Success!

The Ominscient Man in Red

I don't know how that fat old guy does it, but boy Santa seems to know me pretty well. We headed out to Santa's meet and greet for the third time as far as I can remember and I think he and I are really starting to develop a great repoir.

Thanks to a slow family in front of us, I got to spend some quality time with the old man. While waiting for the other family to pick up there stuff and go, Santa and I had a nice little chat, then I calmly sat on his lap and posed for the pictures. What amazed me the most was Santa gave me a sticker and coloring book - how did he know I liked stickers? How did he know that just the other day I filled up one of my other coloring books. Truly amazing. Then to top it off, he gave me my first Candy cane. Anothe success! How did he know I liked candy?

I'm excited for Christmas. Mom has me opening an advent calendar and I keep finding red and green M&M's inside. I like it so much and am so insistant to open each day, Dad is a little nervous for when December 26th rolls around and there aren't any doors to open.

A New Dawn

It has begun.

On the evening of December 12, a new era has approached us. For the first time in my life, I was going to spend the night not in my crib, but in my new bed. I was very excited; in fact, I could barely sit still. Shortly after completing my nightly three stories and tucking in, I realized that I, in fact, could easily get out of bed without the aid of Mom or Dad.

Oh, the fun as Mom and Dad struggled to contain my energy and put me back in bed. Try as they must, their efforts were futile and often met with the sounds of a tiny pitter-patter of my feet running down the hall, not unlike that of unseen monster from a horror movie folllowed up with the most evil cackle, no different than the most diabolical of Holllywood supervillains. With every capture, Mom and Dad would lay me back in my bed...but I would just confidently place my hands behind my head as they tucked me in, smiling and laughing. I was confident I could outlast them. Weary and frustrated, Mom and Dad threatened to make me sleep in my crib. Silly parents, this beast could no longer be caged. Just as quickly as they placed me in by crib, I demonstrated that I could now easily scale my way out of this 4 foot cell which used imprison me. No, this was my time.

Unable to to confine me to my bed or return me to my crib, a weary Mom and Dad were left with few options. But, nevertheless, I did eventually fall asleep. It took mom laying on the floor next to me preventing my escape until I, myself, would succumb to the exhaustion of a heavy day of working.

That's okay...I'll get plenty of rest and recharge, for tomorrow is another day.

Wear it, Doogie!

Remember back in the late 80s and early 90s there was tv show about a young prodigy who became a teenage doctor. My questions is...what took him so long? I'm only two and already successful in medicine (and alchemy when needed).

Unfortunately, my future medical profession is virtually obsolete given now even the average common man can now simply use the internet to accurately self-diagnose and cure any ailment.

Tree Gittin'

Years ago, way before the time of Me, Mom and Dad bought a large, beautiful imitation Christmas tree. It was so big it didn't fit in their apartment, and, for nine years, could only put up half of it in their prior house. Now, a new Christmas season dawns upon us with plenty of space in a new house for the tree to fit...so, of course, Mom and Dad decide this will be the year they get a real tree for Christmas. The first time for any of us. Sunday, we embarked on our mission, and I am pleasantly shocked to say, Mom and Dad were quite successful. Well, Mom was quite successful anyway; I am finding that Dad is fairly superfluous to any situation.


Today started out rough...first, Dad let me have doughnuts for breakfast, then Mom made me banana pancakes. I know, I know...how do I survive such brutality? I don't know, perseverance and a strong constitution, I guess. (It gets worse...later in the day I had a popsicle, when I politely requested a second, I was given Jell-O blocks instead.) After breakfast, the three of us journeyed out to scope the Christmas tree scene. We only had to make a couple of stops until we found the perfect tree. A nice man strapped it to the top of our car and we took it home. I was very excited.

In fact, I may have been too excited. Dad and I worked on cleaning a place for the tree. Well, Dad did most of the cleaning. I just ran around screaming at the top of my lungs...

I did eventually settle down, got dressed and went outside to get the tree

Then I helped Dad bring in the tree and set it up in the living room:

When we got home today from work, I was given the most important role of the Christmas season. Every day it is my job to check if the tree needs water. What would Mom and Dad do without me?

I need to be on my best behavior. Krumpustag looms near and Christmas isn't much further after that. I learned last year the Jultompten cannot be trusted; mischief and temptation lay around every corner for your dear hero.

