Cheerio!

Aidan had slung Cheerios everywhere when eating, but what else is new. I was doing dishes when Aidan crawled over and started foraging for more. "No, Aidan!" He giggled, stuffed three Cheerios in his mouth very quickly, and took OFF! He's not walking yet, but he's a wicked-fast crawler! Seriously - there should have been a road runner-esque cloud of dust behind him...

A Smart Cookie

I was putting Nathaniel to bed tonight, and after brushing teeth and reading a goodnight story, he clapped the pattern of Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" (Yes, you know it. Click HERE to listen to it.)We continued some back-and-forth patterns, faster and faster, escalating into giggles. I laughed and told him he was 'a real smart cookie'. He became instantly serious, looked me straight in the eye and said, "No, Mommy, Mommy, listen to me. . . I'm NOT a cookie."

Dinner

After teaching all day and running some errands, I told Nathaniel we were going to pick up dinner. He said we were going to a "dinner party". A dinner party? I asked him. "Yes" he explained. "We need cheeseburgers and a red balloon."

Well, we didn't get that. We drove through KFC. Once at the house, I asked Nathaniel to carry in the half gallon of iced tea into the house. As he did so, he announced we were going to have 'a tea party' instead.

After chicken, green beans, and several biscuits, he asked for a yogurt. He pulled out a blueberry and announced he'd found a 'doodleberry'. And, as always, he had a popsicle for dessert. I can just imagine our grocery bill when these little guys are teenagers...

Happy Halloween '09

Frustrated

Nathaniel is to stay in his seat and ask to be excused if he wishes to leave the dinner table. After several re-directions to sit, I gave the Mommy Ultimatum: 'If it happens one more time..." Thirty seconds later, he danced around the room and I had to follow through and place him in his booster with the seat belt. He shrieked hysterically for a minute or two, then sat in a stony momentary silence. He broke this reticence by folding his arms and bellowing crossly, "I'M . . . FWUH-STUH-WATED!"

He went on to explain his grievance in detail, and concluded by adding, "I'm bery, bery fwuhstuhwated, Mommy." I suppressed the urge to laugh long enough to grab my cell phone. By the time I recorded him, Nathaniel had settled down quite a bit and you can actually see him now hiding a grin and hamming it up:

I love his little "uh huh" at the end.

Now his little brother Aidan George can't tell me he's frustrated, or even that he's fwuhstuhwated. However, a good mother can always decipher her 13-month-old's emotional state. As such, I intuitively knew he was feeling frustrated tonight, as well. Watch carefully, and see if you can discern his subtle clues:

Three great games, three happy guys.

The last three weeks have been good news for our Gamecocks:

• Win: (9/24) a huge upset against #4 Ole Miss (16-10)
• Win: (10/3) expected against South Carolina State (38-14)
• Win: (10/10) a hard-fought one against Kentucky (28-26)
  

Our Gamecocks are now ranked #22. A hard game against #3 Alabama looms:

"The University of South Carolina will travel to Tuscaloosa on Saturday, October 17 to face the Alabama Crimson Tide. Game time has been set for 7:45 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on ESPN. South Carolina (5-1, 2-1 SEC) will enter the game ranked 22nd in the latest USA Today/Coaches' Poll, while Alabama (6-0, 3-0) is the nation's third-ranked team."

The Birthday Party Curse

The fact that there is a bad-luck curse plaguing all birthday parties I throw is now simply a well-established truism with all who know me. It all started with Nathaniel's first birthday.

Sam's club makes a delicious cake, and they screened a photo of his face in icing on it and everything - but his name was spelled wrong. I'd pointed it out to the woman, who disappeared in the back for ten minutes, only to return with the paperwork I'd filled out. She looked at the paperwork, looked at the cake, looked at the paperwork, looked at the cake, looked at the paperwork...Woman - you spelled my son's name wrong - just trust me. They fixed it, but I was late arriving to Nathaniel's first birthday party - with the guest of honor in tow.

Then, there was Nathaniel's second birthday. I had all of the matching Thomas the Tank Engine napkins, plates, party favors, etc. all neatly packed in a bag. . . and left them on the dining room table. It was a 40 minute round-trip to retrieve them.

