How to hide PAGES

I created several pages (vs. posts) that I do not want to show up in my Pages list (side bar) the sidebar currently codes…
<li id="pages"><h2><?php _e('pages'); ?></h2>

<?php wp_list_pages ('sort_column=post_name&title_li=') ?>

If i replace it with this…

<?php wp_list_pages('exclude=2,17&title_li=<h2>' . __('Pages') . '</h2>' ); ?>

I get the same result. I only want to show the parent page and let the others be links within the page. http://www.serving-sandiego.com is the site in question.