In Absentia...

Nope. I haven't gone AWOL. I'm perfectly well aware of the fact that it's been more than six months since I last wrote, but I got bored with blogging. I probably would've abandoned it entirely except my mother has been patiently reminding me that I'm robbing her of accounts, photos and videos of Will's escapades. Here we go!

Well, Will is now two years old. You know the expression, "the terrible twos?" So far we haven't experienced anything different from "the opinionated ones." He's still tall and slender, and has the most hilarious sense of humor. As Spencer likes to say, his emotional IQ is well-developed. Perhaps even overly so - like father, like son. As an aside, I don't know how my psyche will cope with two Spencers in the house.

On a serious note, though, I just love him more and more every day. Does he do things that annoy me? Yep. Does he gleefully endanger himself on a daily basis? Of course! Does he run away from me in crowded spaces where strangers and potentially crazy people exist? Why, certainly!!! But - I ask you - does he hug my legs at random and often inconvenient moments? Yes. Does he talk to me all the live long day? Yes. Does he call for me when I'm not there? Yes. And those are the reasons I love him more every day.

My little parrot (for that, to my growing dismay, is what he is becoming) surprises me regularly. Recent achievements and interests include:

* climbing his changing table to stand on top and play with the light switch and clock,

* wanting Spencer to play with him at every free moment,

* mixing trains, animals, and blocks into the most creative play area I've ever seen,

* complete infatuation with Santa Claus (I've tried hard to direct his Christmas attention to Jesus, but to no avail. Santa has me beat.),

* increasing use of abstract words and ideas,

* conversation revolving around cows, horses and the aforementioned Santa,
* a desire to play with others (yes, I know - he needs a sibling),

* "cakes" - that is, pancakes, AND

* his Aunt Becca, Uncle "Bandon" I-ee (Eli) and Woocee (cousin Lucy).

Since my last post, he had another visit to Tennessee in May to see Nana and Papa, the birth of a new cousin, Lucy, whom he really likes, two visits with Nana and Papa here in Utah, Halloween as a train engineer, his second birthday, and Thanksgiving. In the life of a toddler, that's big stuff.

By the way, let me just add that I really struggle with the formatting on this website. If spacing is weird, or randomly uncentered, I do know better. I just don't know how to make Blogger know better. ARGH! My Type-A personality is frustrated.

Let me see if I can somehow post some recent photos for your enjoyment:

Will is opening his present from Nana and Papa.

Yes, that is sheer delight and overwhelming joy on his face. Obviously he doesn't really know what it is yet - just that it has something to do with Thomas.

So one night we were finishing dinner when he asked to sit in my lap for a few minutes. This is the result of my gullibility.

No explanation possible.

Will was playing with some of the winter squash we'd harvested earlier that day. I just love his hair and cute face.

My little man. To be fair, that squash probably weighed in at least a third of his body weight.

Will really got a kick out of the banana squash. Just like last summer.