On Thursday, my darling, first-born baby boy turned two.
I know it's been quite a long time since I have updated Spencer's blog. If you are my Facebook friend, you more than likely are bombarded with all sorts of Spencer (and Collin, his new little brother, born September 1) statuses and stories, so while I feel a little bad about neglecting his blog, I take solace in that fact. It's been a hectic few months, introducing the new baby into our family, moving, and all sorts of other things.
Spencer is now 36 inches tall and 30-ish pounds. He can count to ten, and partially to twenty, all by himself. He can recite the entire alphabet by himself. He can point out and name both numbers and letters when he sees them. He knows red, orange, yellow, chartreuse, green, aqua, blue, purple, pink, black, gray, white and brown. He knows circle, flower, star, heart, square, triangle, rectangle, moon, and oval. He knows a ton of animals and their sounds. He is learning words like crazy. He's full of hugs and kisses, climbing and exploring, and of course, mischief. He's an amazing boy that I am grateful for, every single day. Yes, sometimes, I will admit, he drives me a little batty, but you'll have that.
With that brief update, I will leave you with a few videos, taken on his birthday.
Sioux Falls has a pretty... decent zoo, for the most part. They're undergoing renovations again this year which will make it a little more awesome, I think. Spencer has been there at least three times... possibly five or six. I cannot remember exactly. He enjoyed it when we went, for the most part, but he was a bit younger then and didn't really understand animals or have that much interest in them at the time. Also, sometimes the animals in the zoo in Sioux Falls seem hard to see. That's my opinion, anyway. They have a pretty good variety, but it's not nearly as awesome a zoo as the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, NE.
Ever since Spencer started showing interest in fish (which he calls "wish!" very excitedly), I have had it in my heart and mind to take him to the zoo in Omaha, because they have a wonderful aquarium with an underwater tunnel. I just always thought he would love it.
Spencer's fantastic daddy made it possible for the three of us to take a day trip to Omaha this past Sunday to visit the zoo. While the temperatures climbed to over 100° that day, we left early enough to be able to spend a good five or more hours wandering the zoo. We, by no means, saw it all, but it was our plan to attempt to see all of the animals out of one of Spencer's favorite books, "Where's Spot?" as well as the aquarium.
We accomplished that much, plus a few animals he hadn't heard of yet and a few others he had from different books he has. He is 20.5 months old now and he knows quite a few animal names and noises, which made the adventure even more exciting, I think. We definitely got to put his knowledge to the test! He did so well! And was so excited!
We first visited the desert dome. We decided to start there while the temperature outside was only in the 80s and so it wasn't going to bake us. Spencer really liked the foxes, the jack rabbits, porcupines, and a few other animals that I can't remember. He got really excited with the rabbits, and an elderly lady next to us just loved watching him squeak at them. After, we went to the... night.... area... where the animals that love the dark are. Spencer honestly loved watching the bats in the bat cave flying around overhead. He would say "flap flap" as they flew. He also got very excited about the snakes and frogs and made their noises for quite some time. Then, we visited the swamp lands, and he got to see turtles and alligators, both in his book.
Then, I think, we went and saw the gorillas and monkeys. Spencer was enjoying the monkeys from inside the pavilion area, where we were about three stories above ground, until we pointed out a monkey on the ground for him to look at, and we think he was afraid he was going to fall down there (because the glass was clear), and he started to get a little freaked out. He enjoyed it again when we were on the main level with various other primates and the big gorillas. I got to stare a gorilla in the face with only glass between us. It was pretty intense. He made a lot of monkey noises the entire time.
I think we then went through the aviary, but there weren't many birds hanging out. We saw a few and a deer of some sort.
We stopped for a rest and snack, where there were little wild birds waiting for Spencer to drop his goldfish crackers. He liked them. Haha. Then we saw the bears! He really enjoyed watching the polar bear swim from atop daddy's shoulders. He enjoyed the grizzly and sunbear, too, but I think the polar seemed to be his favorite. He growled for the bears.
Then we went to the cat pavilion area. Spencer watched the big tiger pace for a while, and roared. He saw a few lions, panthers, jaguars, and a leopard, too.
