Gobble, gobble

Thanksgiving was great. Scout and I joined Garrett at his preschool for their "dessert feast" (thanks a lot, Mrs. Rose and Ms. Ely), which was cute. They had assorted Thanksgiving-themed goodies, and we got to bring home the Thanksgiving crafts they'd been working on. They ended the feast with a song, "I'm so glad I'm not a Turkey on Thanksgiving Day." Very cute. Garrett was also surprised and pleased to learn that his friend Evan lives close to us. The dinner conversation went like this.

Evan: Where do you live, Garrett?

G: I live in Texas. Where do you live?

Evan: Austin, Texas.

G: Mommy, he lives in Austin, Texas, too!!

Fascinating. Here are a couple of pictures.

We packed up the car and the kids and headed for my parents' house for our actual Thanksgiving feast. My sister Andrea was there, as well. I, of course, forgot to pack any warm weather clothes for myself or my kids, but we managed to survive the 80 degree highs and 97% humidity by staying mostly indoors with the a/c on. What was I thinking? Garrett started our feast with his turkey song from school and by having Ryan read the first Thanksgiving story that G put together at school. Scout almost made a true holiday memory when she grabbed the corner of the tablecloth right after we had put the final dish on it, but I got to her just as she started to pull. Close one! We had a great feast. Garrett gobbled up the sweet potato casserole, while Scout stuck with the green bean casserole, even though it was a little spicy. It would make her cry, she'd drink some milk, and then she was stuffing her mouth with them again. After a couple of cycles like this, we replaced them with peas. We all took our Thanksgiving naps (yea!) and then enjoyed the leftovers and some good football.

The next day, we went to Garrett's favorite place to eat, Incredible Pizza. He and Scout rode some rides and played some fun games. G's favorite activity, though, is the race cars, which he got to ride in with Ryan and my dad.

Tickles on the carousel

Riding a froggie

Cowgirl

Motorcycle game

Racing with Daddy

Racing with Lito

It must have been the wind

I put both kids down for their afternoon nap Thursday and immediately got to work on the things that I can't do while getting someone milk, doctoring a boo-boo, pulling choking hazards out of a little mouth, or explaining how all of God's creations work and why He made them that way. I thought I heard a noise upstairs early in the naptime that could have been G getting out of bed, but it was windy that day, and when I looked upstairs, I didn't see anything. Garrett usually comes downstairs to find me if he gets up from a nap, so when he didn't I assumed he was still in bed. I assumed wrong. About an hour and a half after I put the kids down, I was taking something upstairs when I saw Garrett curled up on the floor at the top. Having just heard another noise, I figured he had just gotten up and was trying to wake up before coming downstairs. So, in full voice, I greeted him, to which he responded with a deep sleep twitch and fluttering eyelids. Yep, that stinker had gotten out of bed, curled up at the top of the stairs, and had fallen asleep. I ran back down to grab my camera, got a couple of shots, and put a pillow between him and the stairs just in case. The hard floor must be comfortable, because he slept two and a half hours like that. When we asked him about it later, he said, "I think the wind must have come in my room and blew me to the top of the stairs." I didn't check the weather that night, but I'm pretty certain the wind wasn't blowing quite that hard Thursday afternoon.

Blondes do have more fun

Garrett and I had an interesting conversation on the way home from preschool today.

G: My name is Jose'. What's your name?
Me: I'm Consuela.
G: Hey, that's my wife's name! We both have brown hair, so we both play the harmonica.
Me: Do all people with brown hair play the harmonica?
G: Yeah.

We then talked about who else has brown hair. I asked him what color hair a little girl in his class has.

G: She has blonde hair, so she can't play the harmonica.
Me: What do people with blonde hair do?
G: They play.
Me: What color hair does Kaya have? (Jessica H.)
G: Kind of brown, so she can play the harmonica.
Me: No, she has red hair. What do people with red hair do?
G: They take a nap.

Since blondes play, it seems like they have more fun. However, I'm sure that Garrett intended to indicate that brunettes have more fun playing the harmonica. But, at this stage in my life, I think I'd rather be a redhead, 'cause I could use a nap.

