Walt's First Christmas

It was a very, very big Christmas for a little boy.  There were lots of presents, lots of good food (like Aunt Gigi's lemon cake, Aunt Puppy's sweet potatoes and Gram's cinnamon rolls), and lots of wonderful time spent with family.  And for that we are all very grateful.  Check out the new Chrismas photo album at left for a rundown of the holiday happenings!

Standin' Tall

Remember how I said that he was only occasionally pulling up to his feet?  Yeah, scratch that.  Now that he has discovered standing, sitting just will not do.   He and Evie are getting a little closer everyday to being able to break out.  But sometimes all that standing gets tiring and a kid just needs to rest . . .

And because you've been so good this year, Santa has put some video in your stocking:

Download MVI_2933.AVI

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas Letter

While Christmas comes only once a year, posts from me (Josh) come a little more frequently.  But not by much.  Well, you're in luck.  I've been charged with composing the annual Christmas letter for Spickler Family West.  (And also, I'm supposed to be funny.)  So, here goes.

Let's see, where to start?  Hmmmm.  Oh yeah, that's right.  About two weeks into this year we had a baby.  I haven't slept past 6:30AM since.

Did you hear the one about the three nuns that go into a bar?

Thank you. Thank you very much.  I'll be here all week.  Please don't forget to tip your waitresses. 

Seriously though.  This has definitely been the year of Walt.  (Actually, according to the Chinese, Walt's birthday fell during the year of the Monkey.  That's not too far off.)  While he's not quite swinging from the trees yet, he has enriched our lives immeasurably.  I'm sure many of you have checked out this site a few times and kept up with his development.  For those of you who haven't, Walt's entire first year is pretty well documented on this site, so if you want a detailed accounting of every smile, sneeze and sunburn (yes, already), then get busy surfing and call in sick to work tomorrow 'cause it's large.   Otherwise, I'll try to hit the highlights.

Aside from all of the firsts Walt has experienced, Ginger and I have had several ourselves.  About three months after Walt was born, Ginger went to work part-time for the first time in her life.  She's very blessed to have a great boss who let her set her post-Walty schedule.  After a little tweaking, she's settled into Monday, Wednesday, Friday for about 5 1/2 hours per day.  Walt goes to Mother's Day Out during those days and hangs out with Rosie and Carter and crew.  He loves it there and gets very excited both when Mommy drops him off and when she picks him up.  We think that's a good sign.

As for me, I took my first ever REAL job this past year.  After a two-year stint at the Shelby County Public Defender's Office and over three years of solo practice, I went to work for The Hardison Law Firm in July.  I've got a parking pass, a secretary AND health insurance.   They have yet to figure out that I'm not sure what I'm doing.  Shhhh.

The arrival of "the boy", as I like to call him, has not greatly affected our hectic travel schedule except that any car trip greater than 2 1/2 hours typically ends with Ginger in the back seat performing show tunes with hand puppets.  That hasn't stopped us from taking Walt to see his Nana and Putty (Sheila and Frank) and Gram and Grandaddy (Cheryl and Richard) several times.  We also made it to the beach in South Carolina in June, to Ohio for a family reunion (also in June) and to the horse races in Kentucky in April (like his Gram, he always bets on the gray horse).  We even squeezed in a trip to Chicago in October.  Walt bagged eight states in his first year.  Good times in the car seat.

More recently, Ginger and I left Walt overnight for the first time to rock out at a U2 concert in Atlanta, and  we all spent a weekend in the Smokies with Nana, Putty and Aunt Gigi (Ginger K. Spickler).  What did we learn from those two trips, you ask?  Well, 1) Ginger and I are too old for the "standing room only" seats at a big-time rock concert and 2) Walty really likes aquariums while Nana really, really doesn't like sharing her scenic, mountain cabin with a mouse.

Walty Cousteau and Putty at the Aquarium of the Smokies.

