Spencer at 9 months. This photo used to be a lot easier to take...
He is 18 pounds and 28 inches long. Besides crawling, he likes to take the train parts off of the train table daily, loves to play with balls, and is seriously the best and easiest baby we could ever ask for. And, drumroll please, finally sleeps through the night! Thank you Prilosec!
Thanksgiving started out well. I got Grana to babysit Baby Spencer for her lunch hour so that Alden could have 100% Mom at his Thanksgiving Feast. I went with my giant bowl of green beans and watched these eight little people eat lunch in Native American headdress. I am sure that the first Thanksgiving consisted of Mac and Cheese, Chick-Fil-A nuggets, and green beans. Yes, of that list I got to be the lucky parent to bring the one item not one single kid wanted to eat.
Alden and Spencer and I spent Thanksgiving week making thematic crafts. Here is Alden in his construction paper pilgrim hat to watch Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. He was much more into the hat than the movie.
Spencer preferred the movie to the hat.
God works in mysterious ways. There are two things I was very thankful for on Thankgiving day. First, that we did not get invited by any of our family to come to their house on Thanksgiving even though I had a pity party about it the week prior. Second, that I decided not to cook and to go out to eat. These are the only two photos we have of our boys at Thanksgiving because Joey and I both spent the day with a major stomach virus attack. I barely made it through the meal not even caring that Spencer's feet are seriously propped on the table we are eating on and Alden is having french fries and chicken fingers for Thanksgiving. I was in bed for the next 24 hours. I came downstairs in my pj's at one point and asked if we should have a family photo, but no one really wanted to get near me.
At some point, Grana and Pops took Alden home with them for the night. On a side note, Joey apparently packed him and let's just say I was amused when I unpacked his bag when he returned. It is a miracle that Joey can dress himself in matching attire for work everyday. Joey took care of Spencer until bedtime, and just as Spencer dosed off for the night, the virus attacked Dad. Miraculously, neither boy got it. That is the biggest thing to be thankful for.
We did find out that we have a genius baby. Check out Spencer putting together the Melissa and Doug puzzle.
One of the best things we have done ever is go eat lunch at the Irondale cafe and watch the trains. This was the biggest deal to Alden. I videoed one of the trains and he shows it to waiters and everyone that comes to visit, sometimes more than once. One of the trains stopped right in front of us for repair and the conductor spent about 15 minutes blowing the horn and the whistle for Alden. We were told that Amtrack goes to New Orleans in one direction and New York in the other. I trained Alden to ask Daddy to say that we need to take the train to New York. So, now we play Thomas going to New York. Unfortunately, this also sparked a major new interest in trains. We have to go downtown everyday now and find a train somewhere and watch it. EVERY train is Thomas to Alden. He talks to the train and calls it Thomas. We have to play the Thomas theme song over and over while watching "Thomas." I am thinking of using this to my advantage and grabbing a Starbucks one morning, a book, and parking in front of a train for as long as it entertains Alden. We made it to 30 minutes the other day before Joey and I were so completely bored we couldn't take it anymore.
And...more trains! Huge train exhibit right now at the science museum. The trains are next to the Winter Wonderland exhibit with snow and reindeers and ice fishing. Guess which one won the most attention? You guessed it. Alden got to drive Percy the train and has made me tell him the "story" of Alden seeing the trains every single day for two weeks at nap time. I admit, it was pretty cool.
Playing in the snow.
Ice fishing.
Getting fitted for his shoes for carpet skating.
Random day at the park. I got to the park just as the rain started to sprinkle. So, I told Alden that we had to go home. He was so pitiful, I gave in. Then, of course, he did not want to leave and I had to physically restrain him from actually going into the lake after the geese he loved them so much (while holding Spencer in the opposite arm). Was it bad that when the rain go a little harder I told him that the park was closed and they were making everyone leave? Little white lie to get him to the car is survival.
