Oh deer!

I'm officially a "Bryan," now. It took me five years - but I've had my official christening on my way to work yesterday. I hit a deer.

Let me tell you that when you pray for something, the Lord really does hear and help! My daily prayer is to have "peace and safety" for each member of my family - wherever our day takes us - and once, again, the Lord has shown me that He really does take that plea seriously. Not even so much as the dirt on my car got smeared from the encounter with Bambi-ette even though a chunk of her leg went flying into the air upon impact. It didn't seem to do any permanent damage to her as she got up right away and ran off into the hills, but I was SHOCKED that my rubbermaid bumper withstood it so well! Of course, I'm EXTREMELY grateful as I've witnessed first-hand from many folks around here just what a deer hit can mean to a car (it's unfortunately pretty common - especially this time of year).

Remembering the funny... I promised in my last post that I would tell you the funny thing Adam did when I remembered it. I finally did!

On the way home from Stake Conference a couple of weeks ago, he was all chats and smiles until we suddenly heard a really fake, and really dramatic baby-type cry. I turned around and perplexed and amused asked him what that was. He replied in his most normal, nonchalant voice, "I'm crying. I'm REALLY sad." I had the hardest time stifling my laughter, but offered the most compassionate response possible. Where does he get this stuff?

Happy Halloween!

Today was the day that the residents bring their kids to work for trick-or-treating over the lunch hour. I was the designated candy-hander-outer for our department. I had fun!
I included a sign that said,
"A witch put a curse on me and I can't sleep until the Huskers win, again..."

AMEN!

Yesterday was Stake Conference, so like all good little Mormons, we went! It was relatively uneventful except for one little munchkin who, after the opening prayer, practically screamed "AMEN!" That threw everyone in our row and around us into "hidden" laughter - but it was so unexpected - what could you do? Unfortunately, the first part of the meeting was largely short talks and testimonies, so there were lots of "Amens" to be said - thankfully not quite as exuberantly as the first - but enough so that when I had the opportunity and knew an "Amen" was coming - I quickly grabbed him and put my hand over his mouth. After a moment or two after the muffled sounds quit, I removed my hand only to have him make up for lost "Amens." Oi! At least he knows to even say "Amen," right?

Where does he come up with this stuff?
I find myself echoing my sister-in-law with her kids - Where in the world does he come up with this stuff?

A few weeks ago, during David's final piano lesson of the day, Adam began walking back-and-forth along the railing above the stairs to the piano studio yelling, "Daddy - oh DAD-dy!"

Yesterday he did something on the way home from church that had David and I bemusedly wondering about our kid - - And I'm trying to wrack my brain about what that was (I really need to carry a notebook around with me all of the time!)

But the one that about killed me - - last Saturday evening, I was changing a stinky diaper. While I had him in the most "proper" position for cleaning off the "ickies," he lifted his head up to observe what was going on. While I was still cleaning him off, out of the corner of my eye I could see him point and heard him say "pumpkin." Wondering if I was seeing things right, I looked up and asked him where the pumpkin was. Again, he pointed where I thought he pointed and proudly proclaimed "pumpkin."

Where does he get this stuff from?!?

All Boy

I'd like to believe that I'll be better about the updates when I've quit (less that 50 days from now!), but we'll see...

Last Saturday was the final farmer's market of the season! Yippee! Ironically, that night we got a hard frost that killed everything left in the garden. Ahhh! Let the winter season begin (and get our indoor habitation back in order)!

My little boy is all boy. He is happiest playing outside, in the dirt, and occasionally eating the dirt. I'm pretty sure he's tasted every spot in the yard. One of these days I'm going to have to ask which spot is the tastiest. He doesn't like baths unless it's a bubble bath and he's NEVER liked having his hair washed. Several weeks ago, though, I insisted on washing his hair since he'd splashed some water into his hair and a stream of mud came out. (Sadly, I couldn't tell - - I guess he really does have "dirty blond" hair...)

In addition to his passion for all things dirty, he loves reptiles. At first, he was inseparable from the rubber snake that David bought him. That was until the day Daddy brought home a "sizard" - a rubber lizard. From that moment on, Adam is inseparable from it except on the rare occasion I can reason with him that it will get dirty if he eats with it, or get lost if we take it out of the house. Otherwise, he takes it everywhere, including to bed, and most mornings I wake him up and find it STILL clutched in his tiny fist!

Last week was the Fort Calhoun Homecoming activities. On the Friday of homecoming weekend, the school and town put on a rather large parade (especially considering it's only a town of 800 or so...). Anyone not marching in the parade goes to cheer it on. David took Adam to the parade and let Adam bring his precious "sizard."

First of all, the perils of having a cute kid? Everyone in the parade kept coming up to Adam to give him candy that they were otherwise flinging at the crowd from the comfort of their float. Hence, we have an 18-cup bowl FULL of candy that my candy addict with a candy radar can find no matter where I try to hide it.

Secondly, when David took Adam to the parade, they were in one spot until my mother-in-law spotted them and invited them to join her where she was. When they moved, David realized that the "sizard" was missing and after the parade went back to find it at the original spot, but it was nowhere to be found. Of course, he felt like the worst dirtbag ever for letting him bring it in the first place, but we naively hoped that bedtime would be relatively calm since Adam still had two snakes to keep him company.

No such luck. Although most of the evening passed fairly uneventfully with few mentions of the "sizard," when it was bedtime, no amount of explanation would quiet Adam's screams for "SIZARD!" After a while, we stopped trying to explain or distract and just shut his door hoping that eventually he'd get tired and go to sleep. After another 15 minutes of shouts of sizard with no parental reaction, he switched to "mah-ney cup!" So, I got out of bed, got a sippy cup of water and took it into him. I tried to hand him the cup, but he made his true intent known: he hit the cup out of my hand with an emphatic, "No - sizard!"

Oh my. I explained one more time that the lizard was gone and that it was time for night-night. That seemed to do it. He broke down in the saddest sobbing I'd ever heard from any two year old, but was finally asleep about two minutes later.

Thankfully David returned home the next day with a replacement lizard. We're watching it like hawks to make sure it doesn't get away!