Lilypie 4th Birthday Ticker

Thursday, February 22, 2007

nerdy spencer

Of course, that is meant in an endearing way. Last weekend Spencer and I checked out the Frog exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and it was as cool and impressive as I had hoped it would be. But, almost better than that, was the fact that there was a big event going on for GEMS and there were exhibit tables set up throughout the length of the museum lobby educating kids about different sciences. Quite a few interested Spencer, but the Robotics Academy captivated him for more than half an hour. Their 4'x6' table displayed legos with servos, and Spencer was fascinated. He has played with remote controlled cars at home, and only seems to drive them in circles or straight into the wall. But at the museum as I watched him control an 'excavator,' requiring two separate levers, without a false step. I was stunned. Spencer was hooked. Pics from our visit (and photo albums from the past three months) have been added on the right.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Deep Thoughts, by Spencer Leach

After tucking him in bed in the darkness, Spencer inhaled deeply through his nose and informed me "if you stick two fingers in your nose you can not do that. you can not breathe through your nose if you stick two fingers in it. that's why you should only stick one finger in your nose."

Friday, February 16, 2007

swimming class

We signed Spencer up for swimming classes to get ready for summer. Now he's old enough to take the classes without mommy or daddy in the water. Man, oh man, it hasn't been pretty. Jim and my mom have taken turns bringing him, and neither came home with good reports. Including horsing around to the point he fell underwater and had to be rescued by a lifeguard. That experience of watching him in class was so bad it ruined Jim's mood for the rest of the evening through hockey, which is tough to do. I was so nervous going for my first class with him last night that it would be too frustrating. Sticking to the 80/20 rule of expecting good behavior from a toddler, I think we hit that mark ok. He certainly wasn't the shining pupil, but with the promise of a chocolate brownie as a treat after dinner, he did well. I don't like having to resort to bribery, but I feel that happens more often since Spencer has become a toddler.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

valentines messages

To get ready for the Valentine's Day celebration at Spencer's school, we were asked to send in enough signed valentines for each friend in the class, plus some stickers to be used for a project. I found some fun puffy stickers in the $1 spot at Target - a bunch of different cute and colorful drawings of animals with hearts. Jim and Spencer were looking over them together and talking about the different stickers. "This one says puppy love," Jim told him. Spencer scanned across the row to another animal and announced "and this one says monkey love!"