What a ham

Christmas comes early...

Daddy was away at the club today, which left Mommy and James home on a rainy day. While this might normally have me quaking in my New Balances, today it was.. an AWESOME day! James has learned to entertain himself.. for a looong time! Yay for everyone! He sat at his little toy cabinet downstairs this morning just playing with toys, then he'd move one out of the way when finished, then pull out the next one. So quiet, so good! He then sat there in the chair in the FROG reading some new books.. four in row. He'd quietly look at the page, point out a few things, then turn the page and keep "reading". He was so quiet I didn't even realize that it was naptime. Wow.

We also had two wonderful Turkey Days. Neither of us can believe that there was zero stress.. we're waiting for something to happen still! TG was at Liz's, and we just brough pies and collards (mind you, none of her yankee in-laws NOR HER would touch the stuff! And before you even get started, I think that being in the South for 10 years makes me a naturalized Southerner... so I can get away with calling people Yankees.. plus I just think it's funny). So no clean-up, no hassle (pies and greens made the night before), and home we went with full bellies!

TGII was Sat with the Floridians and my parents. Also very stress-free. Most of the stuff was cooked before everyone got there, so you didn't have that milling around while trying to cook thing (MAWTC). Ok, slight tangent here: we do NOT have a large kitchen, and while our house is decent-sized, it has a very traditional layout (read: not open), and everyone knows that when you have company, no matter how comfy and welcoming you've tried to make your living room (note: it ROCKS), everyone will find there way into the kitchen where they will stand DIRECTLY in the path of the cook, who's already grumpy because the food's not done, and general chaos will ensue. NONE OF THAT on Saturday. James was in a fabulous mood, the food was incredible (fried turkey, ALWAYS good!), and everyone was happy.

Also (sorry.. catching up on a BIG blogging backlog.. a backblog! haha), James has tasted the temptation that is Daddy's guitar. Here are a few quick pics of the boys strumming some catgut (it's really just wire) in the family room. Soooo cute!

What's in a name?

When you think of a new baby entering your lives, the kinds of questions that come to mind are:

• Will I be a good parent?
• How will I raise my child?
• Is my house childproofed?
• Can I afford this? What do I need to buy?

... unless you're a grandmom, then you ask

• What do I want this kid to call me?

Hehehe... that was the burning question on both grandmom's minds. As I'm sure is the norm around the world, the child has decided for himself how he'll address the ladies who spoil him so.

While staying with the Woodruffs during the week of Thanksgiving, he obviously noticed that Grandaddy referred to his wife as "honey", and that's what he's dubbed GM Woodruff.. Honey.

GM Cooley goes by "Sis" to all other members of the family. We were shooting for "GrandmaSis", but that's quite a mouthful, so James has settled for "Sis".. just like everyone else.

So his GMs are "Sis" and "Honey"... could he be any cuter?

James' new smile

So the other day I was filming James with the camcorder, when I noticed he stopped and grimaced at me twice. I thought, "wtf?", then I realized, it wasn't a grimace, it was a smile.. he was cheesing for the camera! What a total ham! Here're a few pics of what James thinks smiling is!

Play-Doh tastes good

.. if you are a toddler. Mind you, the colors it comes in these days will definitely keep ME from tasting them, but James.. quite a fan! He was introduced to Play-doh this week in an effort by Mommy to placate him while shopping in Tarjay. I figured the cool container it came in would keep him busy while we finished, but then we got home and I thought, "man, I haven't played with this in FOREVER...let's break it out!", and we did. It now comes in very cool colors! James mostly squished and sampled it, and really enjoyed pulling apart whatever I made for him. I did get several requests to make mooehns, which I did. You can see the pics of his first forays into this time-honored tradition in our photo albums.. check out the new link for Photo Collections, and select the Fall 2005 album.

Moon over my little man

James first discovered the moon while we were at the beach, and Grams took him out on the deck at night. Well, it has become his new obsession. Every night we have to go out to look for the moon. In the middle of the day, he'll walk around saying, "mooo-ooon?", "where's the moon?". It's so cute, because in his little voice it sounds like "mooehn" (like he's from Wisconsin.. and hey, the moon is MADE of cheese... coincidence?). He now looks for it everywhere, and thinks anything that looks REMOTELY like the moon (picture of a pearl, the sun, white linoleum circles on the floor of Harris Teeter) must also be moons. Ah, to be so easily amused again...

The little lion who wouldn't

You may recall from last year's halloween pics that we'd purchased a lion costume for James. It was selected in honor of Daddy's favorite beer, Carolina Brewing Company, whose mascot is a lion. Well, last year's search for a costume yielded only a 2T-sized one, so we just figured he'd be one again this year. Nothing doing! We'd attempted a test run several weeks ago, during which he pretty flipped the %*&(# out . Sooo, I opted not to try again until Halloween, hoping he'd have blocked out this bad memory. Well, I guess toddler's memories are better than we give them credit for. He mostly pretty much hated the hood. Apparently, having fuzzy crap around your face and your head ensconced in the same thing is not fun. And Daddy was working. And Mommy got stuck on a conference call until just before T.or.T started and was already flustered. Sooo... SuperResourcefulMommy went with Backup Plan B. I grabbed a long-sleeved shirt that happened to have a number on the front (thanks Grams!), TRIED to put on some sneakers (decided it wasn't worth it), and plopped him on the bathroom counter to throw some eyeline under his eyes to try to make him look like a football player. I guess that did the trick.. everyone knew what he was supposed to be, and he was comfy!

The Trick or Treating experience itself still hasn't really hit home with James. I tried to set down the candy on our front step while he and I went around to a few houses, and he just wanted to go back to get it! So, threw some in his pumpkin and tried to get him to carry it, but he just put it down and started rummaging through it! Next, I tried to carry it myself and walk with him, but he just wanted to go back home to get the candy. SO, Mommy ended up CARRYING him to the front walks just to get away from our house, walked up to the front door, and got him to knock. Then I handed him his pumpkin , but by the time the door was open, he was heads down in the pumpkin again rummaging for candy. He did say "trick or treat", though "dee dah dee". We hit about 5 houses, and then went back to hand our "cahneee". Here's the little sugarmonger dipping into the stash. A note to anyone who reads this: I expect hearty kudos for my quick costume-change.. give props where they're due! (.. and don't get me started on the contributions to his good looks.. that just goes without saying!)