Genetic Wonders

Notice the child in the picture above? He's mine. And Nate's. I sent some pictures of Grayden to my Mom and she just couldn't get over how blue his eyes are. That reminded me of a blog post I made while I was pregnant, entitled I's. I was gawking at my niece Madi's eyes, and stated it was almost impossible for my unborn child to have blue eyes like that. Behold.




The only thing you can say about our eyes other than brown is maybe calling them hazel, on a good day. The genes coming from my dad and Nate's mom must be super mutant genes, that's all I'm saying. And I'll never hear the end of it from my sister Chandra, who told me from the moment he was born that his eyes would stay blue and I denied it for almost a year. I don't anymore.

Jury Summons Equals BORING

When I first arrived at the courthouse, I saw this:






Hundreds of people crowding the doors, but nobody was allowed in. I was supposed to arrive at 8:30 and it was 8:25, so I thought maybe something was up. Most people either had a cup of coffee or a cigarette. I finally got so sick of the smell I turned around to leave, and I saw this:


Four sheriff cars. I didn't think it was all that odd, it being a courthouse and all, but then these guys came out.....




Right, so something was definitely going on. We had all been waiting outside for about 30 minutes, and I was hopeful we would be excused from jury selection. No such luck. But this guy showed up:



I don't think he got any interesting footage. I guess the dogs didn't find anything, but I heard later it was the second bomb threat this month. That's nice. Especially nice, when after three dogs spent a total of 10 minutes in a 12-story building they considered it completely safe and drove us all into the building like cattle.

EIGHT HOURS LATER....... I left the courthouse as one of the rejected ones. Praise the day.

Now, what to do with the 44 cents per mile that they're going to pay me for the day...?

New Words

Journaling. Deal with it. Some people scrapbook, I blog.

This week Grayden has been saying multiple new words every day.
He tried to say his own name, "Dayda"
He randomly switched yesterday from calling me Mama to calling me Mimi. We'll see how long that sticks.
HE said rainbow "aybo"
He said ice, a new favorite of his. But he can't/won't say eyes. Go figure.
"Ow" is also still a favorite, but he had never said it before the dreaded doctors appt.
He says cheese now, but it sounds a lot like Jesus which he's been saying for weeks. Whatev.
Peach is "sheesh". So cute.
He's started saying "bock bock" for every animal sound he doesn't know, like giraffe and zebra. But he's good on lion, fish, sheep, dog, horse, snake, monkey, duck, chicken (obviously), elephant, and cow. Cat and bird and frog he just signs instead.
He calls the book Hop on Pop "boppa bop". Close enough.
He stopped saying football. So sad since this would be the perfect week for that one. It was never very well pronounced anyway, but it was consistent. He just signs it now.
Corn dogs, his favorite food, he calls "kaka". Ironic.

Parenting is an enigma, in that it is a unique relationship where you can go from thinking no person ever loved their child as much as you, to being ready and willing to give that child to those other people who love their children. I'll never understand it.

Poor Bellagio

Remember that little water show at the Bellagio? Where water moved around in time with swanky songs like "Big Spender"? Well, that's in the past. I just saw Disney's California Adventure's World of Color show and now the Bellagio is just a faded memory.

If you haven't seen it yet, let me try to help you picture it. You've seen the Bellagio, right? Well, make that space about 4 times bigger.....then add technicolor, lights, lasers, high definition, blu-ray, widescreen, surround sound, 3-D, and Disney. Maybe some pixie dust. Voila! Are you picturing it? Pretty sweet, right? I mean, Buzz and Zurg have an all-out battle that looks so real it makes you feel around for a weapon to protect yourself .....and they do this all with water.

I'm not saying it's in the same league as Fantasmic, a show too dear to my heart to ever have competition. But I was highly entertained.

Go.

Dilemma

What to do? I'm right in the middle of Kane and Abel, a book club book that I'm quite enjoying, but Mockingjay came out yesterday and Nate bought it for me.....so many good books! I feel so confused :) If I could only find a babysitter so I could read uninterrupted for an entire day, I could probably get through them both. Any takers???

No?

Hm.

I guess I'm on my own, then. Two hours of nap time ahead of me, I have to decide quickly.

A Toddler's Malice

Grayden had his doctor's appointment today, he is 16 months this week. He did really well, charmed the doctor and stayed about 70th percentile in height and 50th in weight. Then he had to get 4 shots. One in each leg and each arm. The nurse did it as quickly as she could, but as you can imagine, he was very unhappy about it. He cried a minute and then I offered him the fruit snacks I had brought for that exact purpose. It mostly worked and other than a few more whimpers and pointing to his biceps, he recovered.

As I walked out of the room, I saw the nurse there, and remembered that I didn't get the printout of the height and weight charts. I asked her if she would get them for me, and when she looked up and said she would, Grayden, who I was holding at the time, gave her a big scowl and said, "Ow". She laughed at that, but then quickly apologized to him, that she was just doing her job. She left to get the printout and we waited at the door of the room, talking fora few minutes to another aide who was in the hallway. Grayden was all smiles. When she brought it back, Grayden saw her and frowned and again said "Ow". He apparently holds a grudge. And never forgets a face.

I hope these qualities aren't long term.

Mommy's Little Helper

It's amazing how tuned in Grayden is. Anytime I need a little assistance, he's right there helping out.

Driving the car:





Clipping coupons:







Mowing the lawn:



And assisting me with my bowling game:







(The movie was not sideways when I downloaded it)


I can only imagine what he'll "help" me with tomorrow!