Daddy and G

It's no secret that Garrett loves his Daddy. He loves Scout and Mommy, too, but he LOVES Daddy. It's probably more accurate to say that he wants to be Ryan. He imitates him at every chance, and is planning his future based on what Ryan does. For example, he's always running some race in our house, our yard and at the park. He requires a medal and post-race interview each time. After the race, he talks about how long and difficult it was. The mileage always varies, but it's never under 15 miles. It's usually up there, and he's fully convinced he's run that far and that he's faster than Ryan. He even sometimes comes to me asking for me to tape his toes or to tell me "Yeah, Mommy, that toenail is black. I think it's gonna fall off soon." He's so convincing and serious about it, I sometimes freak out for a second before realizing what he's doing. He's getting good at push-ups and tries his very best at chin-ups. He tells long and detailed stories about when he grows up and starts working for TDS. He plans to have an office next to Ryan with a bed in it, so that he can sleep there, and to have meetings with Ryan all day. He'll have his own ranch next to the TDS ranch with various made-up and interesting exotic animals. We have at least 4 garbage trucks in our house for which he knows the names of the basic parts. He's known to give lectures on the evils of littering and the benefits of taking care of the earth through responsible waste disposal when he sees a piece of trash on the ground. When he was just learning to name pictures in books, I was showing him a picture of a lamb. When he called it a sheep, I said, "It's a baby sheep, called a laaa..." , to which he responded, "A landfill?" He sings at the top of his lungs to any song he even slightly knows and gets very animated when it's a song that he knows Ryan likes. Every toy he has, in his mind, includes an iPod, a phone, and a GPS. He always pretends to drink Diet Coke. I've even caught him pretending to pluck his nose hairs (sorry, Ryan) and wince after each painful pluck and rub his nose.

Soooo, when the opportunity presented itself for Ryan and G to go on the Father/Son Campout with our church last weekend, Garrett was more than ready. We packed up his little backpack with everything he needed, including his bug catcher, and he wanted to wear it all day. He changed his mind pretty quickly after realizing that he wasn't going to stay on his feet if he tried to play like that. When Ryan got home, G was beside himself. Jay and Cohen came to pick up my boys, and when Jay asked Garrett if he was ready for camping, Garrett quickly informed him that it was not camping but a campout. Armed with his new-found knowledge, Jay helped them load up, Cogie squealed with glee, and they headed out. Scout was not very happy to see them go, by the way.

Scout and I headed out to visit and have dinner with the girls and the other children left behind. As the wind picked up later that night, I was praying for all the tents out there to stay put. They next day, I got the scoop. They did not blow away, and once Garrett found a warm spot in Ryan's chest for his nose, they slept well. They weren't able to have a fire, because, as G informed me, "all the trees would burn up." They had good fajitas, though, and candy in lieu of s'mores. The next morning's battle was getting Garrett's pj's off to get his clothes on in the freezing tent. He later told Ryan to "never do that again!" After breakfast, they found a sunny spot behind a hill that blocked the wind to whittle some sticks. They didn't come home with any finished products, so I guess it wasn't a long session. They packed up everything and came home around lunchtime.

I'm so happy that they had their little time to bond, and I hope it's a tradition that they continue. We'll cross our fingers for a little less wind next time!

Garrett loaded down with his backpack and ready to go.

Ryan and Garrett packed and heading out.

Garrett bundled up in the tent and ready for bedtime.

Garrett whittling a stick.

What Scout's Doing

Scout has been doing all sorts of new things lately, as any one-year old does. She is getting more confident with walking from furniture to furniture or person to person. She's most hesitant to walk to Garrett, since they usually both end up falling over when she makes it into his arms, but she'll still do it. She loves him so much, I think she just can't help herself. She also loves to dance, whether it's on her knees, bouncing or just waving her hands in the air. I think it's so great that children do this naturally, without inhibition or any provocation.

Scout loves her newest treat, cow's milk. She goes nuts when she sees that bottle, and always wants to hold it herself. She also loves green beans, cheese, berries, brown rice, and frozen peas. Though she'll eat other things, she will always chow down on any of these.

