Illini Wye-Guy

+ Brackets 2017

Illini Basketball didn't do so well this year, much to Forest's disappointment. However, Wylie was completely unaware of this fact and wore a big smile along with some Illini clothing to pose for pictures:

(With three older sisters, I knew it was just a matter of time before he would also be involuntarily dressed in female apparel.)

More smiles from our Illini guy:

In addition to orange and blue, he is also wearing some bruises in the photo below. Now that he has started crawling, climbing, and pulling up on furniture, he has managed to bump his head a lot more frequently.

The Fighting Illini did not make it into the NCAA men's basketball tournament this year, but we of course still had all the kids fill out brackets, anyway. Ramona and Mika were old enough to do theirs on the computer, but we pulled out the printed cards with mascots to help Paula and Wylie complete theirs.

In the end, Wylie chose as his champion a No. 16 seed underdog: Mount St. Mary's.

 Paula also chose an unlikely candidate: Vermont.

Mika chose Minnesota for its letter "M" and Ramona used her newly learned "chalk" methods to select Villanova.

Once the tournament began, I don't think the kids really knew how well their brackets held up. I guess most of the fun for them comes with picking!