Silly Monkey

I know what your'e thinking...Oh, I bet there are a lot of great pictures of Spencer in his Halloween costume. Yeah, that's what Mom and Dad were hoping for as well...unfortunately, I
decided that I was not going to be so accommodating. Homey don't play that. I choose to put up a mild protest instead. This year, I chose to be a monkey over a dinasaur.







My Halloween planning started out a little sketchy. Earlier in the month, Mom made me a home made costume - a paper bag. I was afraid this was going to be my costume. I'm not gonna lie...I did have some fun modeling it.



You may not know this, but one of the most crucial responsibilities of a Halloween is to pick out the perfect pumpkin. We went to an apple orchard and went through their pumpkin patch. After a long search, I finally found the perfect pumpkin. I was insistant on finding a small pumpkin.







Saturday before Halloween Mom and Dad decided to carve the pumpkin. I decided that this was going to be a clothing optional event. At first, I had mild interst in the overseeing of the cutting and scooping of the pumpkin. .















I hung around but got tired of Mom and Dad's pervasive questioning. "Do you like your pumpkin?", "Do you want to scoop?", "Do you have to go to the bathroom?" Geesh...the line of questioning would never end and I decided I had enough. I stormed out multiple times, announcing I was going to take a nap. I'd lie in the sun for a few minutes then come over to see how things were going, feign slight interest, then stomp off again to bathe in the sunlight.

Despite all of the drama, I actually did have a lot of fun trick or treating. It took a few attempts but I started to get the hang of it. I can't believe people actually were giving my candy. I made a pretty good haul. The thing is, I don't remember eating much candy but Mom and Dad were insistant that all of the candy had been eaten. Overall, Halloween was a succes. I had my first sucker, different candy bars, M&Ms. In fact, for the next few mornings, I insisted on having Whoppers for breakfast. Apparently, we have a no candy for breakfast rule in this house...for now.

Oh Deer!

We came home from a Sunday morning breakfast this morning to find some new friends sitting in our front lawn. I was pretty suprised to see a 5 point buck and his lady friend sitting underneath the trees. There were also two more male deer, with smaller antelers nearby, but this guy wouldn't let them come close. They stayed here for about an hour or so after we got home and then eventually left.

After awhile, I kind of got bored and decided it would be more interesting to ride my bike instead. you can still see him off in the distance keeping an eye on me.

We've seen lots of deer since moving in earlier this year. I've been working with Mommy on ways to keep them out of her garden. One method particularily successful is to stand in the window and yell out "Hey Deer! Don't eat Mommy's garden!" One of the things I've learned this year is that deer don't particularly like it when you throw open the front door and come running out yelling "Hi Deer!" They tend to run away. Here are some clips from April with some of my first encounters of deer.

Streets We Call the Zoo

I made yet another return to the zoo. While we didn't make it Zoo Boo as planned, it probably worked out for the best - the line was insanely long. We came back the next day and got to see a lot of the zoo at our own pace.

It was a cool Sunday morning. I was determined to see my two favorite animals...monkeys and giraffes. I love giraffes, just mesmerized by watching them. However, the highlight had to be 20 minutes of activity of the giant polar bear. Only a couple inches of plexiglass is what seperated me from polar bear jumping in the water and playing with a large garbage can.

But that wasn't all...I also rode on a Carousel for the first time. The staff said to be careful because it moved fast and that was certainly true. I was a little nervouse at first and didn't like the loud music, but had a great time riding my horse.

Lil' Barista

Lately I have really been honing on my barista skills and insist on making coffee almost every morning. I wake up, run to the stairs and declare "I'm making coffee, Daddy." We run down the stairs, change our diapers and get the coffee ready for the day. My favorite activity is grinding the beans.

It didn't take long and I was able to master the barista artform...I sure would like to be able to experience the fruits of my labor. I feel one of the keys is to become one with the beans, you know...develop a relationship with them. I have started to talk to the beans before grinding them now, a process I call "Helloing the Beans". The odd thing is, once I feel I've connected with the beans on a personal level, it is really hard for me to grind them. So the "Helloing the Beans" process lasts for 10-15 minutes with much internal debate of whether I can/should grind my new legume friends

I'm not all task and manual labor. My personality is growing as well.

- August 23rd, I said "I love you" the first time - to Mom. Dad was a few days later.

- Morning of September 10th, Dad made yet another mistake...he gave me my morning Orange Peach Mango drink in normal, glass glass (not my old plastic glass). Obviously, the next morning, I expected to drink from Daddy's football glass again...when that didn't happen, I let my feelings known.