Hint: this photo is the from the cabin, but this is not the mouse.

For some reason, after running 26.2 miles in 4 hours, 19 minutes at the Memphis Marathon last December, I decided to register for another marathon and attempt to break the four-hour mark.  Thanks to a really flat course, perfect weather and incredible support from Ginger, Walt, Nana and Putty, I succeeded on October 9th by running the Chicago Marathon in 3:55.  I think I've got a problem because I'm scheduled to run the Country Music Marathon in Nashville in April.

When you're not Kenyan, you can stop and talk to your little boy during a marathon.

Although things have slowed down socially, we still enjoy dinners out occasionally and movies . . . oh let's see . . . 4 times, but who's counting?  And I think we've managed to keep most of our friends from disowning us.  It seems like many of them have added to their number this past year as well, and there are several more in the proverbial oven.

Another first: Ginger turned 30 in July for the first of many times.  Here we are at her birthday dinner.

As for Evie, she's neglected and looking for a way out.  Unfortunately for her, Walt would follow,  if they could only figure out how to get the door open.

Bottom line: we're living an incredible life, and we thank God and each of you for making it possible.  Merry Christmas.

Josh, Ginger, Walt and Evie

Eleven Months

At this time last year I was in the final stretch of my pregnancy.  I had done all of my Christmas shopping early so that I wouldn't have to haul my enormous self around the mall with the crowds.  So, I sat at home relaxing and addressing envelopes for birth announcements that were already designed and just waiting for a birthdate and weight to be complete.  Thinking back on that time, I can hardly believe it has been a whole year since I last relaxed!  (Kidding.  I do my share of nothing -- just not early in the morning.)  2005 has gone faster than I ever thought possible, all thanks to the arrival on January 15th of one Walter Franklin Spickler.  Even when he is lying in his crib hollering because he doesn't want to take a nap (as he is as I write this), he is still the best thing that has ever happened to us.  Okay, enough with the sap -- here's the update.

Mobility:  He's still exploring the wonders of crawling and hasn't even thought about trying to walk yet.  He pulls up to his knees all the time and occasionally up to his feet, but that's about it for now.  But it certainly doesn't stop him from exploring every little nook and cranny of the house (or wherever you put him down).  And for some reason, the most interesting things to crawl toward are the things he's not supposed to touch . . . the DVD player, electrical outlets (still), and the trash (still).  He'll crawl toward them, stop and sit up, look at us and smile and then continue on toward his destination.  It's so hard not to laugh, but we try to remain firm with a very serious "No!" and a redirection of his forward momentum.  And then when we sit back down, the process starts all over.

Communication:  Daddy is getting a very big head with all the "Dada!"s being tossed about all the time.  He's also apparently very fond of his Uncles Stephen and David because his new favorite sound is "Unka!".  But does he ever say "Mama"?  That would be a big, fat no.  He's really testing my patience with that one, but every mother I complain to assures me that once he starts saying it, it's all I'll hear, so I might as well enjoy the silence while I can.  "What's that, sweetheart?  You want "dada" to change your diaper?  Well, sure!"  He also waves bye-bye sporadically.  Although not always when someone's leaving.  Sometimes just when he's sitting there playing.  So, I'm not sure it really counts as communication, but it's cute just the same.

Eating:  Since last month when he had just figured out how to put something in his mouth, we have come a long way, baby!  This kid will eat anything and everything, including (my personal favorite) olives.  I didn't even like olives until about a year ago myself.  However, we're determined to raise a non-picky eater ('cuz mama ain't gonna be no short order cook!), so we're feeding him a little of everything now to get him used to it.  Very soon we're going to take him for his very first Indian meal -- Mommy and Daddy's favorite!  Here's a picture of him eating his lunch of hummus on pita bread today.

Miscellaneous:  Walt loves his books and can sit and just open and close them for minutes (which is long for an 11-month old) at a time.  He's actually not as patient as he used to be about having them read to him, but he loves to look at them on his own.