Spencer has finally won over the music table. I admit it was cruel. The table, with legs, has been stored in Alden's closet for months and months. Probably since we moved a year ago. With no working batteries I might add. As you may guess, when I got it out for Spencer and took the legs off and new batteries, it was immediately Alden's favorite toy that I had "broken" by taking off the legs. As luck would have it, he has now lost interest for a second time and is allowing Spencer to touch it now. Crisis averted.
Spencer is much better at sharing. He never complains when Alden hijacks his toys. He let Alden watch the entire Caillou Christmas episode sitting in his exersaucer.
The week before Thanksgiving, we are driving down the road and in my attempt to make conversation tell Alden all about the Christmas trees at the Boy Scout lot and that we are going to take one home. Then I clap (at the stop light). He says," No Mommy. First, we have Thanksgiving. Then you can get a tree and clap." Well, we have had Thanksgiving and Alden has his very own tree. He hauled it into the house himself.
This is when you learn that the unplanned moments are always the best memories. Alden wanted his tree on the bookshelf and not the dresser in his room. That meant no outlet. So, I bought these ridiculously expensive battery powered lights. They didn't work. Sad little boy. I tell him that when Daddy gets home if he can't fix them we will get him new lights. When Daddy got home, and said lights were indeed a bust, Daddy and Alden went to the drug store for new lights and ornaments that didn't break. Alden came back with musical Christmas lights and Charlie Brown ornaments and the biggest and proudest smile you have ever seen.
The whole family got to help decorate Alden's tree.
Even brother.
And Lucy. Since Lucy developed bad back problems, we don't let her upstairs. One of us, probably me, had forgotten to close the gate and half-way through tree decoration Alden screams, "Lucy!" It was pretty fun that she escaped and came up to join the party. Alden was amazed she was in his room and wanted to hug her.
Spencer thinks she is the best thing in the world. Both of them have started feeding her all that time. I had Spencer next to her crate in his exersaucer and caught him laughing and trying to feed her his Mum-Mum cracker. Alden (who is jealous of the Mum-Mum cracker by the way and has to now have special "Alden crackers") has a chair right by her crate and frequently gives her what he doesn't want to eat. Sometimes, he tricks me into thinking he ate it and asks for more, just so he can feed it to her! This is pretty funny except for the day that he decided to serve her his left over potato salad. Both her and her bed had to have a bath.
Time for the real tree!! We decided to pick the coldest day of the year to get one, but the Christmas tree lot was so much fun. The good news about the cold is that Dad was willing to pay more for a Boy Scout tree so that they took it to your car and cut off the bottom branches instead of him having to do it like every other Lowe's year purchase. It was well worth the donation to have a pleasant family outing! (And pleasant family outing language)
Spencer's first Christmas tree purchase. He is channeling the look from A Christmas Story.
I was very surprised how intense Joey is about choosing the perfect tree. He was very analytical about it. I was like, hey, if it has a hole in it just turn it around. Alden just wanted all of the trees. Despite the cold, ole Joe made us make lap after lap around the trees. He also wanted the absolute biggest tree possible. Can I please say that the funniest part of Christmas was the little girl scout who told him that he was setting his sights too high? She told him that if we had 9 foot ceilings, he should probably be looking for the 7 foot tree to leave room at the top instead of getting the 9 foot tree and cutting off the top as he wanted to do. He did what she said in the end. Can she come home with me? I have a few other things I need her to talk to him about. I have never met someone with a better sales pitch than my husband.
They gave Baby Spencer his very own tree to bring home. He is currently a little less aesthetically demanding than Alden.
As luck would have it for Joey, cousin Katie and Eric came to visit the night of the tree purchase. Someone to help set up the tree! Alden was in heaven. He told all of us, including Eric, that we were not allowed downstairs and we had to go and stand by the tree. Only Katie was allowed downstairs because they were playing dragon. Alden has been into watching movie previews on YouTube (It is cold. I am with him 24 hours a day. Seven days a week. I have stooped to this level for entertainment. I admit it.) His favorite is for How to Train Your Dragon. I got him the movie, and he hated it. Only loves the preview. But he is obsessed! I think we could have watch the movie by now in the same amount of times we have repetitively watched that preview.
