More Quotable Quotes / Sleep Update

I have been getting such a kick out of Spencer's comments lately. I love how verbal he is and how he's starting to do a lot of imaginative play. Here are a few gems I jotted down this week.

• When Geep arrived for her visit this week Spencer told her, "Susan is in her office."
• While chomping down on his chocolate Easter bunny: "I LOVE CHOCOLATE!" (Oh boy...)
• Random comment to Daddy: "We live in Austin. We have Henry and Olive."
• While we were playing with cars yesterday:
  Spencer: "He's going to pay now."
  Mommy: "What's he buying?"
  Spencer: "He's buying some stuff for you."
  Mommy: "Oooh! Like what?"
  Spencer: "He's buying you a tool. A big saw."
• While we were getting ready for bed last night: "I'm gonna squeeze the lotion in my hands and rub it on my body by myself. That's the plan, okay? That's not your job. That's my job." (Well, alrighty then!)
• During the royal wedding: "Where's the queen and that guy?"

So, I haven't given a sleep update lately. We've had our ups and downs with the big boy bed. Sometimes it's a struggle to get him to stay in the bed, and other times he goes right to sleep with no problem and doesn't get up to roam around. Last night, Dave and I were watching TV when we heard a very quiet sound... Spencer was sitting on the steps leading down to the den. Not sure how long he'd been there. We're worried once he realizes we watch TV after he goes to bed we'll never keep him in his room! He's also  had a few episodes of sleep walking...not all that surprising considering he's my son.

On a very positive note, Jenni babysat Spencer Monday night and she got him to sleep with no problems whatsoever! This was the first time someone other than us or his grandparents had done the nighttime ritual. Very encouraging indeed!

Easter Recap

We had a lovely Easter weekend. We kicked things off Friday evening at an egg dyeing party at Steve Garven's house. Spencer made some pretty eggs and had fun eating treats and playing with all the boys.

The next morning, we drove to Frelsburg for the first annual Elliott/Trahan Family Easter Picnic. Paw-Paw and Aunt Renee met us there, too. Spencer and Sarah had so much fun hunting eggs. It was a great afternoon!

After the picnic, we drove to Geep and Pop's in San Antonio. We went to their church's Easter egg hunt the next morning before church services began. Funny moment at church: Spencer started out in the nursery and then joined us in the chapel before communion. When communion was finished, he asked very loudly, "Are we done yet?" That got a bit of a laugh from the congregation. He just verbalized what everyone was thinking, right?

After church, Spencer found the goodies that the Easter Bunny left for him. There was even a digital photo treasure hunt that led Spencer to a nifty airplane basket in the bathtub. We had a nice lunch then headed back to Austin that afternoon.

Training Wheels

Our friend Kit kindly passed along her son's little bicycle to Spencer. Daddy cleared out the carport and now Spencer has lots of room to learn to pedal a big boy bike.

Quotable Quotes

I write down some of the funny, cute or smart things Spencer says. Here are a couple from last week.

• When asked if he wanted some water: "Ummmmm, I'm fine."
• "I don't want no _______." This could be anything from a diaper, to clothes, to dinner. I guess toddlers don't know about double negatives! 
• He uses the word "actually" a lot now, for example, "Actually, that's a ___________."
• "That's my mommy!" He pointed me out to another kid at playground yesterday. I loved that!
• "That's a Brachiosaurus." Or, "That's a Pteranodon." Somebody loves watching Dinosaur Train.

Yesterday we went on a nice family walk at Town Lake. We told Spencer that if he took a good nap he would have a surprise when he woke up. He took a long nap, and five seconds after waking up he was asking for his surprise. We found a shady spot to rest and I pulled out some soft pretzels (you know, the big yummy kind) for us to eat. When we finished the pretzels, Spencer said, "Where's my surprise?!?"

So Daddy came to rescue and offered a trip to Amy's Ice Creams on our way home. That was more like it!

Editor's note: I just have to add a conversation from dinner tonight.
Spencer: "Tomorrow after nap... We. Will. Go. To. The. Museum."
Daddy: "Which museum? The dinosaur museum?"
Spencer: "Probably not. Probably just the Bob Bullock Museum."

A Surprise at the Bounce

Spencer and Daddy ran into our little friend Ella at Loco-Motion today. Until today, these two primarily had a "virtual" relationship - they are both big fans of each other's blog. They haven't played together in real life since Ella was a little baby. (And I'm not sure you could call that "playing." It might be better described as Spencer trying to destroy all of Ella's mommy's Christmas decorations while Ella sat peacefully in her swing.) Click here to read all about the surprise play date.

Jell-O Excavation

Today there was Jell-O Excavation on Westoak Drive. (Technically, it was Knox Gelatin, but that doesn't have quite the same ring to it). I mixed up some gelatin in a bundt pan and placed plastic dinosaurs inside. After Spencer's nap, the mold had set and we starting digging.

Spencer wasn't so sure about the texture at first - he wanted us to dig a few out for him and then he got into it. We also tried squirting colored water inside but that didn't have the effect I had hoped for. Once all the dinos had been recovered we spent a lot of time transferring the slimy stuff from one container to another.

Big Boy Bed

Dave and I decided this week that Spencer was ready to transition to his toddler bed. This means one side of his crib has been replaced by a bed rail and he can get in and out as he pleases...yep, he's a free-range chicken now.

 
  Here's how the first 4 nights went:

• Monday: Called me back into his room a few times but didn't get out of bed.
• Tuesday: We were sure we'd made a terrible mistake. Took us over an hour to get him in the bed. Then he woke up many times throughout the night and was sitting on the floor each time I went in there. We have chalked this up to an atrocious mood from having no nap.
• Wednesday: Called me back in a few times right after bedtime, then at 1:00, then at 6:00. Was sitting on the floor each time. We went back to sleep in the guest room.
• Thursday: Slept all night - not a peep - and walked out of his room calling "Mommy!" at 7:15. One change we made was removing the larger pillow he slept with the first 3 nights, and just kept his baby pillow in the bed. Probably unrelated, but who knows.

What will tonight hold? Stay tuned!

Focusness

Jump Piwoes! (aka Jump Pillows!)

Check out the April photo album for more fun pictures.

Orange-White Game

We took Spencer to the Orange-White Game on Sunday. We started with a pre-game meal at Texadelphia, then met our friend Brian at the stadium. When we arrived, the Silver Spurs pulled up with Bevo in his big trailer and we got to see him get unloaded.


Then we found some seats and let Spencer soak up his first visit to Daryl K. Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium. He didn't understand why we couldn't go onto the field but was content listening to the band and watching the first 9 minutes or so of the scrimmage.

Then I took him downstairs and we wandered around and eventually found Ken, Nicole and Sarah. I think getting to check out Bevo at a pretty close distance was the highlight for these two.

By the way, I think I'm going to open a new fitness bootcamp where people can carry Spencer up and down the stadium steps. I thought I was going to pass out by the time we got back to our seats!

We left after the first half and Spencer told us he wanted to nap. So Dave drove us around for an hour. When we got home, Spencer wanted me to carry him inside to our bedroom, where he promptly lay down and went back to sleep for almost an hour. Unprecedented!

(Note: I'm experimenting with smaller photos - you can click them to see full-size images.)

Great-Grandma Hill

It's so hard to believe that Spencer has lost another great woman in his life so soon. I'm thankful he is too little to understand what has been going on, but at the same time I hope he'll remember his sweet Great-Grandma Hill. He loved playing with her cane!

We'll miss you, Grandma, but we know you'll be keeping an eye on us from heaven.