Wesley and His Tie

This boy just melts my heart.  He brings so much joy to our lives.  On Sunday mornings when Wesley finds out it's 'church day' he takes off shrieking down the hallway 'it's church day!  It's church day!'  He gets out his church clothes and shoes and gets ready.  From the moment he finds out the repeated question falls out of his mouth 'is it time to go to church yet?'

Wesley had so much fun showing my dad his tie.  He seemed pretty tickled that 'parmpa' (his cute pronunciation of grandpa) was wearing one too.  I'm guessing that he showed more than just my dad and Phil his tie that day.

I've seen little glimpses of his adult self.  This picture is a fascinating blend of Phil and myself.  A lot of times Wesley looks like my dad did as a kid.  Yet he has the same facial shape and so many of the same mannerisms as Phil.  They wipe water from their faces the exact same way.  It's amusing and slightly eerie when I witness that.

Wesley has a smile that spreads far beyond his face, and when you hear his laugh you can't help but join in.  This makes keeping a straight face during difficult, especially when he's needing some *ahem* redirection.

While Wesley is all boy and loves to run, wrestle, and shoot anything that remotely looks like a gun, he's got a gentle side too.  He takes off bounding down the hall to greet Miles at the first awake cry, and gives him such tender hugs.  Wesley also loves to help me, he's quick to push a chair over to the counter, and he can clean his room up solo faster than the girls can do theirs together.  I love watching him create and imagine.  His vocabulary has just started blowing up, and letter recognition has begun.  Wesley is so expressive when he talks that half the time I am so mesmerized by his movements that I don't even listen to the story.  This allows me to ask him to repeat it again so I can listen while chuckling over his expressions the second time.  Live instant replay is awesome.

I love this little guy, and I pray that when he grows up, gets married and has kids that he still comes home frequently and lights up my life like he does now.