Alden was pretty pumped about decorating. He ran around saying,"Decorations! I love decorating my house for Christmas!" He even helped me to sweep, I mean really actually helped me sweep up the mess from the garland. Here he was not so much genuinely helping to put on the lights. This meant picking them up and throwing a giant bunch on the tree. When it fell off he would say, "Show me how, Mommy."
Still helping.
Alden loves the ornaments as much as last year. His favorite is a train and a car. He visits them all day and makes me pick him up to get a better look at them. I had to put them up high because what he really wants to do is take them off and drive them and pretend to crash them.
Precious.
More precious. Spencer and Mommy went to Pottery Barn Kids and Spencer left with Oatmeal the bear. Oatmeal is as big as he is, but sadly not for long. He is growing out of his car seat as we speak. Plus, he can have anything he wants with that little grin.
Now, all we have to do is wait for Santa. We told Alden that he had to be a big brother and introduce Spencer to Santa because we were afraid that we would have a repeat of last year. We thought the big brother role would help him be brave. We shouldn't have worried about bravery when there is good old-fashioned knowledge that this is the man that brings you toys. Alden surprised us by taking a catalog to Santa, on his own, and showing him a picture of a particular dinosaur set. He also asked for froggy rain boots and trains. Then, he decided to tell Santa everything he knew about trains, everything he wanted to know about trains, and every train that he had ever seen. Santa listened very attentively. He went on and on until we told him it was time to go. We asked him to tell Santa what Baby Spencer wanted for Christmas. Silence.
Alden does know the true meaning of Christmas. He is completely in love with Baby Jesus. Can you ask for anything better? He thinks that Jesus lives at the church. Every time we go, he wants to go to the sanctuary and then says, "Where is he? Where is Jesus?" This is a much harder question to answer than you would think. Simple and complex answers have not really been able to make sense to him, so he just keeps asking. In fact, our priest has promised that the next time he is at the church, he can come and meet with her in her office. The Baby Jesus in the manger is tangible to him. So, he plays manger all day long. He asked Grana and Pops to buy him manger figures and built his own manger at their house. When he got home, we went and got him more little figures. I hope it is not sacrilegious that Baby Jesus sometimes takes a ride on Thomas the train with the lamb. So, here are our two touching Alden Christmas stories: On Sunday, we are at church and walking up to the alter for the Eucharist. When Alden gets close enough to see Reverend Glenda, he shouts out, as loud as he can, "Where is Baby Jesus!" She said he could ask! She was so sweet and came over to the alter and whispered, "He is coming soon." Little did she know this did not satisfy him at all. He has way more questions. At school on Wednesday, Alden's preschool director was asking him about toys. He said he had trains and she asked him to name all the train cars he had. He did. Then she asked him what was his favorite. He said, "The Baby Jesus." Merry Christmas. You can take back all my presents because that is it.
Alden had a big date day with Helen. First, he took her (and Wolfie Dog Dog) to see a play. New Shoes for Christmas which they both loved. As Susan said, it was as much fun watching them watch the play as the play itself.
In one of those rare brotherly heartwarming moments, I asked Alden if he wanted Baby Spencer to come or if he wanted him to stay home with Daddy. He said that Baby Spencer needed to come with us. A choice that surprised me and warmed my heart. When Helen looked at Spencer's book, he told her no, that is Baby Spencer's book and she could not take it from him. Yes, we did have to have a lesson in sharing, but nonetheless, it was the first act of him "taking up" for his little brother.
That night, Helen had Alden over for a tea party. She got all dressed up. Alden wanted to choose his monster pajamas, but I made him be festive in the Christmas matching ensemble with his brother. I think it was a wise choice to go with the holiday attire for such a formal occasion, don't you?
Helen and Alden played "Sleeping Beauty" which is one of Helen's favorite games. You pretend to be asleep and then have to be kissed to awaken. Since Alden loves to play go "night-night" he was a willing sport. Later, when she got out the jewels and party shoes, he did put on the high heals for a moment and promptly decided that Baby Sara should wear them instead.
They ended the evening with a candlelight dinner.
Too bad their little brother and sister busted it up.
