At the Grizzlies game tonight, Walt sitting on Josh's lap. Walt hands Josh the popcorn bucket so he can cheer (loudly) and Josh promptly dumps half of it down the back of the lady sitting in front of us. Not on purpose, I don't think.
"Thanks for spilling my popcorn, Daddy."
(Pause.)
"I really said that because I was mad."
Oh, Walty, we know! And we both misted up a bit knowing that we had been present for your first use of sarcasm as a communication device. That is seriously going to come in so handy being a part of this family.
P.S. I totally just overposted on Josh's video of Patrick giggling from earlier today, but I just had to share.
If there was ever any doubt that our little Walt, the inspiration for so many "isn't he a cute baby?" posts for so many years, has crossed into "isn't he smart and big and handsome and why don't you post about him and his little brother more often?" territory, this past weekend was it.
First, Walt turned five-years old last Friday. We started out with fresh chocolate iced donuts from Donald's, "the place where we met the Mayor" according to Walt, recalling a story that in simpler times would have resulted in an epic 1200 word blog post by his politico father. These are not simple times. But, yes, Patrick, Walt and I did run into Memphis Mayor AC Wharton there a few weeks ago after basketball practice, and Walt had his first intelligent conversation with an elected official.
For lunch, Daddy paid a surprise visit to Walt's class for lunch and outsmarted every one of those little urchins who gathered around my bag to see what I had brought for lunch: a salad complete with some very visible and strategically-placed spinach and broccoli. Ha! I did sneak Walt a little container of croûtons when the others weren't looking, though.
And since his good taste is mature and equal to his father's, we went to Boscos for a dinner of wood-fired pizzas. The deliciousness is not lost on his undeveloped taste buds. As usual, the staff were great and delivered a perfectly-timed and tasty piece of Walt's favorite Boscos dessert, strawberry cake, along with a candle and a 'no charge' on the bill. Gotta love Boscos. And little boys who like good restaurants.
He assured us it was a good birthday. Because he's still sweet like that.
But the real fun began Saturday morning. Basketball at the inhumane time of 8:15. I failed to get any video of him scoring a basket again this week. Mainly because he didn't. Mainly because the Orange Spirits were out rebounded something like 38 to 3. This resulted in a lot of Walt's team simply running the floor frantically and with little direction. But I did get some shots of him handling the ball and airing it out. Then running the floor frantically trying to beat the boy next to him.
The blur that was Saturday continued with the arrival of Gram, Deedaddy, Uncle Chi Chi, Collier, Putty and Nana in plenty of time for the main attraction, Rock 'n' Romp's season finale at the Center for Southern Culture and Folklore in Downtown Memphis. The highlight, besides the presents, the presents, the presents, oh heavens somebody stop this kid, the presents, was the Slomski Brothers including Walt in a bit of their performance and then singing one of their favorite songs, Chocolate Cake. This before we all enjoyed a piece of . . . you guessed it . . . the largest chocolate cake baked in Memphis last weekend. Thanks Slomski Brothers and Schnucks Bakery.
Of course, Patrick was there.
The Center for Southern Culture and Folklore is somehow still standing and we didn't bring home a single slice of cake thanks to a couple hundred hungry music fans.
The totally kid-centric day ended with Mommy and Daddy enjoying themselves in black-tie fashion at the Grand Opening Gala of the new University of Memphis Law School, ironically, among grown-ups, who acted like kids amidst the stunning architecture and open bars of the old U.S. Post Office turned law school. It is magnificent.
Walt, on the other hand, is quite aware of his grownupedness these days. He continues to expand his vocabulary (unfortunately, at times), explore the world around him, push the limits of his parents and love his little brother (unfortunately, at times). He loves puzzles, brain teasers, making art, basketball, baseball, soccer, board games, Transformers, watching cartoons, Saturdays and staying in bed. In other words, he's the perfect mix of the woman I fell for over 16 years ago and myself. It's been truly amazing to watch him grow into this energetic, confident little boy. I have no idea where the last five years went, but I hope the next five are just as much fun. We're very proud of our first little boy!
Oh, hello there! Haven't given up on us yet, I see! Thanks for that. Our lack of posting about our second child is shameful. Though to be fair, he spent the better part of the past two months screaming at us, so not a lot of time for posting. Alas.
But before we get to him, let me take this opportunity to welcome to the world and to the family our beautiful new niece, Macy Spain Elams, daughter of Ginger (Josh's sis) and Daryle. She was born yesterday (January 6th) and weighed in at a respectable 6 lbs., 11 oz. Isn't she a beaut?
So glad to finally have a girl in the fam . . . all these boys need a civilizing influence!
Speaking of civilizing . . . I'm happy to report that the combination of Prevacid, infant gas drops, and maturity seems to have had a mellowing effect on young Patrick. We are no longer considering leaving him on someone else's doorstep. Honestly, though, it was all my fault. I marched into his 2-month checkup and asked his pediatrician if it was possible for a baby to sleep too much. "He basically only wakes up to eat!" I said.
HA!! Joke's on me! Because approximately two days later, he was routinely spending his days (and nights, of course) screaming bloody murder. For some reason, it took us a month to determine that it was probably reflux that was causing our little angel to act more like a creature from the netherworld. And then another few weeks to decide that maybe there were some gas issues as well. So, now our baby is all doped up and happy as a clam! (That sounds bad. It's really not.)
Milestones . . . let's see. He rolled over (front to back) a couple of weeks ago . . . Christmas-ish. (Walt first rolled over on June 21, 2005. Sigh. Poor second baby.) Enjoys batting the toys around on the Gymini. Still loves his Miracle Blanket (wrap him up, stick the paci in, and watch his little eyes roll back in his head as he drifts off to dreamland). He's even taking longer naps and sleeping decent stretches at night on occasion. (PLEASE, baby gods, do not strike me down!!) He has a very sweet little smile, which he generally reserves for me (the mommy), but will occasionally share with others if they amuse him. Oh, and Josh tells me that he simplified a quadratic equation the other day while I was fixing dinner, but I didn't see that, so I can't be sure he's telling the truth. On with the pics . . .
Patrick sports his neighborhood duds.
The aforementioned Miracle Blanket.
Hittin' the Gymini.
Apparently someone's hat was a bit too tight.
And this picture pretty much sums up Walt and Patrick's relationship to date.
See you next month!
P.S. I did just post his three-month picture in the birthday album at left . . . four-month pic coming soonish.
Having a safety conscious four-year old means never having to worry about falling out of the attic when storing Christmas decorations. (Having a motor mouth four-year old means always hearing about exactly why the pillows are there.)