- Evening of September 10th, I saw fireworks for the first time. I was really excited and talked about them all day long. Then, I actually witnessed them. Actual conversation:
Spencer: "I saw fireworks"
Mom and Dad: "Did you like them?"
Spencer: "No. Too loud"

The next morning, the same conversation occurred with the same result.

4.8 Miles with Daddy

I woke up the day after the state fair refreshed and full of energy. The day began like many other recent mornings - jumping into Mom and Dad's bed, instantly jumping on Mommy yelling "squish". That activity is followed by reaching out and taking her nose. That didn't last long - I refused to give her nose back, so Dad came in and took mine, returning it only after I had given back Mommy's nose. In the end, it appears to have worked out for everyone, I suppose, but I still would really like to have two noses.




Dad and I headed downstairs where I proceeded to turn one of my toy chests into a bed.





After breakfast, I headed out for a round of golf. I'm getting to be pretty good. I know my clubs and no longer about just swinging the club into the ground.






Later in the day, Dad and I headed out for a walk around the lake - a 4.8 mile journey that included a stop at the beach and playground. Dad's first mistkae was letting me choose between the stroller and the red wagon. Neither of anticipated what it would be like to pull or sit in the wagon for roughly five miles; not necessarily the best choice. We headed off on our journey. It was a pleasant walk through the woods around the lake...we saw all kinds of ducks, cranes, and some kind of sand piper-esque bird. It included a stop to play at the beach and playground. Dad's second mistake was that I wasn't exactly thrilled to leave the playground, so he tricked me - he told me that he thought there may be some new playgrounds for us to find and we should go explore. There weren't and I reminded him the rest of the afternoon that I wanted to find a new playground.





Overall, we had a good time - explored the area, found a couple new parks along the way. I fell asleep for about 1 of the five miles, but it didn't appear Dad got lost. 3 hours later we made it home.

Hard to believe summer is virtually over. But that's okay because that means football season in here.

The State Fair

Greetings. I just got back from my first State Fair Experience and had a lot of fun. Lots of good eatin' and sights. I woke up Mom and Dad early so as to get to the fairgrounds as early as possible. We started off with breakfast, looked at some tractors, saw a lot of animals and of course tried lots of good food.

We started off with breakfast...eggs, hashbrowns and, of course, pancakes. Mom and Dad also had some bacon and coffee...neither willing to share either delictable with me. Typical. After breakfast, I wanted to check out some heavy machinery so we headed out to the tractors.

After test driving a number of tractors, we headed to the Miracle of Birth barn. I saw all sorts of animals...newly hatched chickens and one day old chicks, big pigs and baby pigs, big cows and calves, goats and kids, sheep and lambs, turkey and ducks. I even got to pet a lamb. A cow started going into labor while we were in the barn, but Mom and Dad didn't really seem to intersted in watching an actual birth. We also stopped by the respective cow, horse and pig barns to seem some really big versions of the real thing. Suprisingly, my favorite activity was watching the cow judging. I was entranced and didn't want to leave.

We also had lots of good snack food. Mom shared her Pronto Pup with me and I also had some fresh mini donuts.

By the end of the morning I was exhausted. I've to rest up...it's a long weekend and I got to keep Mom and Dad out of trouble.

Oh No, My Pieces!

It's been a busy summer. When I'm not demanding my daily reading of "Happy Birthday To You" by Dr. Seuss, I am getting into all sorts of mischief. It's quite the paradox - by running around and getting into trouble, I am actually keeping Mom and Dad on their toes, thereby keeping them out of trouble. So, I'm actually doing them a favor. I' have really come to playing hide and go seek. I have become very good at hiding.

Another fun activity I enjoy is to making a mess and then pretending to be upset about it. It really forces mom and dad to multi-task. I intentionally spill something and then pretend to be upset about it. It really makes my parents think...do they clean up a disaster or console an obviously distraught child?





I have also really come to enjoy playing with balloons. I got my own helium balloon a few weeks ago, but the fun didn't last very long. Little did I know, the regular balloons were much more fun, because they don't fly out of my reach. I really enjoy kicking around the balloons. I don't discriminate...I like balloons of all colors...but want them big so I can roll around on them.

The only thing more fun then playing with balloons is helping dad blow them up. I'm really good at offerring him words of encouragement.

Not even 8AM and it's already been a long day.