Wyatt's Words

The last week we have been working on a goal for Wyatt. He has been attempting the impossible. That task, the daunting and unattainable feat, is to go five days without calling anyone names or using bad words. Wyatt's favorites have been wide and varied, including from one time to another: dummy, dumb dumb, funk in the trunk, doo doo head, funk head, poopy head, and so many more I cease to remember...

I have implemented the sticker system to earn him a treat since my efforts in "Time Out" have been totally useless. Time outs did nothing to inhibit his mouth from uttering his favorite pejoratives. So for his first five sticker reward he chose to go to Mt. Madonna County Park which is about 25 minutes from our home.

Here the kids are looking at the maps to help direct our walk to the Miller Ruins.


Wyatt looks more unlike me as he gets older...kinda makes me a little sad.


We walked a short way to climb upon the concrete foundations of the Miller Estate. Miller bought the lands, which now are owned by the Park, in the late 1800's. The lands were clear cut then and there were views to the ocean and eastern valley from the home site.


Now, over 100 years later, the forests have grown back and consist of a mixture of redwood and oak. The trees are tall and the undergrowth thick so you can only see as far as a few hundred feet.


This tree, a coast redwood (Sequoiadendron diversilobum), was probably one of the few sparred from the ax during logging over a century ago. It was the biggest tree we encountered. Ella is barely 3 feet tall so you can see by it's size it is ancient in comparison to us mere mortals.


Wyatt demonstrates his advanced map reading skills. We managed to not get lost somehow...


Leading the walk, I hope he enjoyed his reward for not saying bad words or calling names. That he came up with this trip totally unprompted surprised me. I never know just what to expect from my little boy.