The important things in life, part 2

Train up a child ...

The important things in life

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
~Proverbs 22:6

Big-boy haircut & 23 months

So this is I think the fourth haircut we've given Spence in his short, less than two years of life. He was such a good boy for the whole thing. For the previous three cuts, he had to sit in Joe's lap, where Joe was obliged to basically pin him down. This time, he was just a perfect angel, sitting all by himself, holding perfectly still, even bending forward and gripping the bars of the stepping stool for me to get the back of his head. Precious! I just love how tiny he looks in this picture and how far down I had to reach to clip his little head. Such a little boy acting so grown up. *sniff* And yes, I've got a belly. I feel huge, and I still have three months to go. Yikes.

Spence is 23 months old today. Just a month to go before I stop counting his age in months! Yes! I thought it appropriate on this momentous occasion to include some of the more entertaining Spencerisms.
* Spence calls sneezes "Bess yous." If he sneezes twice, he says, "Two bess yous!"
* At random, Spence will say, "How 'bout ... groceries?" I don't know why this phrase has stuck in his little head. I was using the bathroom yesterday, and he was talking to me under the door, as usual. "Mommy potty," he said. "Yep, Mommy's going potty," I agreed. Pause. "How 'bout ... groceries?"
* Spencer's counting is improving daily, but for some reason, he loves the numbers 5 and 8 in Spanish. So his counting goes something like this: "One, two, two, two, cinco!" (He always gets hung up on "three.") Or "One, ocho, two, two, two, ocho, ... sick-seben-eight-nine-ten!"
* Spence can distinguish between the following vehicles: city bus, school bus, double bus, fire truck, car, Daddy truck (all pick-ups), big truck, cement truck, garbage truck, mail truck, airplane, motorcycle, and bike. I find this impressive and very male.
* Spence loves anything that has to do with fire, particularly candles. He talks about blowing them out all the time, but unfortunately, he can't say "blow out." He says "poop out," or sometimes just "poop," which has made for such hilarious repeated statements as "I poop candles" and "I poop fire." Joe and I about die with silent laughter every time.
* Spence has started scolding himself before he's about to do something naughty. When I hear in a warning little tone of voice, "Spencer ... Spencer ... Buddy ... No, do dat!" coming from the other room, I know that speed is of the essence.

Happy 23 months of life, buddy! We love you times a million!

Giveaway at Everead

So I help a friend of mine write a book-review blog, mostly children's books and YA books, but some adult books as well. Anyway, we've been given some free copies of these two new gorgeous hardcover children's Christmas books by Scholastic to give away to our blog readers. So if you're interested, follow this link and leave a comment before Thanksgiving:
http://everead.blogspot.com/2009/11/merry-early-christmas-giveaway.html
They really are lovely books. And we have two sets of them to give away. So go comment! Don't be shy! The more the merrier! These books are great, and they'll be sent to you for free. Merry Christmas to you! The first one is written by a NY Times bestselling children's author with a Caldecott-honor illustrator. The other one tells the original classic story of the Nutcracker with really magical new illustrations. Okay, 'nuff said. Go comment!

Spencer silliness

Spencer's first attempt to undress himself ... this is as far as he got:
And raking time!
1. I'm not so sure about this, guys ...
2. Nope, definitely not okay with being stuck in the middle of this giant pile of leaves!
3. Dad to the rescue!
4. Best pals.

And happy birthday, Gum-ma! You are a beautiful and gracious lady, and we love you!

29 candles

Joe is now just a year away from the big 3-0, which is crazy to me. When I met Joe, he was fresh off of his mission, a spry 21-year-old. Eight happy years later, adulthood and husbandhood and fatherhood suit you well, Joe. Love you times a million.

We didn't quite burn the house down with his candles, as happy as such a scenario would've made our little pyro, Spencer, but it did take four people to light them all quickly enough to keep the candle wax from melting into the beautiful homemade cheesecake I created.

For his birthday, Joe got special fruit juice, goat cheese, an air compressor (which he'll wait until Black Friday to purchase at Harbor Freight), Floam, and a gun. Yes, a gun. A $4 Nerf gun that shoots foam darts. Best I can/will do. :)

Happy 29th, Joe!

Funny randomness

Spencer's afraid of the pumpkin Joe carved, and can you blame the kid? It's pretty spooky. At least we got him to imitate Joe's sinister laugh. Turn up your volume to hear it properly. And yes, he is dragging around a half-full bag of diapers. Who knows why.