Hit that line, hit that line . . . FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!

Football season is here! Hooray!! Yesterday I had a very proud Razorback moment. I went racing to the mall, because I heard that a store there had the toddler-size Darren McFadden jerseys that I had been searching for everywhere. (If you don’t know who Darren McFadden is, I need to you Google his name before you read any further. You are not worthy to read my blog until you are familiar with our state’s favorite Heisman front-runner.) So we’re in the Razorback store, and Christopher is looking at all the fun Razorback stuff. Feeling inspired, I guess, he starts singing the ENTIRE Razorback fight song. (Click here for lyrics and music.) We’d been singing it at home, and I knew he knew some parts of it, but I had no idea he knew the whole thing! He makes minor modifications (“Hit that line, hit that line, where I’m going“) and isn’t entirely clear on the spelling of Arkansas, but otherwise it is fabulous!!! He can also tell you who #5 is. (And I hope you can, too, if you did your Googling properly like I told you to!) I am SO proud. We’re ready for kickoff!

Will’s vocabulary is exploding, and it is so cute. He can quack, woof and roar. He wants “dah” (down) so he can “wah” (walk). When you do something he likes, he gleefully says “agih!” (again!). He loves to get his “sooes” on and go in the “cah” (those should be obvious). He’s graduated from saying “dee” for drink to saying “deeK” with an emphatic K sound at the end. He has also started furrowing his brow at us when we say “no” or make him mad in some way. He lowers his eyebrows and just glares at you until he gets his way or gets distracted with something else. I’ve got to try to get a picture of it, because it is actually adorable (which makes it so hard not to give in!). We’re also entering that embarrassing stage when he excitedly yells, “Dah-dee!” at every man he sees, including the picture of a 50-year-old insurance agent on the grocery checkout lane conveyor belt!

Christopher’s new favorite game is hide-and-seek (inspired by a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode where Mickey is looking for Donald).  He always hides in the same place, and yet his exuberance when you “find” him is just classic.  He likes to be the one looking, too, and since I’m working on introducing him to the concept of picking a new hiding place each time, he will say, “Laugh, Mommy!”  I’ll give a little giggle or two to help him find me.  And when he does, he just laughs and laughs.  Ah, to be three again!

Football season is almost here!

Last night Christopher, Uncle Jamie, Grandpa and Mommy went to see the Arkansas Razorback football team scrimmage.  It was Christopher’s first trip to Razorback Stadium, which was very exciting for Mommy.  When we walked in, we happened to run into one of the Razorback mascots, so Christopher got to say hello and take a photo.  Christopher didn’t get much out of the football, although he did enjoy watching the kicking practice.  He wanted to know where the Colts were (that’s my boy!) and when they were going to play the recording of the fight song again (yep, he’s sure to be in the band, not the football team).

A week ago, Christopher went with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jamie and Aunt Amanda to a jazz concert.  Even though it started at his bedtime, he stayed awake for almost two hours of music, sitting (mostly) quietly through the concert.  Now he has set up another elaborate drum set in the family room (reminiscent of the one he had set up at our old house, but slight different), and he instructs us to sit quietly on the sofa and listen to the concert.

Christopher’s latest game (mimicked by Will, too) is “surprising you.”  It goes like this:  Christopher:  Mom, I’m going to surprise you . . . I’m going to say, “boo!”, okay?  . . . BOO!

Will has become obsessed with candles, light switches, and ceiling fans.  He walks around all day, pointing to things and saying “boo” or “da” and waiting for us to tell him what it is called.  We are definitely in the vocabulary building phase.   He is also working on throwing more and more elaborate tantrums, almost always laying flat on his face on the floor.  Sometimes there is screaming, sometimes just silence.  It’s an art, I guess.

Walkin’ and talkin’

This post is for Ashley D.–’cause she could use a laugh, and I’ve been neglectful in providing one.  Miss you and all the Indy crowd!

Now that Will has mastered walking, he has moved on to the talking!  He is imitating words we say all day, but he is also building a repertoire of regulars, including many food-related words (more, drink, cracker, hot dog, snack, all done), ball, night night, please, down, bath, baby (directed at his cousin, Caroline) and the ever charming “bye bye!”   He also loves to dance, and lately it is always the same moves–he waves both hands and turns around in circles.  It is reminiscent of the part of the hokey pokey where you turn yourself about, but Will never gets to the part about that being what it’s all about.  Just around and around he goes until either the music stops or he falls over.

I’ve also been noticing that Will is an extremely obedient child.  I say this not to boast, but simply to document it so that in 6 months when we hit the terrible twos, I can look back on the good ol’ days.  He (almost) always obeys immediately, and he’s even started replying with “yes ma’am” (pronounced “mee-mee”).  It is so sweet!  At this age, Christopher would literally laugh in response to a rebuke, but Will is usually reduced to tears with the slightest raising of my voice.  After tonight, we suspect it might be more theatrics than true sensitivity . . . Will almost knocked over my glass while sitting on my lap at the dinner table, and I told him “no”, and he started bawling.  Several seconds into his weeping session, a toy nearby beeped.   Will  immediately stopped wailing and turned to stare at the toy.  When he realized we were on to him, he threw in a little more pathetic whining for good measure.

A few recent “Christopher-isms” . . . Mommy’s friends Tara and Andrew are in town for a wedding, and Andrew was kind enough to play Legos with Christopher for the longest time Friday morning.  Later, Tara asked Christopher if Andrew was fun to play with, and he gave her a puzzled look and replied, “Well, he isn’t a toy!”  Tara also asked Christopher what he likes to do that is fun, and Christopher replied, “obey.”  She asked him what he likes to do that makes him happy, and he said, “share.”  Yeah, right!  I’m glad he can talk the talk, but he sure ain’t walking the walk on that one!

We have a Saturday morning routine that involves breakfast at Panera with Grandma and Grandpa.  I usually get a cinnamon roll for Christopher (a tradition started by Grandpa, of course) and a muffin for Will.  Lately, Christopher has been very interested in “sharing” his cinnamon roll with Will in order to get some of Will’s muffin.  This morning, I asked Christopher if he wanted a muffin or a cinnamon roll, and he said he wanted a muffin.  I explained that meant he would not get a cinnamon roll–just a muffin–and he thought for a minute and replied, “Well, Will wants a cinnamon roll.”

Last weekend, we finally got our Daddy home in Arkansas with us!  Hooray!  One of my friends had Christopher in the church nursery the next morning, and she asked him what we did when Daddy got home.  He answered, “We ate vegetables!”  Now the world knows that my kids lived on pb&j, fruit cups, and Chick-fil-a while we were away from Daddy!