Nathaniel's third birthday went off relatively curse-free, other than the fact that almost everyone was out of town and few could attend. As such, few were there to actually witness the successful party.

The curse could not go unchallenged twice in a row, and Corey apparently felt the need to carry the torch on for Aidan. In his rush to set up the table with food for the party, he tried to move the table by himself. The two legs on the opposite side from him snapped . . . and there we were without a table. One hour into a two hour party, Corey and my father were still on the floor with the table drilling and gluing it together. We got it ready just in time to have cake - clearly Aidan's favorite part:

Aidan's First Birthday

Aidan turned one-year-old very early this morning at 1:12 am. We took an emotional trip to commemorate; we went to the Rex Special Care Nursery to visit the nurses and staff that took care of our little Aidan George for so long. The very familiar parking garage, the smell of the sanitizing soap, and especially the multi-tonal dinging alarms brought us right back to those days in the NICUs. This very blog was started to communicate those very day-by-day happenings to family and friends. Here's the first-ever blogged picture from 10/3/08:

...and therefore it seems fitting that the very first video posted to our blog is on Aidan's first birthday. Here is the birthday boy in three 30-second video clips enjoying his very first refined sugar in the form of chocolate pudding:

He'll have to wait for Saturday's party for the cake. We are certain his first birthday wish is for the Gamecocks to upset #4 Ole Miss tonight. Go Cocks!

In other headlines, Aidan said his first word yesterday: Mommy!" Well, actually, after I prompted "Mommy" he said, "Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma Mammm," . . . but I count it! ;)

Gamecock win against Florida Atlantic (38-16).

We'd like to have thought the Gamecock defense (the #2 in passing defense countrywide last year) wouldn't have allowed 16 points from this less-than-formidable opponent this past weekend... 

 

...but, we have to say a win's a win.

 Top-5 Ranked Ole Miss Visits Columbia on Thursday.

The Magical Magnum

There are some stories parents love to tell because they paint a picture of their child's heart - his or her inner nature. I absolutely love this story for that reason. 

We've gone to Fuddruckers a couple times for lunch. (Nathaniel's very favorite food in the whole wide world is a cheeseburger.) Anyway, while there he enjoys "playing" the old-fashioned arcade games. He's a cheap date - he just wants to 'drive' the racing game, sans quarters. It's fine with him if he's not "really playing". He has a blast:

But here's the best part. You can see in the pictures above that right next to the racing game is one of those shooting games with a blue gun attached. (No, that's not the best part, wait for it...) During the times when the road is no longer showing - you know, when the high scores flash or the logo and theme music play - he decides it's time to fuel up. He climbs down and...well, just look:

 

Front Yard Frolick (9.12)

We visited Cheryl Duren, an old family friend, and my boys played with her grandkids and a neighbor's son. As you can see, the whole yard was set up for a tireless celebration of childhood:

Aidan wasn't so sure about the dogs, though:

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Ah, the adoration of Nana:

Nathaniel was so very distraught when it was time to leave that he required an adult-assisted departure.* 

* This is a polite way of saying he had a kicking, screaming, hysterical banshee-like tantrum with force that indicated he was aware that hurricane season had started. If you've parented a three-year-old, you probably know what an "adult-assisted departure" is...and if you haven't, no description here will do its frustrating and humiliating reality any justice.

A very tough loss for our Gamecocks. =(

A tough loss in the last seconds against Univ. of Georgia Bulldogs...the final score: 41-37. However, there was promise in our young QB Garcia. Still, seven of the last nine USC/UGA match-ups have a Gamecock loss by seven points or less. Oh, the heartbreak:

 

Aidan George vs. a spoon (8/18/09)

Here are images of Aidan George's first attempt at the art of using a spoon.

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First, assess your opponent:

 

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Then, get your game face on:

  

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After you've mustered your resolve, try to find your mouth:

 

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Concentrate really hard to get the food out:

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Make sure you try using both ends of the spoon:

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It takes a lot of work:

 

 

 

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Don't be afraid to stare the spoon down:

 

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Or use the Jedi mind trick:

 

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"Hey there, shweet hawt":

Click on "Read More>" if you wish to see the exciting conclusion.