The last stop (I think) that we made was the aquarium, because it was getting to be to the point where Spencer was getting potentially whiny and needing to sleep (we woke him at 6 and he only slept 20 minutes out of the entire 3 hour drive to the zoo). It was the part, as I said, I was most anticipating for him. When we walked inside, I got the video camera out, and Jake put him down to run free. He ran excitedly toward the first tank inside which had a bunch of fish (I don't remember what they were), yelling "wish! wish! wish!" the entire time. He kept pointing and squeaking and running and LOVED it. Here's the video:
We took him to penguin area next. He watched from right up against the glass for a bit, with daddy, until a penguin zipped by him in the water and made him jump. I didn't get to see it, but Jake and various other spectators did, and commented on it quite a bit. He warmed up to watching them shortly after, and was mesmerized by their swimming.
Then, we took him to the underwater tunnel. He sat atop daddy's shoulders again, fascinated with fish swimming overhead. After a bit, we set him down right at the glass, and he watched more "wish" swimming, until a sting ray swam by his face and made him cry. Then he wanted to be held, so I held him, and we watched sharks and others swim by us. It was wonderful!
The final thing that we took time to see (other than a few other types of ocean fish) were the jellyfish. Spencer was mesmerized by these as well. The orange ones (again, I forget what they're called) were his favorite. We stood right up against the glass and watched them swim in front of us. He kept reaching out to the glass to "touch" them and saying "wow!"
By the time we got out of the aquarium, he was basically asleep. :)
Because we didn't see it all (we missed out on many safari animals (like elephants, zebra, giraffe, rhinoceros) and rain forest type animals (macaws and such)), we decided that sometime, probably next spring when Spencer's brother or sister is a little older, we would go back and see more.
It was definitely worth the trip, I think. We didn't have our camera with, but had our video camera, cell phones, and my sisters point and shoot, so we did get a few photos and videos to share with Spencer when he's older.
Last week, on Monday, Jake (aka Daddy) took Spencer and I (Nicole, aka Mommy) back to my hometown, where we planned to stay the week.
Jake has a new job (if you don't know about it, feel free to read up on the change in my own blog), and is gone four days/three nights a week. He's been working in my hometown area for a few weeks, so I thought maybe it would be an easy enough thing for him to just drop us off there while he was working, so we could have a change of scenery for a while.
I was a little nervous about Spencer adjusting to being there, sleeping at my mom's and not his room for four nights (we stayed until mid-day Friday), but overall, it was a wonderful trip.
Monday: On Monday, we arrived around noon. We were dropped off at Papa Web's house, where we waited for Auntie Sam to wake up from her nap and join us. Uncle Bryan came also that evening, and brought bubbles! Yay! After they were done with work, Uncle Dustin/Groovy and Grandma Anita came by. Eventually, Auntie Allie came for a while, too. We had a good afternoon/evening mostly playing with balls in the yard, as well as bubbles. Wendell spent the night (and the rest of them) with Papa.
Tuesday: On Tuesday, Sam and I went to the high school and visited Frau (my former teacher and now friend) and talked about the school yearbook. Papa took Spencer to play at the park, and to see some of Papa's friends.
Wednesday: Wednesday was a fun day, in which Papa took Auntie Sam, Spencer, and I to Sanborn (SJ fell asleep on the way), and we visited my grandparents' grave. Afterward, Papa decided we should road trip to the nearest Wal-Mart (about half an hour from where we were) and get Spencer a pool! So, we did. Papa bought him a pool and a squishy ball, and I got him a big blue ball to play with, too. And some PediaSure since he was against eating while we were on vacation. After, we went to Dairy Queen, and then the local park where they have some animals at the "zoo." Spencer LOVED the ducks. He would run up to them super excited like and yell "QUACK QUACK!" before running away, and back again, and away again, and back again... When we got back to Papa's house, he blew up the pool and "filled" with with a few inches of water. Spencer got right in and played for quite a long time. He didn't want to leave that night, but rather just keep swimming.
