Like father, like son

Guess who else, besides that Daddy and PopPop of ours, has a fond fascination for firewood and fires?

The boy.

He even knows how to blow on the embers to get the flames goin'.  Well, at least he starts blowing as soon as Daddy does.

Oh, and he's also a fan of lazy football Sundays.

Thankful

For a lunch with my boys at the office.






















For childhood determination.

For childhood curiosity.

For childhood excitement. 

For an adorable new interest in helping.

For the opportunity to watch generations influence each other.

And for so much more the camera didn't see in the past few weeks:  For good friends with whom we can catch right up, never skipping a beat, despite the miles between us and the months between conversations.  For loving, generous families who are as excited as we are to share joy and new experiences with the youngest member of the family.  For a cousin-to-be who will enrich all our lives even more.  For our comfortable, welcoming home.  For professional fulfillment.  For the beauty all around us in the changing season and holiday anticipation.  For good, old-fashioned Christmas carols and the first snow flakes of winter.  For the opportunity to introduce a little boy to the magic of Santa Claus.  For a perfect partner in life I can't imagine experiencing any of this without.

It's been a really, really good couple of weeks, and we can't wait to savor everything coming our way in the next month...

Uninspired and Tired.

This time of year always seems to drag and fly by, all at the same time, what with the weekend trips, holiday events and seasonal must-dos.  And this year is no different, except that instead of having a largely immobile and inactive infant, we now have a tearing-into-everything-and-running-all-over toddler.  Plus a more demanding (ahem, full-time) job and some home improvements we didn't see coming.

So I know a lot has been going on lately, and I'm doing my best to keep up on the scrapping, but I just can't seem to find time or inspiration to sit down and update. 

Insert disjointed information dump.

Our 15-month well child visit proved the beast is still off the charts, yet proportional, with his nearly 31 pound and 3-foot tall self.  And the overly large dome is still growing.  2T clothes are the standard for winter.  But thankfully, his bulkier-than-sposies dipes don't seem so bulky and disproportionate on his bigger frame, so that means he finally has his first pair of jeans!

By the way, baby GAP rocks the house, even if the jeans are more expensive than any pair I've bought for myself in the last ten years.  But whatever, that's what free money (gift certificates we forgot we had -- totalling almost $50!!) is for.

The boy's Halloween experience was awesome, as was his first ride on the Hershey Chocolate World ride and the second birthday party for one of his future girlfriends.

Not-so-awesome are his new-found love of grabbing his wiener every time it's available, his inability to last through a 45-minute meal without screaming through much of it, the evening tooth-brushing ritual (which I'm sure our neighbors think involve some sort of bodily injury) or the big, fat, cartoon lip he got after chopping his bottom teeth into his top lip when he tripped over the carpet in the living room.  Screeeeeeeeam city!

Oh, and the daylight savings transition S.U.C.K.E.D.

Home stuff has also sucked lately, but that's to be expected when you waste an entire Saturday doing yard work, it gets dark at 5:30 p.m. and your hot water heater floods the first floor, requiring replacement immediately. Whatever, it is what it is.


Wow, hello impromptu bitch-fest.  Sorry.

And work is work.  I love the challenge and responsibility, but also love to leave it all at the office at the end of the day.  I don't think I checked my blackberry once all weekend.  Shhh.  But now we're in a weird, calm-before-the storm kind of environment, and everybody is just kind of quietly watching and waiting to see how things will pan out in coming weeks and months.  So it's not really any big deal to have left the phone in my purse for two straight days and nights. 

But we've got bittersweet fun coming up.  A weekend in the DC metro area next weekend for the PSU game, although we'll have to split from the boy for two nights and two days.  We need the mini adult vacay with great friends (even though we'll put our sleep banks in even further delinquency than they already are, teetering dangerously close to sputtering-to-a-stop empty), but we'll certainly miss the block-throwing, cheerio smashing, cat licking, water-bowl-flipping tyrant. 

Let's see if Grammy, Dude, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lauren have any interest in satisfying the boy's Christmas Wish List after this weekend, when they'll have to entertain and appease the little devil...