach things on the kitchen counter (to a certain degree), he knows now how to open drawers and actually look for something he knows he saw us put in, and he's even figured out how to get on my nerves so I'll just give in (for those of you playing the home game, the answer is: shrieking like a pterodactyl).

When we're bored, well, when I'm bored, we take a very short trip to the Children's Museum of South Dakota. Anyone at the Wulf house will tell you that being so close to the museum is a God sent for us. When we visit, typically once a week (a special thanks/shout out to Dad and Vicki for the year membership, it's more than paid for by now!) we like to let Link run around on his own. We've been enough times that he has a handle on where things are. And since we are a stay-at-home bunch, we're able to go when school is in, meaning there's maybe a dozen other people there when we go. For those of you that haven't yet had the pleasure of visiting (family from out of state, good day!) some highlights include:

• A giant light and color wall (think Lite Bright)
• A water room (picture included)
• A kid-sized grocery store, complete with cash registers (with fake money), grocery store items (empty boxes with labels, fake eggs, veggies, etc.)
• A "farm" where kids can pick corn, tomatoes, potatoes and carrots
• A well-stocked art room (I think this room is more for me than Link right now, it might change later)

Another reason we enjoy the museum so much is because of what happens to Link when we get home:

If we're lucky, Link will take a two-hour nap sometime during the afternoon, preferably earlier in the day. But on children's museum days, he's typically asleep by the time we get home, or shortly thereafter.

We are trying to get better about limiting Link's TV time, but if he's watching anything, there's a 90% chance it's talking veggies and includes a Bible message. I realize that this doesn't justify letting him watch several hours of TV a day, but it's nice to know that he's actually learning valuable lessons (like that God made him special).

We've also recently purchased a set of Dr. Seuss themed flash cards to try and teach Link colors and shapes. He seems more interested in sticking the cards in the printer and any other place that's less than ideal, but he will sometimes humor me for a minute or two.

Link is now in a toddler bed! At his last doctor's visit, it was something we asked about, and when we were told there wasn't really a set limit like car seats, we decided to give it a go. Link's crib converts by taking off the front, so we did that for a few nights and found that Link was rolling out of his bed. With that, we made a trip to our friendly neighborhood Walmart and that night Tyler put together the new bed, complete with roll bars. Since then, Link has been sleeping fairly well in his own bed, and now, when he wakes up at night, he gets out of bed and walks to our room, rather than crying. If it's too early for us to have him with us, Tyler walks Link back to his room, and nine times out of ten, Link will fall back asleep.

Something I'd like to do at this point is include a list of the words Link knows. I get this question a lot, plus, since he's just-ish passed the year-and-a-half mark, it will be fun to look back at someday (there's probably more than what's on the list, but obviously I couldn't think of them). Without further adieu:

1. Uh-oh
2. Up (said more like "up-ah")
3. Please
4. Thank You
5. Get Down (which to anyone else sounds like "thank you")
6. No
7. Bye-Bye
8. Love You (sounds more like "Ah ooo")
9. Night-night
10. Sleepy
11. Yeah
12. Mommy
13. Dadda
14. Nana (meaning either Nana or banana, depending on where we are)
15. Owwie (is it strange that it bothers me that I don't actually know how to spell this? I've never had to know before... hmmmm)
16. Stinky
17. More (sounds like "moe")
18. No
19. All better ("ah beh-er")
20. OK

Well, that's all that's happened since I've last posted, and I will make it my best effort to keep the time in-between posts shorter from now on.