Thursday: Early Thursday morning, Grandma and Auntie Allie took Spencer to the strawberry farm (about forty minutes or so away) to pick berries while I got to catch up on some sleep (because Spencer was staying up late and getting up very early on vacation). He didn't so much help pick berries, I hear, but had a good time anyway. After he got bored, Allie took him to pretend to drive Grandma's truck. They came back mid-morning with a bunch of berries. I tried to get Spencer to taste one... and he really didn't want to, but he liked to touch and look at them! Then, Grandma and Allie went to Grandma's job so she could show him off and meet her co-workers. He had a great time, I was told, splashing in puddles, running through rows of flowers (she works at a nursery), and climbing on rocks. When they got back, it was nap time, and then back to Papa's for more swimming! Spencer had a BLAST swimming on Thursday, especially since he discovered he could splash people by throwing balls into the water. His favorite was to splash Grandma. I have a cute video to share!
Friday: Daddy came to Grandma's on Thursday night, so when Spencer woke up Friday morning, he was very excited to see him. Grandma was at work, so after lounging around and relaxing a few hours, we headed back over to Papa's house to play in the pool one more time before driving home, and also to get Wendell. By the time we left town, Spencer was super exhausted, and had fallen asleep on my lap in a matter of seconds after sitting down on it. He didn't even wake up when Daddy put him in the van!
It was a great trip. To be honest, I'm kind of sad we're back at home! Spencer had a great time, as did I. I hope we can do it again sometime!
In other news, his fourth bottom tooth is FINALLY coming in, many months after the other three. I was beginning to wonder if it would at all!
This morning, Spencer had his One-year photographs taken, with Staci of Something Clicked Photography. She did our family photos this summer, as well as Spencer's 4th of July Patriotic session. I love her work, so naturally, when it came time to schedule photos for his birthday, she was my first choice photographer.
The photo session was at 10:30. Spencer woke around 9am, and had breakfast, then played until we got ready to go. I figured he wasn't super tired since he slept in, but he started to get groggy and doze off in the backseat on the way to the session. I drove slow, thinking maybe he'd take a quick power nap then, before we got there, and be happy and refreshed.
I was wrong. He didn't sleep, and when we got there, he was in a "questionable" mood. He wanted to hang on me, which isn't totally abnormal since he's going through that "I need my mommy" phase. But, he wasn't very smiley, that's for sure. More often than not, he gave us both serious and silly expressions, as opposed to smiles.
It didn't help either that he's started taking steps (he took his first steps on Thursday! And now he keeps trying it over and over. You can watch a video by clicking here.), and crawling, and doesn't stay still for anything. And then, he kept tipping over chairs, crates, and such, that were used as props, and banging his head and face on the floor and the wall. He's hit that super clumsy stage, it seems, as well. He also kept pushing the crate, chairs, and bucket across the floor and room, right off the photo set. It was sure a busy hour!
I don't think you'd be able to tell his not-so-smiley-clumsy-cranky mood was going on by the shots she's shared already. Now that's a great photographer, right?
He did enjoy parts of the session, though, don't get me wrong. He LOVED the balloons. He kept crawling around holding onto them, and bringing them all over the room. And he loved banging on the metal pail. And, of course, he had a good time with the CAKE SMASH! Yeah! He was actually pretty focused and a little serious about it, but it was fun to watch! He got frosting EVERYWHERE. All over himself, all over the floor, all over me... all over... well, pretty much anything within reach.
I just feel like I should write a short update about Spencer's life and activities lately, although, I guess, there aren't any "developments" or anything of that nature to report.
Let's see.
Last weekend, Jake, Spencer, Wendell, and I packed up our things and headed to Jake's mom's house, or as Spencer will refer to it, Nana Mindy's. He had a good time, as far as we can tell! He enjoyed playing with Wendell and Jeb, getting kisses, and trying to pull to standing using them. He had supper, breakfast, and lunch with everyone, and did a really good job eating what we did! Mostly, anyway. We discovered he likes grapes and bacon!
He witnessed his first bonfire there as well, and was very entranced by it.
He also met a new friend, Morgan, daughter of my life-long friend, Miranda, and her husband, Brandon.
The other night in the bathtub, he was squatting in the water, and proceeded to stand all by himself in the middle of the tub, without using any assistance.
It freaked me out! It has only happened the one time, though.