She is saying a few more words and making some new noises these days. She's been saying "Mama" and "Dada" for awhile now, but it's definitely more specific to us lately. She has made several attempts at saying "G", which most often sounds like "juh" or "ghee" with a hard g sound. She growls when she sees any animal. She can imitate the elephant sound, but, to her, every animal growls. She also makes car noises very well and can imitate any power tool - influence of a big brother? Scout started saying amen after naptime prayers, which has now moved to mealtime prayers, as well. The first time she did it was several weeks ago when I finished a naptime prayer with Scout and G, and she said "ma meh". Garrett and I immediately recognized it, and Garrett repeated, "in Jesus' name we pray, Amen" to which Scout responded "ma meh". It was a fun game for a few days with G, and now she says it at every prayer, "a meh". She also loves "uh-oh", which she uses constantly. Anytime anything doesn't work properly, anything drops, before Scout drops something intentionally, or when she falls down, "uh-oh". She tries to use the sign for "all done" and she occasionally signs "milk". I've all but given up on teaching her to sign "please", as she completely resists it. Maybe one day. She's also been waving goodbye and has added "ba ba" to it. She used to do it every morning when she'd see Ryan, which made him sad, but now she actually waits for him to leave. She starts it when Ryan says "Word to your mother" to G (it's a long-standing routine for them, to which Garrett responds "peace out"), and follows with both hands waving.

One of the sweetest new things she's doing, though, is giving kisses. They are, of course, the open-mouth ones, with the occasional tongue. You cannot make her give them. It has to be her choice. When you ask for them, you are most often met with a vigorous shaking of her head and pulling away. Sometimes she thinks it's funny to do that, and sometimes she's just not in the mood. When she is, though, it's precious. She'll do it in the middle of play or at a snuggle session, but it's always her choice. Garrett seems to get most of them, which he loves, and he's the one with the most success of getting one by request.

We love our little Scout, and we're so happy to see her grow and learn. It's what we pray for!

Halloween Remnants

Even though it's November, I have to post the last of our Halloween pictures. The first come from our evening at the Central Texas Children's Home. Our family, along with the Dennington and Hames families from our church, arrived at the home equipped with pumpkins, carving kits and candy, to share dinner and carving fun with the kids. They provided pizza for everyone, and then we got artistic. Most of the children who live there now are a little older, but they got into it as much as any little one. I mean, who doesn't love to get elbow-deep in the mushy gushies - as we call the inside of a pumpkin at our house - and create a work of art from a fat, orange gourd? Is there anything better? Well, maybe running around your neighborhood dressed as your favorite character, getting a sugar-high from totally free candy. Anyway, the kids had a wonderful time, and they were all very proud to show off their creations at the end of the night.

Garrett also had a pumpkin patch party at school. We signed up to bring cookies, so we used the Halloween cookie cutters that Mimi sent us last year and made some yummy treats. Here is Garrett rolling and cutting.

Halloween has become such a big holiday, that I feel like I spend all of my time on the pre-Halloween parties and events and almost overlook the actual day. My mom came just in time for trick-or-treating, which Garrett loved. Scout seemed to enjoy it, too, and even kept her headpiece of the bee costume on during the walk around our block. She didn't get any candy, though, as she was just in it for the torture of the costume.

G probably loved passing out candy, and some coffee packets our church had provided for the adults, even more. At one point, he was standing on our porch shouting, "Happy Halloween, anyone who wants to come get some candy!" He would also chase adults down our driveway yelling, "You forgot your coffee!" if I forgot to give it to someone. His hyperactivity was mostly natural, with a little sugar in there to take him fully over the top.

Garrett's costume was another story. It gradually came off, piece by piece as the night wore on. We made it to one house before he gave up the sword. He never even made it out the door with shoes, just the boot covers. The hat was the next item to be discarded, followed by the sash tied around his head and his belt. By the time my sister arrived after picking up Ryan's brother Alan from the airport, I think we were down to his shirt and underwear. Luckily, we have a nice warm Texas Halloween.

Seeing Alan, or Big Al as Garrett calls him, was so much fun for G. He was so happy to see him and saved a big Tootsie Roll for Al (I'd told G earlier that Al liked them). Scout jumped into his arms, too, and was super excited to see her uncle. Alan brought birthday gifts for Scout, some handmade cards from her cousins, and some little pirate toys for G. They never forget the non-birthday sibling, which is so nice for the Mama. Garrett knew Alan was going in the morning with me to Ryan's race, so he gave Alan an extra tight squeeze before bedtime and asked if he'd get to see him again. When we assured him he would, he ran happily up to bed. We didn't experience much of a crash from the sugar high, but I can't attest to G's behavior the next day, since I was in Bandera. My mom could provide those details, although it's probably best that I don't ask.

Cactus Rose 100