From Where Spencer Stands

"How are we gonna go to sleep with a cryin' baby?"

"Mommy, what you doin' with Daddy's sink?  What you doin' with his dishwaher?"

"You never have time for me anymore."

"[Daddy] argued with me, Mommy!  He only do things with me (not with Evelyn)."

Jonathan had to run Spencer into the new McDonald's on Chenal Parkway since he declared he needed to go potty.  It's modern looking on the outside and is finished out nicer than "traditional" McDonalds, including hanging light fixtures that you might consider using in your house.  Jonathan said when they walked in, Spencer said, "Oh, it's so beautiful!"

A few weeks ago, we were about to go to Gigi's house, and I was trying to head off some of the usual "un-wanted" behaviors he revels in when we're there, including running into all of the rooms we ask him to stay out of, not listening to me, and refusing to eat any food besides popsicles and ice cream.  After my firm but loving explanation of my expectations for the evening, Spencer smiled at me without missing a beat and said, "Those are the rules!"

One of the weekly themes at Little Gym this summer was about spies.  Each child had a passport that was marked when they completed different skills / activities during the class, but, first, they got to pick a special secret agent name.  His class that day was comprised of Secret Agent Tinkerbell, Secret Agent Cinderella, and Secret Agent Banana Pants (aka: Spencer Kelley).  He still talks about it and cracks himself up.

A week or two before, he insisted on wearing his (CLEAN) underwear just like this into The Little Gym.  They're always so kind and accepting, by the way.

In Dora inspired concern for preservation of private property, Spencer will run up to Evelyn when she is about to touch something of his, and say, "Evie, no 'piping (swiping)!"

Spencer had been asking to have a "bunkin' party" at his Gigi's house for a few weeks, and the timing just wasn't working out.  Plus, my sister and brother-in-law were staying at my parents' house for the time in between selling their house in Arkansas and moving to Tennessee.  So, one evening when Spencer asked to have a "bunkin' party," Gigi pointed to the extra boxes and stuff piled in "Spencer's room," and told him that when Hillary and Tony move, then they will take all their stuff with them, and then there would be room to pull out the trundle bed for Spencer to sleep on.  So, weeks later, I sat down with Spencer and told him, "I'm going with Aunt Hillary to help her move to her new house in Nashville..."  Before I had time to tell him how long I'd be gone or when I'd be back or what arrangements I'd made for his care, he hopped up and said, "And I have a bunkin' party at Gigi's house!"

While I was on the "moving trip," Jonathan had one of his friends and his two boys over to play.  When it was time to clean up, apparently questions were being asked, and Jonathan told them that they made a mess and it was time to clean it up.  Spencer's friend Benjamin, four years old, quickly claimed, "I made that mess!" to which Spencer countered, "No, I made that mess!"  What in the world?

While Spencer was playing with Angel, my parents' dog, she apparently went off by herself and was acting disinterested in playing with him anymore.  After lamenting to my mom and dad that Angel didn't want to play with him anymore, he passionately ran to her side, and comfortingly told her, "It's ok, Angel.  Don't you know that your Gigi and Papa love you very much?!"  We're not really sure what that had to do with her not wanting to play with him; but he must have thought it was very reassuring because he went on to tell her this three or four times.

Spencer has infamously quit spending the night at my parents' house,* even after begging to have a "bunkin' party" over there.  Upon his last refusal to go to bed, Gigi said, "I thought you wanted to have a bunkin' party at my house," to which he quickly replied, "I want to have a bunkin' party with my mommy, and my daddy, and my little sister Evie.  That will make me feel so much better!"

*Spencer went on to have a successful "bunkin' party" at his Nana and G-Dad's house about two weeks later.  Apparently, they have the touch.