Growing Up

Wright seems so much older to me recently. A couple examples:

- He will ask about our days/activities. "Daddy, how was your workout?", "Mommy did you have fun at your bible study?", "How was your day Daddy?" - guess the world is not all about him anymore :)

- He is always talking about time-related things. "When I wake up?", "Look Mommy, we went there last day two days (ie two days ago)"

Wright the Web Slinger

Wright has been into super heroes ever since we started potty training and he picked out super hero underwear. When his cousins from Atlanta were in town and he spent a lot of time with all the older boys, his obcession grew. For whatever reason, Spiderman has always been his favorite although he knows who they all are. The funniest part is that he insists that super heros are "bad guys", no matter what everyone tells him.

Today my mom took Wright on a date to Purple Cow and gave him his birthday present early because she will be out of town for the actual day. She got him his Spiderman Halloween costume. To say it was a big hit is a gross understatement. He loves it so much and does not want to take it off. He has been going around the house pretending to be Spidey the "web slinger" all day and night. Tonight I asked him, "Wright do you know what a super hero is?" and he answered "No." So I told him that they have super powers and use them for good like to save people falling from burning buildings. I said, "Superman would fly and save them and Spiderman would use his web to catch them." He seemed to finally get it.

Here are some funny Spidey quotes:

"I can't wear my glasses, I want to be the real guy."

"Spiderman picks up all the girls." - showing me with his arms how he would hold someone falling from a building

To Spencer "I am going to catch you in my web slinger when you fall."

State Fair

What is October in Dallas without a trip to the fair? We went last Sunday and had a blast. By far the biggest hit was the dog show. I have never seen Wright get so excited about a performance - WAY more than the Wiggles. We also went to the animal petting zoo. Last year Wright was too scared to feed them, but not anymore - that part was a highlight of the day. Other favorites were the car show and of course all the food. Wright kept saying he was still hungry even after he ate more than any good parents should allow. Spencer did well considering he had virtually no nap and the sun was blaring in his eyes almost the whole time. I think his favorites were people watching, the bright colors and sitting by his brother in the stroller.

"That's one tall emu!"

Wright said that feeding the goats was his favorite part of the petting zoo.

Spencer wanted to try driving the cars too!

Wright chose this bling-bling gold motorcycle!

This ride went around in circles so fast - I kept thinking if he doesn't throw up, I will!

Like any smart parents, we let Wright finish the day with a giant ice cream bar. He was literally high for 5 hours after that.

Braggin' on my Baby

Ok, so every now and then a mom has gotta brag. :) Spencer is just such a sweet baby. He goes to CBS every week with me and literally everytime I pick him up, the helpers (who are always different people) go on and on about how he is "the sweetest, happiest and most content baby they have ever seen." Today the lady said she wanted to take him home and I thought "No way!" I feel bad a lot about putting him in childcare while I teach and for bible study, but he is obviously very well adjusted and happy as can be.

On another note, I cannot believe he is 9 months old. He seems to be growing up way faster than Wright did. I want to hold on to him being a baby so much. Sometimes I baby him like he is 3 months old and rock him and squeeze him and just think, please don't grow up any faster! He is talking more this week and doing better at eating table food, especially if it is pseudo mashed. We still have a road ahead of us with that, but it has improved.

Today I needed to do laundry badly and Spencer had gone through 2 outfits, so I threw him in this tee shirt and Wright's old baby jeans. It's so funny, because I would totally put Wright in more big boy clothes like this but I like to dress Spencer more like a baby - he almost looks silly in anything else (at least to me). Here's some pics...

Cute little tooshie - btw, does his hair look like a mullet?

Happy boy!

Wright Quotes

"Daddy is my favorite boy. Daddy is a man. Daddy is my favorite man-boy."

"The Susans are the bad guys." (Susans = Sooners)

Everytime a sporting event is on tv - "Hook 'em horns! Go Rangers!"

Identifies everyone by their shirt color - "Today I played with the white girl. And I saw the red boy."

Wright - "What are you singing Mommy?"
Me - "A song from one of my favorite movies, White Christmas called Sisters."
Wright - (pause) "Um, that's not a very good song."

Almost 9 Month Comparison Pics

Wright top, Spencer bottom

What The Boys Have Been Up To

Wright - almost 3!

• Loves puzzles, definitely his favorite thing to do at home. He does them over and over and over and can do ones with 15-20 pieces by himself (or with little help).
• Recently really loves Play-Doh. He can sit for 45 minutes playing with it and making different creations.
• He's a climber. He tries so hard to climb the tree in our backyard but it is a Japenese Maple with smooth limbs and high branches. He never gets very far. But today at school, he went missing on the playground and his teacher found him in the tree! A big No No but funny regardless.
• As I have previously mentioned, he loves school. He walks around like he owns the place and runs to his room in the morning, sitting right down to do his work. Since he is a teacher's son, all the other teachers and aides know him and give him lots of attention which he soaks up.
• He likes to make up songs all the time and sometimes they are very impressive. The other day at lunch he was singing to a made-up tune "Jesus is God, Jesus is a man, Jesus is God and I am glad."
• He has started telling stories at dinner especially. They are made up and probably a mixture of real life things and things from books or tv. We think he does it mostly so that we will talk to him, but it is hysterical regardless. We also have taught him how to say "excuse me" when other people are talking if he has something important to say. He learned this very quickly but missed the "important to say" part. So now its just "excuse me, excuse me" and when we acknowledge him, he has nothing to say so he just talks jibberish.

