Look! There's Gregory Peck's Bicycle! And Barbara Mandrell's Skateboard!

Things That Please Me:

1. Hangin' with my boys

2. That the song "Jesse's Girl" contains the word "moot"

3. Getting the clothes out of the dryer right after it's done and cheating my ironing pile

4. That here's a pumpkin cheesecake in my oven right now

5. Sonic commercials

6. The fact that, at this very moment, no one is harassing me about having the baby monitor on

7. The hot pink streaks I have in my hair

8. Knowing my brother is on a boat headed back towards the US of A

9. Rocking my Precious to sleep at night (What's that you're saying? Baby Wise what? Sorry, can't hear you over the baby monitor.)

10. Giving Andrew a Superman curl after his bath

11. That Phil let me sleep an extra hour this morning AND unloaded the dishwasher

12. Cheap bleach spray that makes the bathroom scum disappear

13. My tin cat on wheels

14. Phil's dream last night where I was a very powerful, scary woman and he was my prisoner

15. The zoo on a crisp, fall morning

This Stick Has Not Been Here For Years And Years. This Stick Has NOT Been Here For Years And Years.

Here's my Precious asking me to "please open the gate." He would stand in the yard opening and closing the side gate for hours if I'd let him, taking occasional detours to the sandbox and the front porch steps.

I haven't been all that into the sign language thing with him - he claps when he's done with something (somehow evolved from me clapping for him when he finished his food), but that was it ... until I got tired of the "uhhhhhhhhh!" coupled with desperate reaching that occurred every time he wanted something. He's not using human words right now, so I didn't blame him - sometimes a boy needs some Rice Chex! But I decided that having him sign "please" would help his requests feel less demanding. He picked up on it really fast, and now it's even harder not to give in to his every wish. Big soulful blue eyes looking pleadingly at the front door, both hands patting his pajama-laden chest at 6am ....

I just found out there is a program called "101 MORE Things Removed From The Human Body." Why oh why don't we have TiVo?

I was cleaning out the fridge the other day and looked down to see this:


And he hasn't forgotten about it, either. Every time the refrigerator door opens, he makes a bee line for the Heath syrup, and when Daddy made the very adult decision not to let him suck the life out of it, only the ceiling fan pull cord could assuage the sorrow.

Speaking of sorrow, we had to take My Precious to the emergency room last week. I was cooking in the kitchen and heard him crying in the living room - blood all over his face! 'Twas just a cut lip (I think he fell into the baby gate), but I decided to call the doctor when I noticed the inside of the lip was cut pretty badly as well. I had no idea they would send me to the ER to make sure it didn't need stitches. It didn't, praise the Lord (can you imagine stitching up your 14 month old?!) and he handled the hours in a hospital room quite well (looking adorable in his purple hospital gown). And though I realize that I can't hover over him every moment, I did feel bad telling medical person after medical person that I wasn't sure exactly what happened since I was in a different room, as if I'd left him cleaning the pool while I ran off to get a pedicure. They didn't take me in for questioning, and Andrew's lip has healed beautifully so I'll call it a successful venture.

Sometimes, after Phil has put in a long day at the office, I reward him for his dedication by presenting him with a big surprise. This is how I wrap it:

I'm not so good with the bugs. I think I traumatized TCBITW, who was riding my hip as I was screaming and trying to hurl the bowl over Creepy Roach of Nastiness. The raisin canister is a more recent addition since I had an escapee a few months ago.

One final thought before I leave you. I put in Baby Bach (of the Baby Einstein family) the other day, and it wasn't all that bad! Actually, I was mesmerized. Andrew watched it for a while, then walked around the room while I had to keep wiping the drool from my chin. But there were a few spots where this disembodied hand appeared to push a button on a toy, and the hand had a scab on it. Ew! These are big selling videos, right? They couldn't find a non-scabby hand to put coins in the bank? Bleck.

I Am Faster Than 80% Of All Snakes

This is the face that Phil and I were rewarded with on Saturday morning when, during our breakfast out at the Blue Rooster, I shared my chocolate milk with TCBITW. It was poor judgement on my part since the chocolate milk was really good and I barely got a drop. He would guzzle it down until he was out of breath, then reach earnestly for it again. I think we had a few spills on the big boy Gamecock jersey Daddy bought for him during his last visit to Williams-Brice, but it didn't seem to affect it's luckiness. Whew! We really dodged a bullet there! Perhaps Phil will now concede to change the underwear he's been wearing since the night of the UGA game.

A few more shots of Mr. Milk Face ...



In other consumption news, The Precious is now officially a carnivore. He and I shared some chicken chili for lunch this afternoon and I included some actual chicken bits in his serving. I've been really weirded out by feeding him meat for some reason. Odd since I'm far from a vegetarian myself. I love nothing more than a big plate of bacon with a side of BBQ and steak. I think the fact that he didn't have teeth for so long has something to do with it. Pureed meat makes me twitch, and since his food often touches my mouth when I test the temperature, I just couldn't do it. Even with the arrival of the Big Four, I hesitated. I mean, how much do you use your front teeth to chew meat? I think it was watching him chow down on some brick-like animal crackers in the church nursery that convinced me. Anyway, he loved the chili, and now that we've made this first step, I'm sure he'll be scarfing my bacon in no time.

Here's some video from a trip to the park after our breakfast outing. You can see The Precious scootering around with his much improved walking skills, and the last bit with Phil I really enjoy. And in case you can't make out that last thing he says, it's "Oh my gosh, it's scary!"