He has also taken his bath-time splashing to a new level, as seen here.
He loves this video, by the way.
Today, he went to a funeral with me, and didn't even yell "uh-oh Nicole!" during the mass, like I was terrified he would.
Unfortunately, though, he's been a little bit crabby and restless lately. I am pretty sure he is getting a few more teeth.
Spencer has been a hoot lately! He's really quirky, so he makes me laugh a lot. Okay, maybe it's just me, but I think he's really funny. You should check out some of the videos on his youtube channel. I'll provide you links below:
Yesterday, Spencer's first tooth broke through! Yeah! It is the lower left front tooth. Then, this morning, after his nap, I noticed his SECOND tooth had broken through! That was the top right front tooth. Ah!
He has been moving a lot lately, which is crazy! He doesn't crawl yet, but he, as he has for quite some time, bounces on his bottom all over, and now he also scoots on his tummy backward. He inchworms too, which is super fun to watch. And then, he scoots on his butt, too. Sometimes, I think he might not crawl until after he walks.. just like I did!
He also eats mostly "table food" now, and has been for a while. He loves eating what we're eating (if he can), including things like chicken noodle soup, or grilled cheese, cereal, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and yogurt! I think yogurt is his favorite, but he also loves to feed himself peas. It's really cute. I can't believe how crazy fast he is growing!
In fact, he will be 9 months old on Monday. HOLY MOLY. That just seems... absolutely incredible. He'll be 3/4! And with that in mind, we're already working on planning his first birthday party. It will most likely be family and a few friends (which he does have, thanks to daycare and church!), and possibly be a pool party. I guess it just depends on the cost associated with a bunch of kids swimming. Our place is not big enough to have a party here, so I've been looking into other options. I know it seems far away, but most of his family live far away, so it only makes sense to plan ahead and get it on the calendar! I'm thinking the party will be Saturday, November 5.
He's been sleeping through the night (almost every night) for like a month now, too? I think? And loves pulling to stand, especially in the bath tub (UGH, but when he does, I take him out and tell him bath is done). He also loves walking alongside the couch. And shaking his head no.
Tonight, he waved many times in a row at me and Uncle Jesse! Yay!
Before I write about Spencer, let me just say I think that holidays that are primarily referred to by their actual date are somewhat silly. (For example: Cinco de Mayo, September 11th, The 4th of July.) I think they deserve more creative, meaningful names... like.... Independence Day!
Happy Birthday USA! Anyway.
Yesterday was Spencer's first Independence Day! While he obviously has no idea what Independence Day (or even the two words, separately) means, he still was able to celebrate.
First, he had a spiffy new Mud Butt Diaper! And on Saturday, he had his professional photos taken in it. Here's one:
On Monday morning, we decided to go to the Annual 4th of July Parade! He loved it! I actually decided we should go based on prior experience with him loving traffic as it whizzes by our house in the morning. I figured he'd enjoy being close to traffic that was "more fun" than your typical morning commuters.
He hadn't had a nap beforehand, but he was still a jolly little guy, attracting attention from people actually in the parade, which was amusing to me.
Afterward, we went to Chevy's for lunch. He ate a little Spanish rice, some beans, some corn... mush... stuff, and had water through a straw! We took a video of that. He didn't suck it up through a straw, but it counts well enough, I think.
Came back and napped.
Then we took Wendell to the dog park. Unfortunately, there were hardly any other dogs there, so Spencer was somewhat bored... until we played in the sand! He played in the sand for the first time on Sunday, and the second time yesterday. He only attempted to eat it once each day, and it never even made it into his mouth. I was impressed! He really liked walking in it, and squishing his toes underneath the surface. He didn't so much care for me burying his feet. Not sure why.
Came home and put him to bed/nap for a bit, and then woke him up to go watch the fireworks display! At first, I couldn't tell which he liked more, the fireworks, or the traffic. I think by the end of the show, the fireworks won. :) He's such a great little baby!
And, he's saying, "Dad" all the time. Sometimes, I joke about him thinking the dog is his daddy, but he really gets excited when I talk about daddy, and I know he knows who that is.