We have finally moved him to the regular bathtub and I think he may love it even more than he loved baths in the sink with the sprayer.  Bathtime is probably his happiest time of day and it's fun for us too -- who knew how much fun rubber duckies could be?  Evie still trembles everytime we start running the water because she thinks it's for her, but Walt just crawls his little naked self into the bathroom.

Does it get any sweeter than this?   

Puppy Love

This is about as close as Evie will willingly get to Walt (and willingly is probably a strong word -- she was commanded) because as soon as she does . . .

Walt moves in for the kill!  But I think Evie got the last lick.

Make that a lick and run.

Poor Walty -- his love is unrequited.

P.S.  How about this posting two days in a row thing?  Pretty good, huh?  Don't get used to it.  It's what happens when Daddy is in trial and Mommy is home alone and there's nothing good on TV.

Head of the Class

When I got to Mother's Day Out on Friday to pick Walt up, he was sporting the sticker seen in the picture, which says (if it's too small to read), "I'm Proud of You!"  And why are we proud of him?  Walt is the first kid in his class to make the transition from bottle to sippy cup!  He hasn't been first at much (except in our hearts, of course!), so we were all very excited.  The sticker itself went missing shortly after we got home, but fortunately I got this picture to prove it once existed.

Here Comes Walty Claus

We are fully in the Christmas spirit here at the Spickler house.  We bought our Christmas tree tonight, and Walt set the mood with his Santa hat.  By the way, he despises the hat, and it's a test of Mommy's reflexes to get a picture of him in it before he rips it off and throws it down.  Mommy was obviously at her quickest for this one.

On to the tree shopping . . .

Funny how the 32 degree weather speeds up the decision making process.  We found one (with John's help) really quickly.

All we needed to do was avoid the fate of our friends, the Lareaus, whose tree fell off in the middle of Poplar Avenue on the way home from the tree lot.  Fortunately, John was more adept at the tying down of the tree than the Girl Scouts that the Lareaus bought from.  We made it home with the tree, and Walty promptly gave it the once over.

He ordered us to decorate it, and then went to sleep.  The nerve of some kids.  Here's the finished product.  Walt will have to wait until morning to see it.  We think he will approve (and then pull it over on himself).

Tennesseein' Is Tenne-Believin'

Who knew the Volunteer state was so long?  Walty found out this weekend thanks to Putty and Nana's annual first weekend in December trip to the Smokies.  The six of us (Aunt Gigi came along too!) piled in the 'ol four wheel drive sleigh on Friday morning and headed east.  And what better way to start a trip than with a visit to Steak and Shake where they give out free hats to kids?  Walty stole this one from ME!

We arrived just in time for the Gatlinburg Christmas Parade.  The Grand Marshall?  None other than Deputy Enis of the Dukes of Hazard.  Sadly, we didn't get a picture.  The flash wouldn't work that far away.  Instead, here's a rare Walty/Mommy photo from the parade.

After the parade, we settled in at the cabin, and Putty quickly built a roaring fire (by flipping a switch on the wall) to get everyone in the Christmas spirit.

And I do mean everyone.  A certain lesser-known cousin of Jerry the Mouse made a brief appearance Friday night at the Spickler cabin.  Let's just say the mistletoe didn't work.  Nana was less than welcoming of our unwanted house guest, but we were very proud of her.  She conquered her fears and stayed the night anyway.  We'll save the story about the grisly fate of our unwanted house guest for a less festive time.

On Saturday we went to the Aquarium of the Smokies where Walty saw all kinds of fish and water creatures.  He seemed to like it a lot.  It was difficult to tell who enjoyed it more, Walt or Putty.

We may have a budding marine biologist on our hands.  Here we have Walty Cousteau:

And finally, after 1000 miles over four days, somehow Walty is still in a good mood.  We didn't have the nerve to tell him that the book was upside down.  What a sweet boy!