Wiley's Breaks the Silence

After a long silence, Wiley has become rather vocal about his lack of attention in the blog. He wanted to share a few things that will help remind everyone that these are the adventures of Aden AND Wiley.

- Wiley now has TEN teeth!

- Wiley loves dogs, and loves to play with balls.

- Wiley is getting big, just like his brother. (Though he doesn't yet weigh 20 pounds.) He is no longer nursing and can even out-eat his big brother.

- Wiley knows FIVE words in sign language (please, more, milk, all done, change).

- Wiley has a HUGE toothy grin.

- Wiley never cried on two flights today, in spite of a "significant" ear infection (diagnosed only yesterday).

- Wiley is on the verge of running, motivated to keep up with big brother Aden.

- Wiley is saying lots of new words, trying hard to earn more space on this blog. So, we have introduced "Wiley's New Words" in the column at the right.

Pretending

Aden is really moving into a phase of pretend play. Since we saw Tim Radcliffe play basketball a few weeks ago, one of his favorite things to do is to play "Tim." Aden loved to run back and forth in our hotel rooms, or a living room, or a church hallway, telling us to cheer for Tim or asking us to say, "Shoot the ball, Tim!" so that he could throw his arms up in the air. During our hours on the road, he was Tim playing the drums, or it was Tim's birthday and we would all have to sing Happy Birthday to Tim. We would clap for Tim and his amazing basketball abilities. Daddy would change "Tim's" diaper, or give "Tim" a bath, as Aden narrated his activities throughout the day. Just as it got to be quite an obsession, Aden shifted gears a bit. He began to play "Cilla." Cilla was the basketball player, Cilla would take a bath with Lydia (Wiley), Cilla was having a birthday . . . All of this has led into just what you would expect - Daddy and Mommy are now Bubba Jim and Aunt Kathy.

Playing Deputation

All of Aden's time on the front row of our services is starting to surface in his play . . .

Lately he's been playing "deputation," although he doesn't call it that. He usually just announces, "We're mishuwawies" or "We're speaking to all the kids." Then he talks about Samuel and Eli (a story Mommy usually shares), or asks us to sing in Pidgin. Sometimes he'll raise his hands and mimic the latest music leader, encouraging everyone around to "Pwaise the Lord". At least he isn't growing tired of church!

Niagara Falls

We spent the first eight days of November speaking ten times on the Central Canada District (mostly the Toronto area of Ontario). Since the drive from Xenia, Ohio to Toronto, Ontario would be quite long for our boys, we broke it into three days. We are getting pretty good at making long trips even longer. On the first day we drove an hour and a half north to Mount Vernon, spending the night after watching Tim Radcliffe play basketball (related blog coming soon). The next day we drove to Buffalo, NY and spent the night in a nice hotel (thanks to a good deal on Priceline.com) after a nice evening with Joel and Bekah Potter. The third day we stopped at Niagara Falls - both on the US side and the Canadian side - before heading on to Toronto.

On the New York side, once we had stopped for lunch, the boys enjoyed watching the river and hearing the roar of the falls. Aden's favorite part was walking up the steps and onto the half-bridge to look at the falls. Then he got cold and Mommy took the boys inside where it was warm while Daddy took more pictures.



Then we drove over to the Canadian side, marking a new country for Aden and Wiley. It was cold and drizzly when we arrived, and only cleared up a bit while we were there. Wiley rode in the baby carrier, wrapped in Mommy's coat, and Aden bundled up in a hat and coat. In spite of the cold, the boys seemed to enjoy looking at all the water. We even managed to get a decent family photo. As the boys became more restless, we decided it was time to get back in the car where they might fall asleep on the way to our first service. Just as we had walked back to the car and were driving away, the sun came out and made some beautiful lighting on the falls. So Mommy jumped out of the car with the camera and Daddy, Aden, and Wiley drove around the block before coming to pick her up.

Febuwawy eight - . . .

(pause) . . . - teen. - when Aden will be "fwee," according to Aden.