Spencer - 8 1/2 months

• He is still so happy all the time and smiles a ton, especially at mom, dad and Wright.
• He will go to anyone but has started reaching for me if I am near.
• Since school has started, he gets virtually no morning nap. As a result, he takes a long afternoon nap and still takes a nap in the evening! He seems way too old to do that but he needs it. He has also started waking up at 6:30 :( I'm convinced its all related to not enough day time sleep.
• He started crawling today!
• He pulls up in his crib and looks out through the bars like he is in jail. He also gets stuck a lot sitting in his crib and can't get his legs out from under him. I find him sleeping on his legs out in front of him a lot (after much crying).
• He does not talk a whole lot but when he does, it is mostly Ma Ma, Da Da or GAH, GAH.
• Probably as a result of being in childcare a lot, he really likes to be held. If he is ever fussy, its nothing my holding him will not put an end to.

8 1/2 Months and We Have A Crawler!

Spencer has been scooting for a few weeks, but today he crawled all the way across the kitchen floor to none other than his brother! It was so cute. :) Wright was loving every minute of it and saying "Come on buddy, come on Spencer, you can do it!" I was lucky enough to capture the moment on video and will try and post the footage soon. Interesting note - he is almost exactly 5 weeks older than Wright was when he started crawling and he was born 5 weeks early.

Spencer's Baptism

Today was a very special day for our family because Spencer was baptized. We had family in town and everyone over to our house afterward to celebrate. Poor Spencer developed a bad cough (maybe allergies ?) literally on the way to church. He was coughing non stop the entire car ride and on and off throughout the service. As you can see, he is not too happy in this first pic. :( But he did great when he the ceremony was being performed. He just stared at the pastor very intently and smiled. The pastor, Pete, married Brendan and me and baptized Wright. He was good friends with my dad, and has always been special to our family. So that part was really neat too. What a wonderful day celebrating God's promise and faithfulness to his children.

Spencer is so sad here.

Now Spencer is happy but of course, Wright turned away!

Another attempt - still not great.

Brother Pics

Wright and Spencer don't wear a lot of matching outfits, but the other day for school they looked so cute in their red gingham. Had to get some pics...

Quote of the Day

Me: "Wright I just had to tell you to do that FOUR times. How many times should I have to tell you before you do something?"

Wright: "Um, Six."

Wright is still loving school

On Fridays we wear our school tee shirts for spirit day, and today I came to wake Wright up wearing mine and he goes "Mom, you got a shirt just like Miss Gibbons. It's Claire's Day School". On the way to school he said "Mom I really wanna go to chapel today and read David goes to school". After school he came out and said in a serious tone "Mom, I got a lot of work to do." When I asked what work, he answered "I no know". :) When we got home, I pulled out his letter of the week page from his take home bag and asked what it is, and he proudly said "I is for ice cream!" Now he is in his room (supposed to be napping) but I am watching him on the video monitor jump around his bed, waving and saying "Goodbye, bye everyone! See you tomorrow! Bye!" That about sums up how much he loves school.

Harmonica

I found this video on my phone last night and had to post it. When Kim was in town in the spring, she brought Wright a harmonica that he loves. This was her reading to him as he played his harmonica between every page. Not rehearsed at all!

Our Little Princess

The other day we got out the family christening gown to make sure it fits our little chunker before the big day in a few weeks. In the bag, I found a bonnet that matches and put it on him as a joke. Wright saw his brother and said in a high sweet voice "Oh, Spencer you like just like Cinderalla!"

Wright LOVES School

Today as we were walking to the car after school, Wright said "Thank you. Thank you Mommy for taking me to my school!" He loves it so much! This year he is in preschool, so he gets to do lots of fun stuff like Kid Fit, Chapel, Music and Spanish. So far he has loved Kid Fit and Music the best. He also loves his "projects" which I think means anything consisting of markers or paint. Crayons do not constitute projects (I have been corrected many times).

He comes home every day with all these stories about his day. Yesterday it was all about how Junior pushed Etta (aka Julietta) down and walked all over her. Then she could not go outside and play cause she was crying. So funny because I asked his teacher about that today and she said that did not happen. I swear, kids create their own stories. Shows why it is so important for parents to not always believe everything their kids tell them about what goes on at school!

Today was fun because I saw Wright in Chapel which we do together as a school. He saw me sitting with my class and walked up to me and said "Hi mom, I gonna sit with you." I had to gently tell him it was time to sit with his class. So he walked off and sat with his friends with no arguments. He acts like such a big boy, but still asks me to kiss him before I leave him everyday which I cherish. He really loves to learn and listens so intently to everything the teachers are saying. Today his music teacher told me that he was so serious about learning the songs and participating and when the other kids were acting up, he would look at them like "Hey people, its time to sing and listen. What are you doing?" :) I am more convinced than ever that he is going to have a really great year.