Teaser trailer

Here is a little preview of our trip to Disneyland/Southern California. Pretty awesome huh? Don't worry, more to come (hopefully with fewer of my dopey looking faces and more of G's actual face). 

Bond...G. Bond

Little G was finally clean for longer than 5 minutes, so we decided to try on his brand new tuxedo which we bought for my sister's (and possibly his Grandpa's) wedding. You can't tell 100% from these pictures but he looks so awesome in it! Why are little kids in big people's clothes so funny?



This is the conversation we had while putting it on:

G: I'm going to wear this to work.
Me: Are you planning on becoming an international super spy?
G: Yep.
Me: Oh. Well then, there you go.

Quoteables

After seeing his second bus pass by in 10 minutes little G says: "Oh a bus! I never see those." (Keep in mind he made a similar comment in regard to the first bus.)

After getting in trouble for throwing sand: "I only have one more chance...I only have one more chance...I only have...I have two more chances!"

Upon seeing a VERY pregnant woman in the Doctor's office he very loudly proclaimed: "Look mom, her tummy is GINORMOUS! It's up to the ceiling. There's a baby in there." (I had to apologize for this one. Luckily she was a good sport about it.)

While watching our ultrasound DVD and looking at pictures of developing babies: "He needs a diaper. Where is his shirt?"

He is obsessed with his primary music leader who comes into nursery to sing, she is a superstar to him. I feel like we are writing for one of those star gossip magazines where they have the whole section, "The stars are just like us...look they parallel park, they eat burritos, they walk on their own legs!, etc. etc." Anyway, here are a series of funny things from little G's paparazzing alone:
Watching her take the sacrament: "Look! She's eating the BREAD!"
After we drive by her house: "Where is she? Is she watering her garden?"
When she drives by us and waves: "Where is she going? Where is she going? Mom, where is she going?"
Whenever he sees her: "There's Sister W. She wants to sing with me."

I also think he has one of my more favorite lyric flubs. Apparently I have been singing the wrong lyrics to Book of Mormon Stories all this time. According to G, the last line is:
"Given this land, if they live, righteous leaf."

In not so funny but more heartwarming news, he has also begun to tell us he loves us without any prompting. I tell you what, there is nothing that will melt your heart faster than your sweet little baby giving you a big hug and kiss and saying, "I love you, Mom." I wouldn't miss this for the world.

Say what?

Just by way of clarification of my previous post, I'm not saying everyone must or does react this way to a question, just that it happens frequently enough to blog about.

Also, I just looked at my holds at the library and I am number 130 to get Stephanie Meyer's "The Host." Now while I think this is ridiculous in general due to my overall opinion of the legitimacy of Meyer's books, what I am more outraged at is the fact that last week I was in the 120's. I SWEAR! Someone is cutting in the hold line. I bet it was that mean librarian who wouldn't let me tell her my card number--she figured out a way to exact her revenge. I knew I shouldn't backtalk.

Why ask?

Have you ever noticed that we always ask questions that we don't really want the answers to?

I do this all the time--probably my favorite is asking if I look like a chubby wubby. Of course B is too smart now to fall for that one, he tells me that I'm beautiful no matter what. Unfortunately little G is a little more honest, though I must say that in general he too has been trained well by his father to tell me I'm gorgeous.

The problem is that like G--people don't always give us the answer that we want. I've decided that people respond to this is two different ways. There is the first subset who just ignore what you say and do it anyway.

Example Ignorer: "Can I have a bite of your dinner?"
Me: "Nope"
Ignorer: "Thanks, that was really good."
Me: "Am I turning invisible/mute?"
Ignorer: "Thanks for the drink too--it really helped wash it down."

The other category is the victim. This person asks what should be a question that can have a multitude of answers--but if they don't get the one answer they want they are very upset/hurt/shocked that you wouldn't respond in the way they deemed fit.

Example Victim: "Can I have a bite of your dinner?"
Me: "Nope."
Victim: (shocked look as though you slapped them across the face) "Why not? I just want a bite."
Me: "I don't feel like sharing. This is my dinner, you have your own. It's nothing personal--you asked and I said no."
Victim: "BUT HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT TO ME? All I want is a bite of your dinner." (Now practically crying and acting like you ought to be sent to prison.)

There are some professionals, however, who have mastered combining these two categories. These are the ignorers who then become victims later. Believe it or not, I have actually had this conversation more than once.

Example Ignorer/Victim: "Would you like a glass of milk with dinner?"
Me: "No thanks."
Ignorer/Victim: "Here I'll get it for you."
Me: "No thanks."
Ignorer/Victim: "Look a nice glass of milk."
Me: "Alright, thanks."
Halfway through dinner...
Ignorer/Victim: "Why aren't you drinking your milk?"
Me: "I didn't want any. I prefer water."
Ignorer/Victim: "What? But I got you milk? How could you not want milk when I got you the milk? Is it not good enough?" etc. etc. etc. (Again looking as though I slapped them in the face.)

The moral of the story is that all through high school I told my friends' parents that I was lactose intolerant. Now if I could only come up with an allergy that would get me out of interactions with my mentor, family reunions, filling up my car with gas, strong odors, and foods that I would only like to avoid periodically I'd be set!

Availability Heuristic

This is a video I like to show in class to help demonstrate the availability heuristic (our tendency to judge the frequency of events occurring through the ease with which they are able to be brought to mind). Every time I watch it I have to laugh.



Another great recommendation is the new website hulu.com. You can watch all sorts of new and old t.v. shows online. It's a great time waster. My top recommendations would be 30 Rock and Arrested Development. Very good,

When I was pregnant with little G, I heard this man (Howie Schaffer) as a guest on NPR talking about self publishing. At the time I was working for a woman who wanted to self publish a book, so I looked up his website. I found a poem that he had written which I thought was beautiful and since has aptly described my feelings about being a parent (though of course it is told from a father's perspective). I just found it among the documents we managed to save off of our old (dead) hard drive and I thought I should share.

First Poem for My Son
By: Howie Schaffer
http://www.superhowie.com

After a rain, a creek will swell and overflow.
The river of my heart,
now each day, leaps its banks,
and carves new openings.

I am surging into fatherhood,
gushing energy and optimism.

Amazingly, after your first breath,
I began to accept how much I am unsure.

I have learned to keep my fears
at a respectful distance.

At one time,
in the months after I learned your mother was pregnant,
my mind began reeling, whirring and buzzing,
and fearing and shrinking and doubting.
I worried that you would ruin my restless life,
limit my freedom, need me beyond my capacity to give,
and deprive me of the essentials
I assumed had fertilized my soul.

Please know, now and forever,
that I could not imagine, dream, or contemplate
how much I was wrong
and how much you have improved and reformed
every part of who I am.