Here's a video of him saying it tonight before bed:
Today, Spencer went to the Great Plains Zoo! My friend Jenna has been itchin' to meet our little man for quite some time now, so she and her friend came up from Marshall, and we met at the zoo.
I wasn't sure how Spencer would like the zoo at first, because animals there can be pretty boring (at least at this zoo it seems) when they're really hard to see far away. But, luckily, that wasn't always the case, and he seemed to really enjoy it!
The exhibits he enjoyed the most (or so it seemed anyway) were the Spider Monkeys (which he watched very intently, tracking their movements and kicking his feet), the petting zoo (which we got a video of) and the tigers (which we also got a short video of).
He seemed to enjoy it so much that he was awake nearly the entire three hours! He slept for about a half an hour in his stroller, and then was awake and participating. He (and his daddy) is sleeping right now, though, making up for the big lack of sleep earlier in the day.
Jake and I decided we're getting a family pass in a year or so, so that he can enjoy the animals more frequently.
It was a great day!
Oh, and Jenna got him a tiger onesie that he'll be modeling in the next few days, hopefully.
Spencer had his six-month well-baby doctor's visit today!
He weighs 19.1 pounds.
He is nearly 28 inches long!
He is in the 75th percentile for height and weight, and head is around the 50th percentile, I think.
He had a blast playing with the paper on the exam table, and attempted to rip the stethoscope right out of his doctor's ears. Haha.
He did all sorts of talking and laughing and squealing... until his shots. Hated those, of course. But, he's still in a relatively good mood!
He got a ball at the grocery store tonight, and I had him laughing so hard he drew a small crowd. I was bonking it on his forehead saying, "bounce! bounce!" He was SO cute.
He got to eat a chunk of watermelon after supper tonight! He loved it. I did not take photos. I will next time.
He also got to spend time with Grandpa Lee today, shopping, and then with Grandpa and Uncle Jesse for supper.
Lately, he's been playing outside a LOT. He LOVES being outside under normal circumstances (unless he's really cranky or tired). He is also experimenting with different "hard" foods, like crackers (which he's had many times before) or toast (which he had for the first time on Friday).
Here's a quick video from tonight, where Grandpa made him giggle:
Yesterday, Jake and I took Spencer swimming for the very first time! We're getting a family membership at a local wellness center, which means that not only can we work out, but we can take Spencer to an indoor pool!
After touring the center on Saturday, we were very excited and could hardly wait until open swim time on Sunday. Spencer's aunt Shari and his cousin Alyssa joined us as we went to the pool!
He seemed to enjoy it right away, maybe a little unsure at first, because it was pretty loud in there. The "therapy pool" was open for family swim, and it's about the temperature of a bathtub as opposed to a typical swimming pool, so there was no shock there. Almost immediately, he stuck his butt up and began floating by himself... well, with the help of me holding up his chest/head. He would do the same when you tipped him over to his back. He'd pop his belly up to the surface! Seems we have a natural swimmer on our hands!
The first time or two that we dunked him under, he wasn't a big fan, needless to say, but he didn't really cry or anything. He made a couple wimper/cough noises, and pouted a bit, but the sadness was short lived. I think that shocked him more than anything, as well. As we continued swimming, we would occasionally dunk him under. By the end of our hour swimming, he wasn't too phased by it at all.
Jake took him "wake-boarding" on a floating raft, and he loved it. He would smile and squeal and kick his feet in delight! We really do think he'll be a great swimmer!
He also thought it pretty funny when I would hold him up in the air, and then go under the water myself and blow bubbles. Jake said he'd squeal with delight then, too!
I won't lie, we each accidentally dunked him under the water from some sort of floating device. I know the time I did, he tried to roll off the raft thing (successfully, obviously) and rolled right into the pool. My instincts grabbed him in record time, I feel, and after, I had the residual panic thinking "what if he drown!?" I wasn't prepared for that feeling, but I didn't really dwell on it for more than a few seconds.
Shari was awesome and took a few videos for us. Well, Jake took the first one, and she took them after. I'll share two- the one Jake took where he first entered the pool, and one Shari took of him "wake-boarding." Enjoy!
This morning, Spencer had his One-year photographs taken, with Staci of 
