Lilypie 4th Birthday Ticker

Sunday, April 22, 2007

sports-fest

This weekend Spencer watched three different sports for the first time and had a blast. On top of that, he was well-behaved which meant Jim and I were able to enjoy the weekend with him that much more! Spencer sat on the sidelines watching his very first soccer game (under 5 league) and was delighted to no end that he had the chance to dribble all around during halftime and after the game. He is already asking when he gets to be part of a team. Answer = in the fall. Today we soaked up the spectacular Spring weather watching about half of the Rice baseball game. Spencer excited clapped along with the crowd for good plays and runs scored (of which there were many!) and enjoyed learning about aluminum bats, foul balls, and singing 'take me out to the ball game.' And, finally, Spencer got to watch his daddy play hockey. It took a few shifts before he was able to identify Jim in his gear and then would excitedly shout "hi daddy! hi daddy! hi daddy!" each time he skated by. Teaching hockey rules wasn't too different than soccer he had learned the day before: "this team is trying to score a goal in that net, and the other team is trying to score a goal in this net." It wasn't really that tough a concept to explain the few penalties he witnessed either: "that player pushed another one, so now he is sitting by himself in time out for two minutes." Very familiar concept for a three year-old!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

who needs Websters

I think we have always talked to Spencer like a big kid, and ever since he began signing/speaking, his vocabulary has increased at amazing rate. He is constantly asking for definitions of words he is unfamiliar with, and it is so funny to hear some repeated back that he learned elsewhere. This weekend was Jim's birthday. Spencer was SERIOUSLY upset by the fact that not only was Jim not having a party at a jumping place, but he was not even going to have a cake with candles! I explained to Spencer that "unfortunately, daddy has to go to Rice University on his birthday." Spencer stopped and informed me "unfortunately is when you wish you could do something, but you can not."

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

milestones

I have hesitated posting this recent accomplishment, not wanting to be too much of one of those blogging mamas bragging about their kid all over the web. But after sharing with a couple of friends, it was pointed out that this blog IS Spencer's "baby book" - his journal for recording all of his greatness, so it would be remiss not to write about the fact the SPENCER IS READING AND SPELLING! We discovered this last month when parents were invited to school to observe some of the work the kids had mastered. Spencer's teacher brought over a box that had several objects along with laminated cards that had the names of those objects, and gave him simple instructions to match them. We stared as he sounded out each word and then located the object to put them together. Our kid is really reading - not just sounding out m-i-l-k on the carton at breakfast when it is already obvious what is contained inside. Next, his teacher came by again with a box of (sorted) letters and requested a couple of words for him to spell. Jim and I sat there thinking we might have to prod his thought process, but we just waited and watched in silence, our jaws agape, as our son picked out letters from the box and lined them up on the carpet to spell the words she had requested. Our kid is spelling. Holy cow. As we were leaving the school, the staff in the front office was just bursting "we've known about Spencer's work for about a week now, but we didn't want to ruin the surprise of letting you two to see for yourselves!" They were so proud and pleased with his work. And, most importantly, Spencer feels really good too.

Monday, April 09, 2007

the pictures i didn't take

We were in NY for Passover last week when that huge springtime front came through and brought flurries in April. Spencer enjoyed the change, and didn't mind the cold. But before the temps dropped, Spencer and I enjoyed a terrific day together in the city at the beginning of the week. We rode the train in to Grand Central (an adventure in itself) and then walked up Fifth Avenue enjoying the sunshine and 60 degree temps. We stopped at Rockefeller Plaza to watch the ice skaters, and after perching him on the (wide) ledge to take an awesome picture of him smiling with the colorful flags lined up behind him, I discovered that the camera had a power issue and locked up after I turned it on. So, I missed that photo, and many more great ones.

We admired the grand statue of Atlas, and continued walking up to Central Park. This was our destination, and the primary purpose for making the trip in the first place. Earlier this year Tracy sent Spencer a copy of And Tango Makes Three which quickly became one of his favorite books to read at bedtime. We talked about going to the Central Park Zoo so we could see the penguins (and the red panda bears and cotton-top tamarins.) It was great and Spencer absolutely thrilled to point out Roy and Silo and Tango to me.

After the zoo we walked to FAO Schwartz where Spencer played the giant floor piano for over 20 minutes. He thought it was amazingly cool. Next we stopped to walk around the first floor of the World of Disney and finally ended up back at Grand Central Terminal to take the short train ride back to grandma's house where he crashed hard!