Lettering Me...

Well, Aimee over at The Mother Load did one of those cool bloggy things she does- and I signed up to follow along. I've got to list 10 things I like that start with the letter she assigned me. This was a while ago, and I did peek yesterday so I could think of things BEFORE I sat down to write. Brilliant idea, especially since these posts are coming in the cold dead of night*, eh?

And I got the letter "S", which made me think- cool, easy! But then I couldn't think of anything, which is really why the post got postponed (ha). But after a few hours of percolating behind the "how-should-we-change-the-furniture-around"* and "why-don't-I-clean-this-pantry-more-often".... I had it! Everything from Scrabble (much, much fun) to friends whose names begin with it, like Steve and Suze and Sonja and the Sanduskys!).

Then today, I went over there to check the rules again- because I like to be precise about these things, you know? I mean, it may be the internet, but it's still public and published and really, if we're going to do something, we may as well strive for perfection, right?* Then, to my horror, I realized I had the letter F. Yes, Aimee failed me. I flunked! I had the fake letter in my face all these flipping hours! Which means, that despite the title, I'm not doing this meme* today. Maybe tomorrow, after I've thought of 10 F things.

All those * - possible subjects for future blog posts.

BONUS BLOG OF THE DAY - here's a big shout out to Val over at Nothing, Really. She was kind enough to visit and comment; which is huge, as many of my readers tend to, um, read and not comment at all!. You'll have to take my word on the 'many readers' part, as most of them are related to me and just checking in to make sure I haven't left Kaden at the park. Anyway, back to VAL, who was super sweet and sounds smart and has a pretty nifty blog where you can find instructions on how to glue your eyelid open and learn about cool WII games for kids and smallish, well deserved pleas about scouting. Plus, and this really is the bonus part, she's a fellow Floridian, which makes her just way cool.

Hey - I like FLORIDA. I think my list is officially started now!

What Child is This?

... who laid to rest, so early now is waking,
who pokes his momma in her eyes, while all the time still laughing.
This, this is Kaden James
whom grandmas play and daddies sing
Haste, haste to wake and play
with the babe, the son of Kristi....
---

The above tune has been running through my head all day since this is the SECOND day in a row the boys have waken me up. BoySSSSS because JimDad places K.James the younger next to me, which ensures lots of the aforementioned poking and laughing. It's hard to be upset, though, when the baby giggles erupt. There are worse ways of waking up- like, say, if one's older brothers were to use your own super soaker on you on Christmas morning.





In any case, I never thought we lived the musical theater life, but Jim and I seem to sing to the babe. A lot. Regular songs, silly songs, made up songs, made up lyrics to existing songs... so much so that one day I remarked that we may need to, ahem, tone down the festivities. I can just see our boy ruin his first sleepover by either spontaneously vocalizing his host mom's every move OR crying because they didn't hum his brushing-my-teeth song. Jimdad laughed - and said the boy would be strong enough to deal with it.





In case you think I might be exaggerating... sing or hum a few bars of "davy... davy crocket, king of the wild frontier." Got it? Okay, here's our native floridian version:

---

Born in a suburb off the Caloosahatchee,
Prettiest place you ever did see.
Raised strong and kind like a boy should be
Wrestled him a gator by the time he was three.
Kaden, Kaden James: King of the Everglades!

Mikey Likes it!

And so does Kaden !

Note Jim's strong, gentle grip - needed to prevent little hands knocking the spoon away!

ps- ignore the bib above- we don't wear that in public.

Below, the tongue thrust reflex in action...

On a more serious note, please pray for Jim's dad, Dave, who's going in for surgery first thing Tuesday morning. A planned "minor" thing, but still... prayers for health & recovery would be great. While you're at it, also offer one for those battling cancer, including 2 family friends in Florida and 2 friends of our cousins in Ohio. Thank you!

Does Kaden like to eat cereal?

I'll let you decide...

Is he waving off the camera? or the cereal?

Notice the hand, grabbing the spoon below.

There were 2 spoons in the package, one for the baby to hold while the parent feeds him with the other. Not such a good idea, as our smart little man was trying to fit BOTH into his mouth...

Each taste got a similar look to this....

But he kept grabbing for the spoon and taking more bites!

After this, he finished off a bottle, and for the past 60 minutes

has been napping in his Nana's arms.

I don't know about him, but if he sleeps this good after every 'meal',

I'm LOVING the cereal!