When your friend causally asks how you've been doing and twenty five minutes later you realize that you haven't stopped to take a breath--you know you need to write, lest you subject the rest of the world to the volumes of thought, ideas, and concerns that the wheels in your head crank out one after another like a sweat shop in eastern Asia.
I had originally written an informative yet witty post detailing the daily and hourly struggles of not knowing exactly what's wrong with you kid but feeling sure it's something you best figure out. I unintentionally deleted that post, and have now decided to skip it. Wouldn't it be more fun to read about how adorable my kid is? I thought you'd agree. Here we go.
When I thought about having kids of my own someday, I knew I would think they were great; however I had no idea how much joy I'd experience watching them display their greatness day after day. Spencer keeps us laughing and cringing, usually with only seconds in between the two emotions. His sweet little personality and his willingness to endanger his own life again and again perfectly intermingle to make him truly the most interesting child I've yet to encounter. [Please note, I do not now nor have I ever made any claims about unbiased reporting regarding my offspring]
When Spencer isn't sharing his snack with his beloved "dog dogs" by putting their head into his bowl, he is slipping Gigi and Nana's dogs crackers and desperately seeking their love and affection. He is still as enraptured with moving pictures as he has ever been. "Trending now" are "Little Einstiens" (which he asks for loudly and lot by screaming "Hi! Hi!") and "The Wonder Pets" (he asks for them by saying "Pets, Pets" but the "t" is usually dropped). Some days one of those two requests is the first thing out of his mouth. We made the mistake of letting him watch some episodes online, so now he knows that the computer has the power to bring him "Pets" or "Hi," and I daily question what in the world led me to believe that was a good idea.
That leads me to another fun little fact: Jonathan and Spencer both had the stomach virus; and by some grace of God in my life I did not catch it. This is related to Spencer's watching movies on the computer only because the day that Jonathan was sick and I was terrified that I was getting sick and Spencer had already been sick was the day I caved and let him watch movies on the computer all morning. This is the first time that I have ever known people who had a stomach virus (whom I had encountered) that I did not end up on the floor of the bathroom draped over the toilet. I'm not exaggerating, but I am still waiting to get some delayed case of it. Call me a pessimist, and I probably won't argue.
Back to more cute Spencer stories. At church Spencer pulled some masking tape with a little girl's name on it off of a nap mat left out by the Mother's Day Out (which I REALLY hope had been cleaned before my kid got his hands all over it--gross!). Anyway, upon seeing a piece of masking tape with a name on it, he pulled it off the mat and carefully placed it across the top of his sippy cup, directly above the spout, and perfectly parallel to it. I grabbed a pen and a post it and wrote it down, because I didn't even know what I thought about it. But it certainly seemed worth remembering.
Earlier that weekend I had mentioned to my mother-in-law how far from ready Spencer seemed to be in the potty training category. Which, in all honesty, is more than fine with me. Funnily enough, Sunday morning I took one of those risky while-my-child-is-awake-and-technically-unsupervised-but-seems-to-be-pretty-glued-to-the-tv showers and when I came out I could smell poop. I looked over to see that Spencer had taken off his pants! Now, you all know he's taken off his diaper before; but he's never taken off his pants. He knew he was dirty, wanted to be changed, and pants removal is certainly the right place to start. It was kinda cute. It was truly a miracle he hadn't taken his diaper off too, though. I always have him clothed for that very reason. Later on Sunday, he'd pooped again [yes, he has a problem, and we're looking into it], and I told him to lay down so I could change him. He promptly picked up the laptop that was playing his movie, set it down on the floor next to his changing pad, and then laid down. Talk about combining obedience with priorities.
Clearly, movies are still a big part of his life. I promise we get outside and do other things. He's very active, often times while his movie is on. One of my favorite things he does during his movies now is during the previews. Many of his dvds start with the phrase "Now available on video and dvd." And he always tries to say "dvd" at the end of that sentence. Good times.
He loves music, and that's really a big part of why he likes his movies so much. I've been playing some VERY simple songs on the piano for him and "with" him. When I put the music up on the piano the other day, he pointed to the notes and said "Hi! Hi!" For those of you who aren't hip to the pre-school tv scene, "Little Einsteins" always show the music that they will be playing that day. I thought it was so funny that for him, his first exposure to sheet music (or music notes) will always be from the "Little Einsteins."
Spencer is playing by himself more than ever before, and it's been AMAZING for me. I know it's good for him developmentally, bla bla, but really I'm just selfishly thrilled with this turn of events. He will be getting quite a few fun new toys for his birthday and Christmas, and I'm honestly so excited for him. I think he's really going to like getting some new things and having more stuff to "do" at the house. He's definitely ready for new toddler fodder, so to speak. It's all I can do not to go buy him a bunch of stuff now. This happened last year too. I bought (and gave) him his birthday present from Jonathan and me exactly a month before his birthday. I'm trying really hard not to do that this year. It'll be a little easier since I don't think we're getting him a birthday present. Did your parents used to tell you that your party was your present from them? 'Cause mine did. It made perfect sense to me. Hope Spencer feels the same way.
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