Trick or Treat

The 80's are Out!

I have been hesitant to cut Wyatt's hair for a long, long time. It took him so long to grow any hair at all that it felt like a shame to cut off all his hard work. However, it was becoming more and more apparent that it had to be done. Over the summer, he has these tight curls at the base of his neck. So cute. More recently his curls have become heavy, matted down, and frizz. Even in his "all boy" clothing he has been mistaken for a girl far too often. I have allowed him to grow a mullet. A full fledged mullet. There is really no excuse for that.

So, I motivated on a spontaneous whim. That often happens to me. Its ok until suddenly its not and I have to fix it immediately. I found this little place called Little Stars. They had airplanes and jeeps that he could sit in and could play video's at each station. They were also smart enough to have a ton of toys.

He sat still in an airplane for maybe 2 minutes. The woman tried to put a robot smock on him. I thought the robots would trick him but he wasn't fooled. He wanted out and fast. Gammy came to the rescue, sitting with Wyatt on her lap, getting hair covered, so I could take pictures and fetch toys. She didn't cut the front at all. Just shaped up the back some and trimmed around his ears. No buzzers involved.

Overall, I think he did great. I guarantee the stylist would say otherwise. He was a moving target a lot of the time, staying still in short spurts. But honestly what would you expect from a toddler.

It is my personal opinion that his cuteness stock has tripled since his haircut. His hair is wavy and thick. Still unruly but shaped, defined. I can't stop looking at him. Ok, so I have always stared at him but he's just so cute! The video below is just us playing around outside. You can see his haircut in action. And I think its hysterical that every time he sees the camera he says "cheese". God, I just can't get enough! He's all grown up.

Operation Stealth Pumpkin

Amen, Sister

Sometimes we choose to serve our country in uniform, in war. Sometimes in elected office. And those are the way of serving our country that I think we are trained to easily call heroic. It's also a service to you country, I think, to teach poetry in the prisons, to be an incredibly dedicated student of dance, to fight for funding music and arts education in the schools. A country without an expectation of minimal artistic literacy, without a basic structure by which the artists among us can be awakened and given the choice of following their talents and a way to get to be great at what they do, is a country that is not actually as great as it could be. And a country without the capacity to nurture artistic greatness is not being a great country. It is a service to our country, and sometimes it is a heroic service to our country, to fight for the United States of America to have the capacity to nurture artistic greatness.

Not just in wartime but especially in wartime, and not just in hard economic times but especially in hard economic times, the arts get dismissed as 'sissy'. Dance gets dismissed as a craft, creativity gets dismissed as inessential, to the detriment of our country. And so when we fight for dance, when we buy art that's made by living American artists, when we say that even when you cut education to the bone, you do not cut arts and music education, because arts and music education IS bone, it is structural, it is essential; you are preserving the way of life we are supposedly fighting for and its worth being proud of.

-Rachel Maddow

Choo-Choo

The Escape Artist and his Partner in Crime

20 Months

My Wyatt,

You have learned "no". This has not been one of my favorite developments. Last week, if I asked you to find your shoes because we were going to the store you would trot off searching. Usually bringing two different shoes but still. This week, you will look up and acknowledge my request then start repeating "no, no, no" all while shaking your head. But its always your tone that kills me. Its a cross between sarcasm and amusement, with a hint of whine. With that little no, your actually saying "Woman, really?! Can't you see I am playing with my cars? You're going to have to come up with a better bribe than that." I knew the talking back was going to happen eventually but I never expected this soon. You're not even 2!!

Dad and I took you to see the Otto the ghost display at Hicks Nursery. You were much more enthused about it then you were last year. In the last window display there was a mechanical girl raking leaves. Well, there was a fake leaf that got caught on her rake. You did not like that one bit. You kept dragging me over to her and repeating "stuck, stuck." We would try to distract, "Yes, I know its stuck honey but look at the spider!" Out of all the things to notice, that is what you focus on. Simply amazing. One of the employees gave you an apple to feed the goats. You ran right over to the farm area and laced your fingers through the chicken wire. Thats when this nasty rooster pecked your index finger. You didn't cry just stared down at your finger with this bewildered look on your face. When we got home you told the story to Gams and Pa over and over. Which basically consisted of you pointing at you finger and saying "bite, bite" while I spoke of chickens.

I was reminded when your Aunts and I took you last year. You were just this little mush of a baby that we stood amid the pumpkins while attempting funny faces to make you smile. We took you on the hay ride and you were less than thrilled. I tried to take pictures of you this year and you barely looked at the camera, never mind staying still. It seems like a minute ago that you were casually viewing life from the comfort of my arms and now you are running around experiencing it for yourself. You're talking!! And making connections. Gammy was reading you a book about a giraffe. She was pointing out its long neck and you stop, looked, and responded with "and spots." Less than a year ago, you were this blob (affectionately speaking) and now you're "and spots" and "tomato" and "octopus" and "sit down mom. Mom, sit down."

Your Great Grandma Stephanie passed away this month. Your dad told me this story once about a young man who was a bartender. He watches as graceful, beautiful, and engaged woman walks in. The bartender without hesitation, knows in his heart, that this is the woman he will marry. They were married for 59 years. When you were about five months old, we were having dinner up at Dad's house. You were in my arms staring at your Great Grandma while she told some animated story about the squirrels outside your window. You were enraptured and hung on her every word. She was an amazing woman, a force of nature, capturing even the youngest of hearts with a single story.

I love you everyday.

Mom

Trouble with a T